Saturday, April 11, 2009

MORE POCKET POEMS selected by Bobbi Katz

If you know and love the book POCKET POEMS, you will be thrilled to know that now there are more! In MORE POCKET POEMS, Bobbi Katz pulls together lots of our favorite poets--X.J. Kennedy, Paul Janeczko, Myra Cohn Livingston and many others. The book is filled with pocket poems. In the author's note, Bobby Katz says,

"More Pocket Poems comes in response to widespread applause, especially by teachers, for the earlier anthology, Pocket Poems. Teachers find it's just right for celebrating "Poem in Your Pocket Day." For the uninitiated, children celebrate this special day by keeping a poem in their pockets, ready to read aloud or silently, at a moment's notice. Kids usually memorize their poems, and often poems their classmates read. The jury is in about the value of poetry: it's a catalyst for reading skills."

This book is a great one for a day like Katz describes. It is also good for every day of the year. I love that the poems are short. They are a perfect length for young children. They work for read aloud, memorizing, shared reading and more. The illustrations are inviting and fun--they draw children in. I love a whole book filled with great short poems--poems that you can fit in your pocket if you want to!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Poetry Friday -- Taxes

Maceration of Money
The George Eastman House Photography Collection, Flickr Commons


MONEY
by Dana Gioia

Money, the long green,
cash, stash, rhino, jack
or just plain dough.

Chock it up, fork it over,
shell it out. Watch it
burn holes through pockets.

To be made of it! To have it
to burn!

(the rest of the poem is here)

(the round up for this week is at Carol's Corner)



I'm doing taxes today.
'Nuff said about today's choice of image and poem.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Poetry Month -- Multi-Genre, part 2

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow
by Joyce Sidman
illustrated by Beth Krommes
Houghton Mifflin, 2006

Yesterday's poetry book could fit in with the ABC books. Today's multi-genre pick could be shelved in poetry or nonfiction or riddles!

Pairs of poems in double page spreads describe plants or animals of the meadow with the question at the end of each poem, "What am I?" and enough clues in the gorgeous scratchboard illustrations to guess most of the time.

Sometimes predator and prey are paired (Rabbit and Fox), while other times the poems deal with some quality the two subjects have in common (for example, the skin of snakes and of toads).

After each pair of poems comes a double page spread with the answers to the two riddle poems and the scientific information to tell why they were paired or what characteristic is being featured, as well as another gorgeous illustration.

By the end of the book, the reader will have gained in knowledge about the meadow ecosystem, and also an understanding of the interconnectedness of all of the plants, animals and systems that make up a meadow.

One of my favorite poems is a mask poem, told in the voice of a red-tailed hawk. Here is the first stanza:


An Apology to My Prey

I am deeply sorry for my huge orbs
of eyes, keen and hooded,
that pierce your lush
tapestry of meadow.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Poetry Month -- Multi-Genre

Avalanche
by Michael J. Rosen
illustrated by David Butler
Candlewick Press, 1998

I love it when books do more than one job! Here's one that fits into your ABC tub and onto your poetry shelf.

AVALANCHE tells the alphabetic rhyming story of a snowball that gets waaayyy out of hand. So to speak. As it were. (he-he)


"Once there was an Avalanche
that started out quite small.
It all began when Bobby tossed
a harmless-looking snowball...

This snowball sailed across the yard
and struck a Cat-food can.
It caught the Doghouse in its path
as though it had a plan."

The snowball rolls on and flies on, getting bigger and bigger until it is large enough to fill the universe.

"And so the Vacuum in the cosmos
clutched this cold compound,
and then rewound it round itself
and hurled it homeward bound.

With every twist something split off
returning to our World:
Each question, ocean, lake and jet
uncurled and downward swirled.

X marked the spot where something stood
before the snowball's theft,
and each thing landed back in place --
or had it ever left?

As for You, you might have seen,
or maybe might have heard,
the alphabet that's rolled inside
this avalanche of words."


Want to know what Rosen does with Z? You'll have to check for yourself! Quite a clever and surprising ending, I think!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Poetry Month -- Science Verse

Science Verse
by Jon Scieszka
illustrated by Lane Smith
Viking, 2004

"On Wednesday in science class, Mr. Newton says, "You know, if you listen closely enough, you can hear the poetry of science in everything." I listen closely. On Thursday, I start hearing the poetry. In fact, I start hearing everything as a science poem. Mr. Newton has zapped me with a curse of SCIENCE VERSE."

So begins one of the most brilliant poetry collections ever. Besides giving a nod to almost every scientific concept...or at least a lot of them...Scieszka tips his hat to poets, poetry forms, songs, and nursery rhymes.

Here's one of my favorite short ones:

CHANGES

I'm a little mealworm,
Short and wiggly.
Here's my antenna,
Cute and jiggly.

Now I am a pupa,
Squat and white.
How did this happen?
I'm a sight.

Now I am a beetle.
What is this?
I really hate
Metamorphosis.



If its been awhile since you read this book, go back and remember what an amazing masterpiece it is. If you somehow missed it, go find it. (And make sure you listen to the cd it comes with!)

Monday, April 06, 2009

gigglepoetry.com



The kids in the library spent lots of time on Giggle Poetry this week. It is a great site and I hadn't realized how much was there until kids discovered new things. This site is Bruce Lansky's site and is a pretty fun place to visit--a very appropriate name. I love the sound of laughing children, especially when they are laughing while playing with poetry.

The site includes many poems in categories that kids love--Teacher and Principal Poems, Homework Poems, Potty Poems and more.

There are also lots of fun things to do on the site. One favorite is the Poetry Race--How fast can you read a tongue twister? There is also a section of "Fill in the blank" poetry as well as Rhyming Riddles. The Poetry Theater section is filled with great poems to perform as well as tips for performance reading.

The teacher link--Poetry Teachers--has great tips for teaching poetry. There are also several great interviews with poets.

This is a great site for lots of reasons--great poems and great fun is the key. But it is one that is easy for kids to navigate. It is PACKED with resources and links. It will take me a while to find all that is available on the site and you could spend hours just having fun with poems.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

National Poetry Month Links

Andromeda Jazmon at a wrung sponge has the most complete list of Poetry Month links that I have seen so far. Check it out. Bookmark it. Visit links. Get poetrified.

National Poetry Month Links

Poetry Month: CITY I LOVE by Lee Benett Hopkins

Lee Bennett Hopkins was announced as the winner of this year's NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.   I love so many of his books and am thrilled that he won the award.  His newest book is CITY I LOVE with illustrations by Marcellus Hall.  

From the front cover to the back cover, this book is full of fun.  A dog with a backpack takes us on a tour of great cities around the world.  Each poem celebrates something about cities--things that are common to all cities as well as those unique to one certain city. Taxis, street vendors, and bridges are topics of some of the poems.  Each poem is unique--many different types of poems are included.

The illustrations by Marcellus Hall really add color to the book.  The traveling dog is quite fun and can be seen on every page.  Traveling with him adds a bit of humor to the pages although he is not always in an obvious spot.

A great book that kids will read for fun and one that can also be used with social studies when learning about cities and/or places in the world.

Thanks, Lee Bennett Hopkins for another great book!

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Poetry Month: I Love My Library

(Song lyrics count as poetry, right?)

Too bad I didn't find this when Jama and Susan and Sara and a bunch of other bloggers were participating in the "Library Lovin' Challenge" last week. I guess I can share it in honor of their commitment to libraries and to all the people who commented and helped them to meet their goals so they could donate to their favorite library.

Here's to everyone who participated in the "Library Lovin' Challenge" and to all of our favorite libraries and librarians everywhere: "I Love My Library" by Lunch Money.

(Thank you to Sarah Beth Durst's mom for the link.)

And while we're at it, here's a great poster via TeacherNinja:

Poetry Month: A FOOT IN THE MOUTH

This new book A FOOT IN THE MOUTH:  POEMS TO SPEAK, SING, AND SHOUT by Paul Janeczko is another collaboration with Chris Raschka. If you know A POKE IN THE EYE and A KICK IN THE HEAD, you will definitely want to add this one to your collection.  While A KICK IN THE HEAD introduced various forms of poetry and A POKE IN THE EYE celebrated concrete poem, this new book is a collection of poems that beg to be read aloud for various reasons.

The book includes poems of various length; poems for one voice, two voices and three voices; limericks; bilingual poems; poems for a group and more.

I love the poems and I also love the way that the book is divided into categories such as the ones I listed above. This organization will invite students to find other poems that are fun to read aloud in these categories and will help them to see that poems are intended to be read aloud and shared for a variety of reasons.

The introduction by the author talks to readers about reading poetry aloud, invites us to memorize the poems we love and encourages us to just grab a friend and have fun--"no need to be an expert".  And, as always, Raschka's illustrations add a great deal to the text.