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!

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.

Poetry Friday -- Building Rockets

I'm Building a Rocket
by Kenn Nesbitt

I'm building a rocket.
As soon as I'm done
I'm taking my friends
on a trip to the sun.

The rest of the poem is at Kenn Nesbitt's excellent site -- Poetry4Kids.

The round up this week is at ayuddha.net.


Two girls in my class are experimenting with AlkaSeltzer rockets in enrichment. They took the photos above to show the steps for making a rocket. They also videotaped the process and are now working on an iMovie. This post is dedicated to them, and to all the girls who will grow up to be the engineers and rocket scientists of the future.

Poetry Month -- Limericks

There Once Was a Very Odd School and other lunchbox limericks
by Stephen Krensky
illustrated by Tamara Petrosino
Dutton Children's Books, 2004

Sometimes it's fun to play around with a poetry form. Lots of folks do this every week when Tricia puts out a Monday Poetry Stretch invitation.

Limericks are a fun form to try with kids, but the challenge is sometimes finding examples that are appropriate for children. This collection by Stephen Krensky fits that bill.

Here's one of my class' favorites (they are just finishing up dragon sculptures in art):

Nicole drew a dragon in art,
Which breathed fire right from the start.
Then she drew a brave knight,
Which it wanted to fight,
So she had to keep them apart.

National Poetry Month Writing Prompts

Bud the Teacher is celebrating National Poetry Month by inviting readers to write some poems and publish them on blogs, his site, etc. His first prompt along with his poem inspired me to write this poem this morning. Who knew that I could enjoy spending a few minutes writing a poem based on a photo Bud shared? I love the variety of poems that people have already written in response to one prompt. It would be fun for lots of us in the Kidlitosphere to join into Bud's celebration.


The piles
Of books
Have somehow started
to take over my house
Books in every room

The ones I’ve already read
That I can’t part with
Those that I hope
One of my daughters
Loves as I do
Sometime in the future

The ones I haven’t yet read
But that are possibilities
For the future
When I have a quiet
Day for reading

Poetry Month: LOOSE LEASHES by Amy Schmidt

I can never go wrong when I buy a poetry book about dogs. They seem to be quite popular and I imagine the kids will love this new one.

LOOSE LEASHES by Amy Schmidt with photos by Ron Schmidt is a collection of poetry--told in the voices of dogs. They write about things such as getting free of their leash, battling over a bone, and ways to keep cool. My favorite poem is called "I Will NOT Go to the Groomer" and begins like this:

I will not go to the groomer

And won't be washed outside.

To be bathed in a public place

Is quite undignified.

The photos that accompany each poem are too fun and kids will totally love them. "Furry Facts" about each dog are listed at the end of the book. These bios are also quite amusing.

The couple who wrote this book is quite fun--their dog even has his own blog!

Poetry Month -- A Bad Case of the Giggles

A Bad Case of the Giggles
edited by Bruce Lansky
illustrated by Stephen Carpenter
Simon & Schuster, 1994

I am getting ready to replace this book for the third time. It is literally falling apart from constant use. My favorite thing to do when it's missing is to call out, "Who has A BAD CASE OF THE GIGGLES?" and listen to my students crack up.

Kids love funny poems. They love the sly humor of a pun and the bawdy humor of underwear and diapers.

Here's a favorite from A BAD CASE OF THE GIGGLES:

I SAW YOU

I saw you in the ocean,
I saw you in the sea,
I saw you in the bathtub.
Oops! Pardon me.

--Anonymous

Well, since that was by Anonymous, here's another one. This one's good for working on fluency of expression, but don't tell the kids that. Just tell them to make sure it makes...sense.

I THOUGHT A THOUGHT

I thought a thought.
But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought.
If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought
I thought,
I wouldn't have thought so much.

--Anonymous

March Mosaic

Just because it's Poetry Month doesn't mean our regular features won't continue! Here are my Project 365 photos for March. Lots of signs of spring -- love all those patches of bright blue!

Welcome, Poetry Month! Welcome, Hope Anita Smith!

April is finally here! Bring on the Poetry!! Here at A Year of Reading, we will be spotlighting a book of poetry every day this month -- some new books, but lots of old favorites.

But before we get started with that, we need to welcome OHIO POET Hope Anita Smith to the Thurber House Children's Writer-in-Residency position! We look forward to meeting you this summer!

Here's some background information from the Thurber House website:

Originally from Akron, Hope Anita Smith is a storyteller, teacher, artist as well as an award-winning poet. Her first book of poetry, The Way A Door Closes, won several awards including The Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award and was chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year by School Library Journal 2004. The sequel, Keeping the Night Watch, was released last spring.

On top of all of her poetry and artwork, Smith is a wonderful teacher and presenter. With her company, INKED WELL WORDS, she has taught writing "wordshops" to writers of every age. She encourages her students to find their 'voice' using paint chips, random words, found objects, magazine pictures.

Hope Anita Smith's newest book, Mother Poems, just hit the shelves. In this book, a young girl deals with the death of her mother.