Spotlight on Buffy Silverman + DMC Challenge

BUFFY SILVERMAN

It's true, we just turned the page to February. But in my neck of the woods temps are back in the 70s, trees are beginning to flower, and look what else arrived this week—a new book to warm my heart.

ON A SNOW-MELTING DAY: SEEKING SIGNS OF SPRING
Millbrook Press (Lerner Publishing Group), February 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1541578135, available for a discounted price at Lerner Books.

I'm tickled blossom-pink to introduce my friend and critique partner Buffy Silverman for our first Spotlight ON interview of 2020! Buffy is the author of more than 90 nonfiction books for young readers, featuring topics from angel sharks to alligators, and Mars to monster trucks. Children's poetry fans might be more familiar with her nature-inspired poems that pop up regularly in anthologies, popular children's magazines, and, I'm pleased to say, here on Today's Little Ditty.

In her role as a TLD contributor, Buffy has taught readers much about how connecting with nature can make us better poets. She spends time outdoors every day, occasionally with a dragonfly perched on her nose, but more often accompanied by her dog and camera. There’s always something new to discover living near woods and a lake in rural Michigan, and taking photographs encourages her to slow down and watch closely—a skill that every good poet must cultivate. I'm delighted to include several of Buffy's outstanding photographs in today's post. (The hardest part was deciding which ones to share!)

One of the qualities I find most remarkable about Buffy's writing is her ability to transform those carefully observed small details into poetry, finding the perfect word in every instance, even when it's one she's had to invent herself. Buffy is adept at wordplay alchemy—something she has practiced from the age of 10 years old. On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring is a superb example of what kind of enchantment can come of it.

Back cover: On a Snow Melting Day (Millbrook Press, 2020)

Described in a starred Kirkus review as “Crocus-poking, mud-luscious enjoyment,” Buffy describes On a Snow-Melting Day as "an extended poem about all the changes that occur as winter retreats and spring begins. It features chickadees sipping from icicles, spotted salamanders marching over melting snow, and insects warming themselves in skunk cabbage." (Read more from Buffy's interview with Raven Howell here.)

Vibrant photographs paired with playful rhyming verse will captivate young children, making this book an ideal read-aloud for home, preschool, or library story time. For grades 1-3, teachers will appreciate this book as a mentor text because of the expressive sensory language. They can also make use of the back matter (an informational author's note, glossary, and further reading) to extend and enhance interactive learning. The book is "perfect," according to the School Library Journal, "for answering nature-related questions or crafting lesson plans."

Why not try this simple idea for the classroom:

"Reading poetry to your students can be a gift," explains Buffy in an interview at Two Writing Teachers. "Let them enjoy listening to a poem each day, without asking for discussion or analysis. Then read the poem again and ask students to remember one or two favorite words. Write those words in a class word bank, and encourage your students to borrow them for their own writing."

And what should they write? How about "drip-droppy, slip-sloppy" poems in response to Buffy's DMC challenge this month! You'll find detailed instructions later on in this interview.

Let's begin, as always, with five favorites.

Buffy Silverman

FAVORITE COLOR:
Pale green, the color of fresh leaves in spring.

FAVORITE SMELL:
The scent of soil after a rainstorm. There’s a word for that smell—petrichor—which comes from the Greek words petra ( meaning stone) and ichor (a fluid flowing in the veins of the gods.)

FAVORITE SOUND:
The flute-like song of a wood thrush on an evening in May.

FAVORITE GRADE IN SCHOOL:
In fourth grade, Mrs. Rasanen had a reel-to-reel tape player and played a song for us that went, “Hey ho, what do you know, friction makes heat. Hey ho, what do you know, we’re making heat!” Combining music with science was pretty radical at the time (and that might be why I can still sing the tune while rubbing my hands together!) Fourth grade was also the year we took a class trip to Sturbridge Village.

Buffy, the 4th grade outlaw, with some of her classmates at Sturbridge Village

FAVORITE TEACHER IN SCHOOL:
Mr. Kirkpatrick, eleventh grade English. I was often unengaged in classes in junior high and high school. But Mr. Kirpatrick told me that I was a good writer—and he took the time to show me how to make my writing stronger. His words and attention set me on a different path. Understanding how to revise what I wrote helped turn me into a successful student in college and a writer today.

As a child you were a tree climber, an insect finder, and a word collector, yet you didn’t begin thinking of yourself as a writer until graduate school. When did you realize you were a poet?

I’m not sure I think of myself as a poet. Let’s just say I’m someone who enjoys writing poetry. (The first definition in the dictionary of a poet is someone who writes poetry, so perhaps someday soon I will embrace the term.) I’ve always loved playing with language, and I think that led me to dabbling in poetry.


Your bibliography, especially for the nonfiction educational market, is quite impressive! What do you enjoy most about writing for that market?

For me there have been two great benefits to writing for the educational market. The first is having tight writing deadlines. I am a procrastinator, and deadlines force me to be organized and to keep writing. The second is learning about a wide range of subjects, including many that I had little knowledge of before diving head first into the research. I now understand why airplanes have flaps, big rigs have tails, and how to bring a hot air balloon down to earth!

Browse these and other topics on Buffy Silverman's bookshelf.

How does poetry fit into the big picture of your writing career?

While I’ve enjoyed having writing assignments and learning many, many interesting tidbits, I’m trying to shift the focus of my writing to more narrative and poetic approaches to nonfiction (and maybe even some fiction, too!) I am drawn to writing about the natural world, which I think is a subject that inspires poetry.

Buffy Silverman

Buffy Silverman

Buffy Silverman

What I love most about On a Snow-Melting Day is your fun, evocative language. Your description of the change of season is factual, yet never trite or dull. Can you tell us more about your process of writing the book?

On a Snow-Melting Day started as an idea for StoryStorm 2018, in response to a blog post that encouraged writers to pay attention to what’s around them. Here’s what I wrote in my notebook:

It was a drip droppy
                        slip sloppy
                        snow melting day

Then I made a few notes about mist rising in the air, boots sinking in the slush, puddles growing on the lake. My notes continued: Is there a story here? Or just a poem? 

Initially I thought the image in my head was more of a poem than a story idea, but about a month later I had a writing day with my critique group and decided to explore the idea more fully. I thought about what different animals might be doing on a series of snow-melting days and tried to paint a picture of the landscape getting closer and closer to spring. I pictured the woods, lake, and marshy areas that are outside my door.

Buffy Silverman
(featured in On a Snow-Melting Day)

Buffy Silverman
(featured in On a Snow-Melting Day)

I managed to finish a draft in one day (which is not usual for me. Peer pressure is wonderful! Go write with your friends!) Of course, I revised that draft many times.


The photographs complement your spare text so perfectly. Considering that this book is not traditionally illustrated, were you involved in the process of selecting the photos or was your expressive writing all the in-house designers needed?

Allison Juda, the Millbrook editor assigned to my manuscript, chose the photographs and masterfully designed the book with little input from me. I offered Allison several of my own photographs that I thought might work with my manuscript and was thrilled when she decided to include three of them. There was one part of my text that Allison didn’t understand and she wondered if I should change: Icicles drip. Chickadees sip.

From On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring (Milbrook Press, 2020)

But she was fine about keeping that couplet once I sent her links to photos of chickadees sipping icicles. (Who knew they did this? Not me until I started searching for an animal that drinks from icicles.) I believe the chickadee-sipping photo used in the book was one that I had sent to Allison. I also suggested which flowers to include in the final spread (hepatica) to make sure we had one of the earliest blooming wildflowers.


Please share a favorite spread from On a Snow-Melting Day and tell us why it's a favorite.

How can I decide on only one?! If I must choose, I’ll go with this one: On a plink-plonking, marsh-mucking, duck-dabbling day.

From On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring (Milbrook Press, 2020)

Those phrases are fun to say, I love pussy willows, and I have a nice memory of walking with my daughter at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary when I took the photo of the handsome pair of mallards.


Let’s imagine for the moment that On a Snow-Melting Day is part of a four-book series (which it should be!) describing each of the seasonal transitions in a similar fashion. What is one thing you might have observed for each of the other books in the series?

There’s so much wonder in the world as the seasons change. Here are a few favorite sights: frogs staking out their territories and serenading their sweethearts as spring turns to summer; praying mantises laying their foamy egg cases on tall grasses when summer turns to fall; huge flocks of sandhill cranes gathering to dance and raise a ruckus as fall turns to winter. Whether or not those critters would fit neatly into a rhyme scheme is another question! 

Buffy Silverman in her childhood happy place

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

Go outside (every day if you can!) Look, listen, feel, and smell nature. Let yourself fall in love with our world.















Finally, what you have chosen as this month's ditty challenge?

I had great fun combining and inventing words when writing On a Snow-Melting Day. I think TLD readers would enjoy this too. Here’s a recipe to follow, or strike out on your own.

INGREDIENTS:

Five or more nouns (choose plants/animals/weather-related nouns, or anything else you observe outside.)

Five or more verbs that are actions your nouns might take and/or sounds that your nouns might make.

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1.    Take a walk or look out a window to gather the ingredients listed above.  

2.    Combine each noun-verb pair to create an adjective. (These are some that I used in Snow-Melting Day: hawk-squawking, marsh-mucking, paw-sinking, duck-dabbling.)

3.    Play with your combinations to create different adjectives (paw-dabbling? duck-squawking? marsh-sinking?)

4.    Write a poem that celebrates the place you observed, using at least two of your noun-verb combinations or other invented words.


Grab your notebook and trail mix, my friends—

we're going word-wandering!

Buffy's woods-walking companion Dakota is expert at sniffing out new words!

But before setting off, please help me thank Buffy—and Dakota—for being here today (though I've been told Dakota is only in it for the kibble). Buffy, on the other hand, is looking forward to reading your poems and is offering a personalized copy of On a Snow-Melting Day: Seeking Signs of Spring to one lucky DMC participant! 

(Winner to be selected randomly at the end of the month.)

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

Post your poem with invented words on our February 2020 padlet. Stop by any time during the month to add your work or to check out what others are contributing.

By posting on the padlet, you are granting me permission to share your poem on Today's Little Ditty.  Some poems will be featured as daily ditties. I don't typically give authors advance notice, so subscribe to the blog if you'd like to keep tabs. You can do that in the sidebar to the right where it says "Follow TLD by Email." All of the poems will be included in a wrap-up celebration on the last Friday of the month—February 28th for our current challenge.

TEACHERS, it's great when students get involved! Ditty of the Month Club challenges are wonderful opportunities to learn about working poets and authors while having fun with poetry prompts. Thank you for spreading the word! For children under 13, please read my COPPA compliance statement in the sidebar to the right.

FIRST-TIMERS (those who have never contributed to a ditty challenge before), in addition to posting your work on the padlet, please send your name and email address to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com. That way I'll be able to contact you if necessary.

BLOGGERS, thank you for publishing your poems on your own blogs– I love that!  Please let me know about it, so I can share your post! Also remember to include your poem (or a direct link to your post) on the padlet in order to be included in the wrap-up celebration and end-of-month giveaway.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thanks to Laura Purdie Salas for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup. She is writing poems in a variety of unusual places this year and today shares a poem written at the orchestra.

DMC: "Conversation on a Darkening Day" by Buffy Silverman

CONVERSATION ON A DARKENING DAY

I dress up blue skies
with castles and dragons,
rabbits and spaceships,
pirates and swans,

until I grow heavy,
turn weepy and gray.
My tears rattle rooftops
and wash over lawns.

               Don’t hold back your tears,
               your gray weepy ways.
               Let your castles collapse
               and fall to my crown.

               Your dragons tame fires
               and quench thirsty roots.
               Keep wailing and weeping,
               keep soaking my ground.

© 2018 Buffy Silverman. All rights reserved.


Calef Brown has challenged us to write a poem that tells the story of two anthropomorphized objects. They can be an odd couple, close friends, mortal enemies, or meet each other for the first time. The poem can be about an adventure they have together, a conflict, a game they play, anything. Click HERE for more details and to read this month's Spotlight ON interview.

Post your poem on our October 2018 padlet by October 31st. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up presentation on Friday, November 2nd, and one lucky participant will win a signed copy of Calef Brown's latest collection of ghoulish poetry from Carolrhoda Books:

Buffy Silverman: Let Your Camera Inspire Poetry

"Camera" by Paul Hammerton

Ahhh, November!
The clenched fist of Florida heat has finally begun to loosen.

It's the perfect time to get outdoors with a notepad or camera—preferably both. Buffy Silverman is our tour guide today as we explore how photography can be used to harness the power of observation in our poetry.

Lead on, Buffy . . .

LET YOUR CAMERA INSPIRE POETRY

I have been enamored with photography since I was a teen.  I was lucky enough to attend a public school with a fine arts program that included a photography/dark room course.  In recent years I’ve revived that interest. A digital camera often accompanies me outside, whether I’m exploring new places or my own backyard. I find that photography helps me focus and notice the small details of life, and remember where I’ve been and what I’ve seen.  I’ve no doubt that a notebook or sketchpad could also accomplish this and perhaps spark observations that a camera lens might overlook. But for me photography helps me slow down and see sights that I might otherwise fail to observe. It allows me to reflect on the seasonal changes and the world that I see through my lens.

An added bonus is that I have an ever-growing file of poetry prompts! As someone who can be obsessed with the lives of insects and other backyard critters, my photographs often send me searching to learn more about the natural history of my subjects. Those details can inspire my writing as much or more than the photograph that led me on my chase.  But they can’t replace the connection that I feel after observing my subject and “capturing” it with my lens.

Consider this photograph of a spring peeper that I recently chased down in my front garden.

© Buffy Silverman (click to enlarge)

I was initially surprised to find a peeper out in late October and was mainly trying to get close enough for a good view. The photograph reminds me of that day and reveals other details that I did not notice at the time. I see the gold rim around the frog’s unblinking eye. I notice the small circular pads at the end of each toe that let it cling to almost any surface.  I see the rough texture of the frog’s skin, especially compared to the smooth, brittle oak leaf. The muted colors of the photograph speak of the growing silence of autumn to me, which contrasts with the new spring greens and loud peeps that I most often associate with this frog.

When I briefly captured the peeper I focused on the feel of its cool skin, its squirminess, and trying to take a photo with one hand.

© Buffy Silverman (click to enlarge)

But now that I look at the photograph, I consider how tiny this creature is compared to my hand.  I see the speckles of dirt on my palm and under my nail and compare them to the peeper’s unblemished skin. The rough texture of the frog’s skin is much closer to the weathered look of my skin, than of the oak leaf! The frog looks momentarily content in its hand cave, but I recall how it leaped away when I loosened my grip.

My observations and experience could lead me in many directions. I might write of this experience from the frog’s point of view, focusing on the challenges of surviving as a small creature in a world of giants. I might write a poem that links the frog’s preparations for winter with the seasonal changes happening around it. Perhaps I could imagine its winter slumber and its dreams of spring. Or I might take on the depressing question of why a spring peeper is hopping about on a day in late October that feels like the end of summer, or the mystery of why male peepers make a futile attempt at love by calling in the fall.

A photograph can lead in an unexpected direction, as happened with this photograph of a Black-eyed Susan with unopened petals in my yard this summer.

© Buffy Silverman (click to enlarge)

I loved the way the petals curl and cross, seeming to protect the center of the flower. I liked the sharp focus on the flower and the blurred green in the background. But when I looked at the photograph, my only ideas for a poem seemed trite and unoriginal. I kept it on my cluttered desktop, waiting for inspiration. When I was considering a poem for a teacher friend for the summer poetry swap, it occurred to me that this could be a metaphor for students in a classroom and that a teacher can tend her budding students like a gardener.

For me, an unexpected connection like this makes for good poetry inspiration. Help yourself to one of my photographs and look for a poem in it.

© Buffy Silverman (click to enlarge)

© Buffy Silverman (click to enlarge)

Or better still, take your camera for a walk and see where it will lead you!


Thank you for leading so many of us to inspiration, Buffy!


Check out Buffy's other contributor posts on Today's Little Ditty:

• Overheard at Highlights
• Making Connections
• It Takes a Thief (Part 1 and Part 2), and
• Giving Nature Its Say

Buffy Silverman is the author of 80 nonfiction books for children, winning awards from Science Books and Films, the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College, and the Society of School Librarians International.  She's also written poems and stories for popular children's magazines, poetry anthologies, and educational resources. Visit Buffy at her website, www.BuffySilverman.com.

Our DMC challenge for November is from Carol Hinz, Editorial Director of Millbrook Press and Carolrhoda Books: write a poem that finds beauty in something that is not usually considered beautiful. Click HERE to read Carol's spotlight interview, then post your poem on our November 2017 padlet. There are quite a few there already! This week's featured poems were by Robyn Campbell, Dianne Moritz, and Rebekah Hoeft.

Now follow your creative wanderings to the Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup. (Did I mention she's got donuts?)

DMC: "Arringa Zizoo" by Buffy Silverman

ARRINGA ZIZOO

Arggghhh arringa!
Blimeyblinger bellaboo,
criminycracker,
drattadringo dudderroo.

Eurekagingha?
Fibby finger?
Goodie-golly,
hot-hoorazah, hooroo!

Imma know-now,
jumpin’ jeepers.
Kakabooya?
Lordy lewdy, laddie loo!

Man-oh-maybe?
Nibbly, nehbbly.
Ollieoompah
peachey-poo.

Quizzeyquankah?
Righteyroorah!
Sloppasinga?
Toddletongy-choochoo!

Umbelparsnips!
Vellovinkers?
Wanglebriznew?
Xylerxappereedo?

Yungerstangme?
Zipperzamper, zizoo!

© 2017 Buffy Silverman. All rights reserved.


Roughly translated,

Good grief, the end of the month already?
Join us for our wrap-up celebration of abecedarian poems tomorrow!



Click HERE to read this month's interview with Carole Boston Weatherford. She has challenged us to write an abecedarian poem.

Generally each line (or word) of an abecedarian poem begins with A and continues in alphabetical order until you reach Z. For this challenge, you may start and end with whichever letters you choose, as long as they are sequential.

Post your poem on our September 2017 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration tomorrow, Friday, September 29th. One lucky participant will win a copy of Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Candlewick Press, 2017).

DMC: "After School" by Buffy Silverman

AFTER SCHOOL

I perch in the front-yard maple,
back wedged against
solid trunk, legs
dangle.

A curtain of green colors my view.
Sure-footed ants parade
on invisible skyways.
Squirrels bound
from branch
to branch,
leaping from tree’s
skinny fingers,
without fear to hold them back.

I sit in my tree for
minutes or hours
imagining a day of leaping
and landing,
scolding and chattering,
owning the treetop.

© 2016 Buffy Silverman. All rights reserved.


Ann Rider has challenged us to write poems about places of refuge and solace this month. Click HERE for more details.

You have until this Wednesday, November 30th, to join in! Post your poem on our November 2016 padlet and I will add it to the wrap-up celebration HERE. One lucky participant will win a copy of BEFORE MORNING by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beth Krommes, courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.

Buffy Silverman: Overheard at Highlights

The Highlights Foundation

Attending a workshop at the Highlights Foundation is something I've wanted to do for some time. 

But until that day comes, I'm grateful for whatever I can glean from others. Today Buffy Silverman is here with a glimpse of a spectacular workshop led by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard. If you like what you read, the same workshop is scheduled in 2017 from October 15-19.

OVERHEARD AT HIGHLIGHTS

In September I had the good fortune of attending The Craft and Heart of Writing Poetry for Children, a Highlights Foundation workshop led by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard.

The Craft and Heart of Writing Poetry for Children, September 11-15, 2016

Lucky me, you’re thinking. Well lucky you too, because I’m willing to share a bit of what I learned. Much of the workshop focused on craft. Rebecca offered this advice: 

You’ve got to start somewhere. Put your poem in a place that speaks to you and then let it meander from place to place. 

With that in mind, our fearless leaders wrote two poems in front of us, starting with a word we tossed out: starfish. It was interesting to watch them meander along, crossing out lines, asking questions of their subject and then landing independently on the same final line! Watching them gave us permission to meander, falter and start again in our own attempts. We each chose a word from the group’s random word list: spoon, tenacity, lantern, pluck, sieve, and tarnish. I had recently finished a manuscript on angel sharks (who spend many motionless days waiting for food to wander near) and wrote a poem entitled “The Tenacity of Angels.” 

We also focused on observation, carefully listing the properties of a rock that a scientist might notice, and then bringing in emotion as we observed as poets. My little rock transformed from a list that included rough, warm, cracked with glints of silver to the start of this poem:

Old stone wears wisps of white,
grizzled as Grandpa’s beard.
A twinkle and glint
speckles its sandpaper skin.

For me the most important part of the workshop focused on the heart of poetry. Rebecca told us, Poetry books are your community, and we studied the words of other poets to learn how they connect with a reader. We considered how poets opened the door to invite a reader into a poem, and encourage them to stay until the poem ends. For example, the following poem by Nan Fry starts with a concrete image and circles back to that image as it ends:

Apple
   by Nan Fry

At the center, a dark star
wrapped in white.
When you bite, listen
for the crunch of boots on snow,
snow that has ripened. Over it
Stretches the red, starry sky.

When I read that poem, I hear the crunch on snow. As Georgia said, 

the sounds in your poem are like when you weave on a loom. [Sound] is the invisible stitch.

We were treated to a Skype visit with Lee Bennett Hopkins, who shared his process of putting together an anthology. Lee starts with a concept before selecting poets for a book. He carefully considers the opening and closing of an anthology and the order of each poem, aiming for a book that reads as if it is a novel, not just a collection of individual poems. Lee also talked about how to put heart in a poem:  

I’m interested in giving children beauty. I want kids to feel something, to have emotion…. As a poet you want to expand their view, to get them to look up.

Rebecca Davis, Senior Editor for Boyds Mills Press and Wordsong also spoke to our group. She gave us some insight into how she selects a manuscript, and the revision process that she and an author share. I think these words from Rebecca summed up the workshop:  

The most important thing is that you’re writing from your heart, that you’re writing what you’re passionate about, and the writing is very strong.  

A tall order—but one that I’m inspired to achieve after attending the workshop!

Poetry Friday attendees (from L-R): Buffy Silverman, Linda Kulp Trout,
Charles Waters, Robyn Hood Black, Catherine Flynn, and Linda Baie.

Thank you, Buffy, for sharing the heart of this wonderful workshop!

Be sure to check out Buffy's other contributor posts on Today's Little Ditty:

• Making Connections
• It Takes a Thief (Part 1 and Part 2), and
• Giving Nature Its Say

Buffy Silverman is the author of 80 nonfiction books for children, winning awards from Science Books and Films, the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College, and the Society of School Librarians International.  She's also written poems and stories for popular children's magazines, poetry anthologies, and educational resources. Visit Buffy at her website, www.BuffySilverman.com.

Our DMC challenge for November is from Ann Rider, Executive Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: write a poem, in any style, about a place of refuge and solace that is important to you. Click HERE to read Ann's Spotlight interview, then post your poem on our November 2016 padlet. This week's featured poems were by Lisa Albert, Mary York, Angelique Pacheco, and Jessica Bigi.

Follow your creative wanderings to the Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

DMC: "January 22, 2012 The Night After My Mother’s Funeral" by Buffy Silverman

JANUARY 22, 2012 THE NIGHT AFTER MY MOTHER'S FUNERAL

We rifle through cabinets,
sorting piles of photographs and ancient souvenirs.
A flimsy box overflows with home movies,
mold wafts through the air.

My brother lifts a spool
and threads it through the dusty movie player,
assuming the role of boy-who-could-be-trusted-with-machines
once again.

The light flickers and our parents return,
younger than my memory spans,
at a beach house I cannot remember,
with carefree smiles I do not recognize.

My brother and sister race in and out of surf,
build castles,
bury toes,
strut their school-aged independence,
wandering farther and farther from the beach umbrella

where I shiver,
my four-year old self
wrapped in a warm towel
and my mother’s arms.

© 2016 Buffy Silverman. All rights reserved.


Kenn Nesbitt has challenged us to write poems for our mothers this month. Click HERE for more details.

Post your poem on our October 2016 padlet. All contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration this Friday, October 28th, and one lucky participant will win an autographed copy of Kenn's delightful new anthology, forthcoming from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on November 1, 2016:

DMC: "The Brave Remora" by Buffy Silverman

THE BRAVE REMORA

A shark never dons a fedora,

but frequently wears a remora,

that clings to his back

without fearing attack,

while nibbling shark’s fauna and flora.

© 2016 Buffy Silverman. All rights reserved.


Diana Murray has challenged us to write a poem about an unlikely hero this month. Click HERE for more details.

You have until tomorrow, Wednesday, August 31st, to join in! Post your poem on our August 2016 padlet and I will add it to the wrap-up celebration HERE. One lucky participant will win a personalized copy of her fun new picture book from Roaring Brook Press:

Buffy Silverman: Making Connections

"Bat" by Gunnvor Karita

As a writer, Buffy Silverman wears many hats—
my favorite is the one she wears as TLD's resident science sleuth.

Please help me welcome Buffy Silverman back to Today's Little Ditty!

Buffy's previous posts

• Giving Nature Its Say,

• It Takes a Thief (part 1), and

• It Takes a Thief (part 2)

shed light on how to give voice to the natural world through poetry. Today's post takes that voice one step further, from the page to the classroom. It's all about making connections.

Thank you for connecting with us here, Buffy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MAKING CONNECTIONS

I’ve had a busy March, crisscrossing Michigan and driving to school visits.  Many schools invite authors as part of their March-is-Reading month celebrations. For someone who spends much of her time alone in her basement office, the rock-star treatment I’ve gotten when visiting schools is a treat. It’s especially enjoyable (and obvious!) when schools prepare their students for a visit.  Those are the schools where banners greet me, doors are decorated with themes from my books, and kids wave and cheer and ask me if I’m really Buffy Silverman! Best of all, teachers tell me that students have been clamoring to read my books.

When Michelle reminded me that I was scheduled to write a blog post, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on school visits. The schools that invite me are usually looking for a nonfiction author. I’m thrilled when teachers tell me how they’ve used my books in their classrooms.  During my large-group presentations I share some of the different hats that a writer wears (yes, I wear funny hats.) And I share a few different ways that I write about one topic: an informational book, a narrative nonfiction story and/or a poem.

Perhaps what matters most when speaking with kids is making connections. 

• Do I connect with students so that each one takes away something positive from my presentation? 

• Do I support teachers and encourage students by connecting with what they are learning in their classrooms? 

• Do I inspire kids to connect and wonder about the world around them? And do I connect them to the world of reading and writing?

I ask a lot of questions during my talks, and help kids see what they already know about finding out and communicating about the world. As a group we brainstorm questions that they might ask on a given nonfiction topic. But it’s impossible when speaking to 100 or more students in a large assembly to call on each student (or when speaking to kindergartners who are often interested in sharing random stories and thoughts!)

So I try to involve students in large-group activities. With younger students, after reading an informational book, I help them act out a story about the same topic. I “volunteer” a couple of teachers to lead the actors, and give the remaining teachers supporting roles.  The kids usually love seeing their teachers in these roles. And hopefully, when students participate in a story that I’ve written, we are making a meaningful connection!

I’ve also found that my presentations help me make new connections about my writing.  In a presentation with upper elementary students that focuses on bats, I share an informational and a narrative book on bats, and a poem for two voices about bats and moths.

Lepidopter: Noctuidae: Heliothinae
courtesy of New Zealand Biosecurity

The moth in the poem is a noctuid moth, which has evolved to hear and evade the bat that shares its habitat. I divide the kids in two groups, and we practice our bat and moth voices. While explaining to students that the moth in the poem echoes the bat, it occurred to me that the echoes of the poem reflect the bat’s echolocation (wow, is there anything better than surprising yourself with your own unintended brilliance?)

Bat echolocation, courtesy of askabiologist.asu.edu

 












And here’s another connection: the poem also fits Marilyn Singer’s challenge this month to write about echoes! I will close with my poem, which I hope you will imagine being read by a large crowd of squeaky fourth-grade bats and whispery third-grade moths.

BAT             and            MOTH  (a poem for two voices)


I flit I fly
                                          I flit I fly
beating wings
                                          beating wings
in the moonlight.
                                          in the moonlight.


I beep I listen
                                          You beep I hear
echoes bounce
                                          warning sounds
in the moonlight.
                                          in the moonlight.


I dive I chase
                                          I dive I flee
hungry still
                                          safe for now
in the moonlight.
                                          in the moonlight.


© Buffy Silverman, all rights reserved.

Buffy Silverman is the author of 80 nonfiction books for children, winning awards from Science Books and Films, the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College, and the Society of School Librarians International.  She's also written poems and stories for popular children's magazines, poetry anthologies, and educational resources.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Many thanks to Doraine Bennett for featuring my poem "The Story of Nothing" this week at Dori Reads. It appeared as part of her 2016 National Poetry Month Poem-A-Day Project, "Feet in the Creek," in which she uses others' work to inspire her own poems about the creek in her backyard. Dori's poem in response is titled "There's Nothing to Do!"

In celebration of National Poetry Month, Marilyn Singer has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "echo." Click HERE to read last week's spotlight interview with Marilyn. This week's featured poems were by Brenda Davis Harsham and Kristi Dee Veitenheimer. Thanks also to cbhanek and Catherine Flynn for posting their "echo"-inspired poems today.

If you're looking for other creative ways to participate in National Poetry Month, Jama Rattigan is your go-to for 2016 Poetry Month festivities at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

And last but not least, this week's Poetry Friday Roundup is being hosted by the ever-effervescent Laura Purdie Salas and her less-than-lovely (though VERY funny) poetry sidekick, Louis J. Pasternak, AKA Dr. Skullstench. You'll find them at Writing the World for Kids.