Spotlight on Joyce Sidman + DMC Challenge

JOYCE SIDMAN

Joyce Sidman is the winner of the 2013 NCTE Award for Excellence in Children's Poetry, which is given every two years to a living American poet in recognition of his or her aggregate work. She is the author of many award-winning children’s poetry books, including the Newbery Honor-winning Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, and two Caldecott Honor books: Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems (also a Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award winner) and Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors (which won the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award). Joyce teaches poetry writing to school children and participates in many national poetry events. She lives with her husband and dog near a large woodland in Wayzata, Minnesota.

Photo: Alan Shefland

With Joyce's recent book, Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold, the Newbery Honor award-winning partnership with printmaker (and fellow Minesotan) Rick Allen has brought us another critically acclaimed success. Winter Bees has been named a “Best Book of 2014” by School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and the Chicago Public Library and has received five starred reviews! Educators should also be sure to check out this terrific readers' guide, created by Sylvia Vardell.

WINTER BEES & Other Poems of the Cold
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Nov 2014
ISBN: 978-0547906508
Click HERE to order.

Joyce has said that each of her books begins with a question.  In Winter Bees, she set out to discover how animals are able to survive the bitter cold of the long, northern winter.  From chickadees to honeybees, voles to moose, snakes to snow fleas, we learn of survival tactics as varied as the poetic forms Joyce uses to describe these resilient creatures.  Each of her twelve original poems is paired with fascinating sidebar information, and complemented by Rick Allen's exquisite hand-colored, digitally layered linocut illustrations.  Together, Joyce and Rick bring the beauty of this harsh winter landscape to life in evocative detail that jumps off the page. While the red fox on the cover does not have a poem of his own, the reader can follow his trail with every page turn. But fair warning: sometimes he's a trickster!

Photo: J. Sidman

Joyce didn't have any difficulty spotting him as he wandered past the bird feeder in her back yard.  Was he looking for an autograph? A share of the royalties?  Maybe he sniffed out the vole on page 21!

I'm honored to have Joyce join me as Today's Little Ditty's  first spotlight author of 2015. Please help me extend a warm welcome!  

As always, we'll start off the interview with a few favorites –

 

Vole Tunnels, photo: J. Sidman

Favorite thing to do in winter: 

     Find animal tracks in fresh snow.

Favorite sound: 

     First frogs calling in spring

Favorite music: 

     Traditional folk ballads

Favorite children’s book: 

     THE BAT-POET by Randall Jarrell

               

Favorite quote: 

"Like a piece of ice on a hot stove, 
 the poem must ride on its own melting."

                                                         ~Robert Frost

I’ve read that you didn’t set out to be a children’s poet—that it took some years to find “your voice.” What was that period of time like for you? And now that you’ve carved out your niche, what do you enjoy most about being a children’s author?

That period of time was tough. It involved a lot of risk-taking, a lot of failing, a lot of long, dark walks. But it was also a thrilling time, because I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. And eventually, I began to find my people – the writers I felt most comfortable among, which is what I love most about this work: the people of children’s literature—authors, illustrators, teachers, librarians.

Please describe your “writing zone”—when, where, and how you do your best work?

My writing zone is upstairs in my office. I head up there right after breakfast, with a mug of tea in my hand. I have a big, rounded stone that fits into the palm of my hand that I heft back and forth when I'm thinking or stuck. Which is a lot of the time!

You credit Alice Schertle’s ADVICE FOR A FROG as your inspiration for the poetry/ nonfiction hybrid that has become your trademark. Can you give us some insight into how you balance the research and creative aspects of your writing process?

I love research. It’s a process of uncovering mysteries. I would keep researching forever if I could. But eventually I realize that I've captured what I need to know and I'd better start writing before I lose the magic.

I'm sure I speak for many admirers of your work when I say that one of your gifts is your keen power of observation. Do you think that is something you were just born with or are there ways that writers can cultivate observational skills?

Thank you! It drives my family nuts sometimes, because I am always stopping to look at things, or remarking on them. I think I was born with a predilection for it, but I am certain it can be learned. All that is required is stillness and attention to your body: what you are seeing, feeling, smelling, hearing.

What inspired you to write WINTER BEES? Or what was the biggest challenge you faced in writing WINTER BEES?

Beaver dam, photo: J. Sidman

I live in Minnesota—that’s really the answer to both questions! No, seriously, one day on the phone as we were complaining to one another, my editor Ann Rider (who also lives in MN) spurred me to find out how creatures survive our extreme winters. My biggest challenge? While investigating a beaver lodge in February, I fell through the ice! Fortunately I was able to crawl out and wasn’t too far from home.

Of all the wintering animals and plants that are featured in this book, which one do you identify with most and why?

Great question! I identify with all of them, as I am writing about them. Sometimes I want to migrate with the swans, sometimes hibernate with the snakes, sometimes greet the winter morning with a moose-like swagger. Winter has so many moods.

Can I order up some of that "moose-like swagger" please?

WINTER BEES, text © Joyce Sidman, illustration © Rick Allen  (click to enlarge)

BIG BROWN MOOSE

I'm a big brown moose,
I'm a rascally moose, 
I'm a moose with a tough, shaggy hide;
and I kick and I prance
in a long-legged dance
with my moose-mama close by my side.

I shrug off the cold
and I sneeze at the wind
and I swivel my ears in the snow;
and I tramp and I tromp 
over forest and swamp,
'cause there's nowhere a moose cannot go.

I'm a big brown moose,
I'm a ravenous moose
as I hunt for the willow and yew;
with a snort and a crunch,
I rip off each bunch,
and I chew and I chew and I chew.

When together we slump
in a comfortable clump –
my mountainous mama and I –
I give her a nuzzle 
of velvety muzzle.
Our frosty breath drifts to the sky.

I'm a big brown moose,
I'm a slumberous moose,
I'm a moose with a warm, snuggly hide;
and I bask in the moon
as the coyotes croon, 
with my moose-mama close by my side.

                              ~ Joyce Sidman, Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold


What’s coming up next for you?

My next published book (2016) will be a picture book about a snowfall, illustrated by Beth Krommes. Another winter book! But it's set in a city, and is about wishing for a snow day. Tentative title is BEFORE MORNING.

Little Miss Amazing:
a 6 year old Joyce Sidman

If you had all the world’s children in one room, what would you tell them? 

Trust yourself. You are amazing!

Finally, please tell us what you have chosen as this month’s ditty challenge.

I propose a "Deeper Wisdom” poem (just made up this name!). It’s modeled after the poem “What Do the Trees Know?” from WINTER BEES:

WINTER BEES, text © Joyce Sidman, illustration © Rick Allen  (click to enlarge)

What do the trees know?
      To bend when all the wild winds blow.
      Roots are deep and time is slow.
      All we grasp, we must let go.
   
What do the trees know?
      That buds can weather ice and snow.
      Dark gives way to sunlight’s glow.
      Strength and stillness help us grow.

 This kind of poem involves as much thinking as writing. Here are the steps:

1. Choose a subject. It can be anything: an ant, the Empire State Building, your father. Your poem will be called “What Does [your subject] Know? 

2. Think about the greater Truths that this particular object knows, whether it is alive or not. 

3. State these truths—six of them—in two stanzas, repeating your question before each stanza. 

4. If you want, rhyme each final word—but this is not necessary.

Okay!  Who's ready to try another new poetry form? 

Throughout the month, send your Deeper Wisdom poem to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. For children under 13 who would like to participate, please read my COPPA compliance statement located below the contact form.

Some poems may be published on the blog as daily ditties, but all of them will appear in a wrap-up post on January 30th. As extra incentive (as if you needed it!), Joyce has graciously provided me with an autographed copy of Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold which I will send to one lucky participant selected randomly! 

Thank you, Joyce, not only for today's interview, 

but for all that you help us see through your eyes.

There's always something new to discover at The Opposite of Indifference. Please join our host, Tabatha Yeatts, for today's Poetry Friday roundup.