Jumping for Joy

Why am I jumping for joy?

 Because my poem about the 11-year-old who dreamed up the backyard trampoline
"George Nissen, Boy Inventor" (Boys' Quest, Feb 2014)

won the 2015 SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for Poetry! 

You can read my poem HERE.

The SCBWI Magazine Merit Awards are presented by the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators annually for original magazine work for young people in five categories: fiction, nonfiction, illustration, poetry, and YA fiction/nonfiction. According to the SCBWI website, "The works chosen are those that exhibit excellence in writing and illustration, and genuinely appeal to the interests and concerns of young people." Honor Certificates in each category are also awarded, as well as three Letters of Merit for each category.

But that's only part of the reason I'm jumping for joy. What makes this celebration even more special is the fact that I'm able to share the awesome sauce with several other poet friends:

Congratulations to Laura Purdie Salas
whose poem "Good-bye, Hello!" (Highlights, Sept 2014) earned the 2015 Magazine Merit Honor Award.  Read it HERE.

Congratulations to Buffy Silverman
whose poem "If You Were a Shell" (Ladybug, July 2014) earned a 2015 Letter of Merit. Read it HERE.

Congratulations to Neal Levin
whose poem "My Dinosaur, My Friend" (Fun For Kidz, May 2014) earned a 2015 Letter of Merit as well. (Neal also happens to be the multi-talented guy who illustrated my George Nissen poem in Boys' Quest!)

Magazine Merit Award recipients in all categories are listed on the SCBWI website.

Limerick Alley: Neal Levin

Uh-oh.

It's Friday the 13th. 

Last time it was Friday the 13th in Limerick Alley....

It was bad.  

Bad. Bad. Baaaad. 

There will be no more running with scissors at Today's Little Ditty!

Today, I expect, will be different.

It's almost Valentine's Day for goodness sake.  How bad could it be?

No silly Friday the 13th superstition is going to interfere with my romantic Valentine's celebration.

Besides, we have limerick master Neal Levin here with us today. He's won the Saturday Evening Post Limerick Laughs contest EIGHT (!) times – 4 times as a first place winner and 4 times as a runner-up. I have full trust in Neal's good taste and limerick-writing ability.

Take it away, Neal....

DINNER WITH THE CANNIBALS
         By Neal Levin

We hope that this doesn't unnerve you,
But really, we'd love to reserve you
A place at our table.
So come, if you're able.
We'd truly be happy to serve you.

"Tastes like chicken."

GAH!

I should've known.


Neal is a Michigan-based writer/illustrator/cartoonist, and a leading cause of giggling in children nationwide, thanks to his generous talent for writing humorous children's poetry. His poems have appeared in several anthologies published by Meadowbrook Press, including Rolling In the Aisles, Dinner With Dracula, I've Been Burping In the Classroom, My Teacher's In Detention, and I Hope I Don't Strike Out, as well as a variety of national magazines and educational publications. Neal has also taught cartooning workshops to tens of thousands of students in the metropolitan Detroit area and creative writing classes at Camp Walden, a summer camp in northern Michigan. By sheer luck, I was honored to have him illustrate my poem "George Nissen, Boy Inventor" in Boys' Quest magazine last year. Visit Neal as his website: NealLevin.com

Thank you for being my guest in Limerick Alley today, Neal!

You are cordially invited to dinner at my house anytime... provided you leave your cannibal friends at home.

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In case you missed last week's interview with David Elliott, he's challenged us to write letter poems this month. This week I featured my love letter to an Australian Magpie, as well as three other poems by Damon Dean, Katie Gast, and Matt Forrest Esenwine.  Keep those letter poems coming!

Cathy Mere is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Merely Day By Day.