Spotlight on Elizabeth Steinglass + DMC Challenge

ELIZABETH STEINGLASS

Are you excited? 
                              I sure am!

After a busy month of reading, it's about time we got stuck into some writing again, no? I couldn't be more thrilled to welcome my friend and critique partner, Elizabeth Steinglass, to the spotlight to lead that effort!

Elizabeth Steinglass has worked as a shoe salesman, short order cook, high school English teacher, and college writing instructor, but now claims the title of debut author, with Soccerverse: Poems about Soccer (Wordsong) scheduled to hit bookstore shelves next month! Rumor has it she actually wrote her first book in 4th grade, but since she doesn’t remember the title (only that it was a catalog of fairies), it doesn't count. Too bad, huh. She's also had numerous poems appear in magazines and anthologies, including The Poetry of US, edited by J. Patrick Lewis (National Geographic), and Great Morning!, Pet Crazy, and The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (Pomelo Books). Today's Little Ditty has been a grateful beneficiary of her poems as well! You can read some of them in The Best of Today's Little Ditty anthologies, but I've collected all of them for you to scroll through here when you have some time.

Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, sports were always a part of Liz's family life. (I love the story she tells at Picture Book Buzz of being invited to get out of bed and catch her big brother's basketball rebounds in her nightgown!) Now with a family of her own—a husband, three kids, and a sleepy cat named Scout—soccer is the game that rules at the Steinglass house in Washington, D.C.  I've appointed myself head cheerleader as we talk about her striking new collection of 22 soccer poems!

SOCCERVERSE: POEMS ABOUT SOCCER
Wordsong (June 4, 2019)
ISBN: 978-1629792491
Find at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or via Indiebound.org

Described by Kirkus as "a pitch-perfect ode to the details and delights of playing soccer," Soccerverse dons 13 poetic forms to describe the world's most popular sport from a variety of viewpoints, from a diverse cast of teammates to the soccer equipment itself—the ball, the goal, even a pair of smelly shin guards. (Teachers will appreciate the author's note at the end of the book that describes the forms.) While much of the verse is lighthearted, there are also moments that come across as honest and heartfelt—a reluctance to shake hands with a member of the opposing team, for example, or an apology that is accepted, even a wry observation about parental fans. Edson Ikê's bold, animated illustrations reflect Liz's adaptive verse beautifully—at times sober, but overall, whimsical and imaginative. The two make a winning team!

Kicking off today's interview, here are Liz Steinglass's five favorite things:

Rock Creek Park—a favorite walking spot.

FAVORITE PASTIME:

I enjoy walking—in the woods, across farmland, along the beach—pretty much anywhere outside.

FAVORITE SMELL:

I absolutely love the musky smell of a barn. Or manure on a garden. Maybe I should have been a farmer.

FAVORITE FOOD:

A cherry tomato I’ve picked off the plant. I love simple foods that taste wonderful just the way Mother Nature made them. Also, I really don’t enjoy cooking.

FAVORITE TEACHER IN SCHOOL:

I was fortunate to have many wonderful teachers, but I think my favorite teacher was my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Burbage. She was incredibly creative! That year we made edible book reports (mine was on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe). We finished our unit on the human body by tracing ourselves on big brown paper and then using anything we could find to make our insides. We also studied the presidents that year. We each studied a different one, then we all made illustrated reports, which Mrs. Burbage taped together to make a long scroll, which she then wound through a cardboard box made to look like a television. I especially loved that she had endless files of interesting puzzles, brainteasers, and games to do whenever we were finished with our work. She was wonderful!

FAVORITE POET:

Valerie Worth, 1933-1994

This one’s hard! I love so many poets. My favorite at this exact moment might be Valerie Worth. All the Small Things is a book I return to again and again. I love the way she looks at things so closely and creatively. She seems to think in metaphors. Tractors are grasshoppers. Cows are mountains. A safety pin is a small fish with a surprised eye. Brilliant!

Karla Kuskin, 1932-2009

But my favorite poem is Karla Kuskin’s “Write about a Radish.” The first two lines are “Write about a radish/Too many people write about the moon.” I Iove her exhortation to look at things in our own unique ways. It makes me smile that these are the first lines of a poem that turns out to be about the moon, but she has a completely fresh way of writing about it.


Congratulations on your debut poetry collection! We all have twists and turn in our lives, many of which are unexpected. Can you point to any events that, in hindsight, were instrumental to finding your way to children's publishing? Or did you know you'd find your way here all along?

I have always been a writer. I write to make sense of the world. Writing helps me figure out what I think and what’s important to me. It’s a way to spend more time with what I notice and enjoy. It’s also a way for me to share my thoughts and observations with others. So I suppose I was always going to write something. I focused on writing for children when I had children. I read so much to them. I began to appreciate children’s poetry and picture books anew. And once I began reading so many of them, I naturally wanted to write them. I’ve written many books and poems for my children over the years. Two of my three kids, my two boys, are absolutely obsessed with soccer. They have played since they were very young. I think I’ve been watching soccer practices and games for more than 15 years. Soccer has been a huge part of our lives, so of course I wrote about it.

Courtesy Steinglass Family

What about your first book publishing experience have you found most enjoyable?

So far, the most enjoyable part of the process has been seeing Edson Ikê’s illustrations. I cannot tell you how much I adore them. I love his bold, bright colors, and graphic style. I love his imagination. I love that the book features a beautifully diverse group of boys and girls playing on teams and meeting and playing at the park.

Brazilian artist, Edson Ikê: visit him at his website and on instagram.

Soon I think another part of the process may compete for most enjoyable—sharing the poems! I’m excited to share my work here and soon with actual living, breathing, reacting children. That I think will be another most enjoyable part.


You have two children who are passionate about the game of soccer. Did you consult with them while writing Soccerverse? Or did the poems solely come from your own observations, experiences, and imagination.

For the most part the poems came from my own observations and imagination. I consulted with my boys a few times about drafts I had written. I knew I was on the right track when my oldest said, “You wrote that?!” It was a wonderful compliment, especially as it was my reverso “Instructions to Field Players/the Goalkeeper,” and he is a keeper. I played a little soccer as a kid, mostly in PE or at recess, and there’s one poem in the collection that’s specifically about me. Should I tell you which one? Let’s just say I felt like soccer involved a lot of running around without touching the ball.

Text copyright © 2019 by Elizabeth Steinglass. Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Edson Ikê.
From SOCCERVERSE: POEMS ABOUT SOCCER (Wordsong).

You use 13 different poetry forms, yet none of your poems feel like they've been forced into an assigned structure. Was it your intention from the get-go to showcase poetry forms, or did that happen naturally as the voice of each poem spoke through you?

I knew that I wanted to write in a variety of forms, but I didn’t have a list of forms in mind. First, I brainstormed a list of possible topics—uniforms, positions, playing in the park, games, red cards, etc. As I worked through the list, the topics seemed to choose their forms, if that makes sense. The ball poem wanted to be round. The shin guards had something to say. The goal wanted to be addressed. In my “Note about Forms” at the end of the book, I write, “Poets use different forms as a way to express themselves more powerfully or challenge themselves to be more creative.” That last part is very much about me and the process of writing this collection. On the days I felt stuck, I tried different forms and often that helped me get unstuck.


Please share a favorite poem from Soccerverse and tell us why it's a favorite.

Another hard question! Right at this moment my favorites are the paired poems “Apology” and “Accepted.”

Text copyright © 2019 by Elizabeth Steinglass. Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Edson Ikê.
From SOCCERVERSE: POEMS ABOUT SOCCER (Wordsong) — click on image to enlarge.

APOLOGY

I got too mad.
I tried too hard.

I crossed the line.
I got a card.


ACCEPTED

I saw he was sorry.
I knew he felt bad.

I sat down beside him.
I didn't get mad.

© 2019 Elizabeth Steinglass, all rights reserved.

I like that they address the emotional side of the game and the relationships between players. I also love Edson’s angry bull. It’s fun to write creative and whimsical poems. It’s fun to read them and share them with kids, but I think as poets it’s our job to address the full emotional range of life and that includes anger, frustration, understanding, and forgiveness.


I love the "Tips for Teachers" and "Tips for Writers" resources on your website! I wonder if you could share two more tips: one for readers and one for newbie soccer parents.

TIP FOR READERS: 
Enjoy! You don’t need to “figure out” every word. Try riding a poem like a wave. What’s the experience like? Where does it take you? Also, if you don’t enjoy a poem, or a hundred poems, you don’t need to give up on poetry. I think it’s odd that people read some poems they don’t enjoy and then say they don’t like poetry. I don’t like liver or onions, but you’d never catch me saying I don’t like food! I’m a poet and there are still lots of poems I don’t particularly connect with. It’s okay not to like poems but still like poetry! Keep looking. There are poems out there for everyone.

TIP FOR SOCCER PARENTS:
This is going to be harder than it sounds, but I think we parents should stick to parenting and let coaches do the coaching. I have seen young kids freeze on the field trying to listen to so many voices telling them what to do. Meanwhile someone on the other team takes the ball and heads downfield. I try very hard to limit what I say to “yay!” “I enjoyed watching you play,” “Have fun!” and “How’d it go?” Also, for those of you with very young children, you really can’t tell what’s going to happen. When my oldest, who now plays in college, first started to play, he would pick the flowers on the field and run them to me on the sidelines. At that point I would never have guessed he’d keep playing with such incredible devotion and determination.

Courtesy Steinglass Family

Elizabeth Steinglass, Poet-in-Training

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


Do more of what you love.

I think that’s what I would tell anyone.

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

One of my favorite poems in Soccerverse is “Instructions for the Field.” The poem tells the field how to do its job. This month’s challenge is for you to write a poem giving instructions to an inanimate object about how to do its job. My poem uses personification. Yours can too, but it doesn’t have to. You might want to think about how the object looks, what you hope it will do, and what you hope it won’t do. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Text copyright © 2019 by Elizabeth Steinglass. Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Edson Ikê.
From SOCCERVERSE: POEMS ABOUT SOCCER (Wordsong).

Michelle, a huge thank you to you for inviting me to visit and for years of supporting and inspiring our community.

Oh my goodness, the pleasure's all mine, Liz! What a joy it's been to have you here to share this wonderful collection!

As for the awesome ditty challenge, I have no doubt some TLD players are already raring to go! If you're like me, however, and would prefer to kick ideas around, come back next Friday when we'll be sharing Liz's Classroom Connections post. It not only describes how Soccerverse can be used in the classroom, but also elaborates on how her challenge can be used with students!

Won't you please help me thank Elizabeth Steinglass for being our honorary ditty team captain this month? 

Also, for offering a personalized copy of Soccerverse: Poems about Soccer to one lucky DMC participant!

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


HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

Post your poem that gives job instructions to an inanimate object on our May 2019 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, though authors may not be given advanced notice. 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." As always, all of the poems will be included in a wrap-up celebration on the last Friday of the month—May 31st 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 for possible inclusion in future Best of Today's Little Ditty anthologies.

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.

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

If you're looking for the list of giveaway winners from last month's Classroom Connections series, you'll find it HERE.

Jama Rattigan is celebrating spring today with two gorgeous poems and this week's Poetry Friday roundup. Pull up a chair at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Classroom Connections with Georgia Heard

TODAY'S READ

Boom! Bellow! Bleat!: Animal Poems for Two or More Voices

Georgia Heard, Author
Aaron DeWitt, Illustrator

Wordsong (March 12, 2019)
ISBN: 978-1620915202

For grades K-5

Purchase at Amazon.com
Purchase at Barnes & Noble
Purchase via Indiebound.org



SYNOPSIS

These poems for two or more voices explore the myriad sounds animals make—from a frog's jug-o-rum to a fish's boom! to an elephant's bark. Laced with humor, the poems are meant to read aloud and cover all major classes of animals: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, even a crustacean! Readers will learn how to estimate the temperature by counting a cricket's chirps and see how creatures make sounds at specific pitches and frequencies, so that they can be heard despite other noise around them. Extensive end notes provide more information on the animals and how and why they make the sounds they do. This is an ideal collection for parents and children to share, or for a fun, interactive classroom read-aloud.


A PEEK INSIDE

Text copyright © 2019 by Georgia Heard. Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Aaron DeWitt.
From BOOM! BELLOW! BLEAT!: ANIMAL POEEMS FOR TWO OR MORE VOICES (Wordsong).

Enjoy this ribbeting riveting rendition of "We Don't Say Ribbet!" by students, Minnie and Gigi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEnj8NKbMvE&feature=share

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Georgia Heard grew up in Virginia in a house on the edge of 100 acres of woods. She spent her childhood listening to an orchestra of birds, insects, frogs and other creatures in her backyard. She is the author of Creatures of Earth, Sea and Sky: Animal Poems, and has compiled several poetry anthologies for children including the Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems and Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems. She is a founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in New York City where she also received her M.F.A. in Poetry from Columbia University.  She is the author of numerous books on writing including: Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School which was cited by Instructor Magazine as one of the “10 Books Every Teacher Should Read.”

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS

Why is bringing poetry into the classroom important?

I believe that children are natural poets; they see the world with poet’s eyes and often speak using poetic words. Bringing poetry into the classroom nurtures what is natural in kids.

Perhaps the most important reason for bringing poetry into the classroom is that it helps children connect with how they feel, and, by reading a variety of poetry, kids connect with other people in the world which encourages empathy.

We should also bring poetry into the classroom because it can teach kids about writing in all genres. Grace Paley said that she went to the school of poetry in order to learn how to write prose. Here are a few writing craft tools that poetry can teach:

• imagery 
• voice
• word choice
• revision

And many, many other tools.

I love what’s written on your blog Today’s Little Ditty: “a poetry playground for the child in all of us.”  That’s exactly how poetry should feel—like a poetry playground.
 
How might your book be incorporated into an educational curriculum?

There are many wonderful ways to incorporate Boom! Bellow! Bleat! into the classroom—from performing poems in reader’s theater as well as in interactive read-alouds, to including Boom! Bellow! Bleat! in a nonfiction study of animals where students research and write their own animal sound poems for two voices with accompanying informational back matter, to how Lucy Calkins used one of my poems (“Forest Orchestra”) in her new Units of Study on Phonics to help kids play with and perform sounds, and learn phonics. Animal sounds are perfect for this!

This is perfect book to help children with reading fluency for ELA and ELL. For reader’s theater and interactive read-aloud, there is a performance key in the beginning of the book that tells readers how they might read the poems. The poems are colored coded and each reader, or group of readers, can choose one color of text to read (usually black or red) alternating with one another. Words in blue are spoken by all readers in unison. It’s a good sign when students in classrooms, after reading and performing Boom! Bellow! Bleat!, always ask, Can we read it again?

Although Boom! Bellow! Bleat! is a book of poetry it also incorporates a lot of nonfiction information. Many people don’t realize that writing poetry can involve research, and nonfiction information can be incorporated into poems. There is extensive nonfiction back matter on each animal and their sounds that I call Nature’s Notes. When students write their own animal poems for two voices they can learn how to transform information and facts gathered from research into poetry by close reading the poems in Boom! Bellow! Bleat!. They can include informational animal sound poems in a nonfiction informational piece.

Can you suggest a specific classroom exercise related to your book?

One specific classroom exercise using my poem “We Don’t Say Ribbit!” is when teachers and students create a frog pond chorus. Teachers can introduce the poem by reading the Nature’s Notes in the back of book explaining the difference between frogs and toads. Then they might divide the class into two groups: the frog group and the toad group. When the class reads the poem out loud the frog group will say, or perform, the frog sounds (written in black), and the toad group will say, or perform, the toad sounds (written in red). They will alternate calls between frogs and toads such as waaa, twang, and yeeeeeoooow (which are actual frog and toad calls), and then the whole group will say the refrain together (written in blue): We don’t say ribbit! / We say…. You can turn the classroom into a frog and toad pond by standing in different parts of the room and performing the sounds. To add extra drama to the performance, sometimes I use animal hand puppets to perform the poems and ask students to join in with me.

What is a simple, practical tip for teachers when it comes to incorporating poetry in the classroom?

I suggest that teachers begin by reading a poem aloud to their students every day. It only takes a minute or two to read a poem—teachers might start the day (or the class) with a poem or end the day with a poem. Or have a daily poetry break. It’s important to read a variety of poems—from rhyming poems to free verse poems to poems for two voices—so students can get a taste of all kinds of poetry. Ask students to keep a poetry folder with the poems they really love, illustrate in the margins the pictures they see in their minds, and write what makes them love this particular poem. With this simple tip, I can guarantee that within a matter of a couple of weeks students will be asking for more poetry.

Can you recount a specific instance of when poetry impacted a student or group of students in a positive way?

A student in one of my classes was going through a tough time at home. He was the kid whose desk was in the corner, and he was always getting in trouble at school. When he started to read and write poetry he was able to connect with his feelings, and the poems he wrote were remarkable. He became the class poet. He created a book of his own poems and was so proud, he shared it with everyone who walked in the room. He had found something that he valued and that enabled him to be authentic. Poetry helped him find his voice as a writer.

When I teach poetry, stories like this frequently happen. The kids who feel they aren't good at anything, especially writing, often become the class poets. I’m not sure why that is—maybe because poetry is short and, therefore, more manageable than other kinds of writing, but I think it’s also because poetry is freer and kids are able to write what they think and feel, and it sometimes catches those who are falling through the cracks.


CONNECT WITH GEORGIA HEARD

Website:www.Georgiaheard.com
Twitter and Instagram: Georgiaheard1
Facebook: Georgia Heard Page  (georgiaheard1)

Many thanks to Georgia for participating in our Classroom Connections series for National Poetry Month, and to Wordsong for providing me with a copy of Boom! Bellow! Bleat! for one randomly selected TLD reader!

To enter, leave a comment below or send an email with the subject "Boom Bellow Bleat Giveaway" to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com by Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Winners will be announced on Thursday, May 2nd, so be sure to check back to see if you've won!

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

Check out the other Classroom Connections posts and giveaways on offer this month by clicking the names below!

• Eric Ode (Otters, Snails and Tadpole Tails: Poems from the Wetlands)
• Kip Wilson (White Rose) 
• Carole Boston Weatherford (The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop)
• Skila Brown (Clackety Track: Poems About Trains) 
• Janet Wong (A Suitcase of Seaweed & MORE) 
• Debbie Levy (This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality)
• Susannah Buhrman-Deever (Predator and Prey: A Conversation in Verse) 
• Charles Ghigna (The Night the Forest Came to Town)
• Margaret Simon (Bayou Song: Creative Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape)  
• Patrice Vecchione (Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience)
• Leslie Bulion (Superlative Birds)
• Marilyn Singer (Have You Heard About Lady Bird?: Poems About Our First Ladies and I'm the Big One Now!: Poems About Growing Up) 
• Alice Faye Duncan (A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks)
• Shannon Bramer (Climbing Shadows: Poems for Children)
• Aida Salazar (The Moon Within)

Digital art © 2018 by Miranda Barnes,
based on a line from "Ghazal" by Tracy K. Smith.

TO FOLLOW:

The best way to keep up with the Classroom Connections series is by subscribing to Today's Little Ditty via email, which you can do in the sidebar. I will also be announcing the posts on social media. Like me on Facebook and/or follow me on Twitter (also in the sidebar) to stay informed that way. Catch up with Classroom Connections posts you may have missed by clicking on the "It's time to INSPIRE" icon in the sidebar, or by visiting my "Poetry in the Classroom" board on Pinterest.

Classroom Connections with Marilyn Singer

It's a Two-for-Tuesday doubleheader!

TODAY'S READS

Have You Heard About Lady Bird?:
Poems About Our First Ladies

Marilyn Singer, Author
Nancy Carpenter, Illustrator

Disney-Hyperion (October 16, 2018)
ISBN: 978-1484726600

For ages 6-11, but older kids and adults like it, too.

Purchase at Amazon.com
Purchase at Barnes & Noble
Purchase via Indiebound.org



SYNOPSIS 

A book of poems about all of the First Ladies, it includes prose back matter, which elaborates on these fascinating women.

I'm the Big One Now!:
Poems about Growing Up

Marilyn Singer, Author
Jana Christy, Illustrator

Wordsong (March 5, 2019)
ISBN: 978-1629791692

For 4-8 year olds.

Purchase at Amazon.com
Purchase at Barnes & Noble
Purchase via Indiebound.org



SYNOPSIS

A book of poems that celebrate growing up and milestones both large and small in a young person's life, such as learning how to whistle, riding the school bus alone, and becoming an older sibling.


A LOOK INSIDE

Click on images to enlarge.

Text copyright © 2018 by Marilyn Singer. Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Nancy Carpenter.
From HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT LADY BIRD?: POEMS ABOUT OUR FIRST LADIES (Disney-Hyperion).

Text copyright © 2019 by Marilyn Singer. Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Jana Christy.
From I’M THE BIG ONE NOW!: POEMS ABOUT GROWING UP (Wordsong).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Read Marilyn Singer's spotlight interview
on Today's Little Ditty HERE.

Winner of the 2015 Award for Excellence in Poetry, Marilyn Singer is the author of over one hundred books,  including six featuring young ballet student, Tallulah, and many poetry collections, such as Mirror Mirror (Dial/Penguin) for which she created the “reverso” form.  Her latest books are Have You Heard about Lady Bird?: Poems about Our First Ladies (Disney-Hyperion); I’m the Big One Now!: Poems about Growing Up (Boyds Mills); Hair! (Millbrook/Lerner); Who Are You Calling Weird? (Words and Pictures/Quarto); and Float, Flutter (Simon Spotlight). Coming out this fall: Who Named Their Pony Macaroni? (Disney-Hyperion); Gulp, Gobble (Simon Spotlight); and Wild in the Streets (Words and Pictures/Quarto). She co-hosts the Poetry Blast, which features children’s poets reading their work at ALA and other conferences. Avid bird-watchers and swing dancers, Marilyn and her husband live in Brooklyn, NY and Washington, CT with several pets.

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS

Why is bringing poetry into the classroom important?

I believe that when we’re kids, we all like poetry—rhymes and songs and language that is sparkling and evocative. Good poetry surprises and enlightens. It sticks with us and moves us in ways that prose can’t (which is not a put-down of prose; it has to do with the compactness, imagery, words, and syntax that poetry uses). It helps with language development, with seeing things through different perspectives, with teaching us to listen, and, frankly, with opening our hearts. We lose the love of poetry through lack of practice and exposure and through over-analysis or disdain by the adults we know.

Teachers and parents can help us keep that love for poetry by offering it regularly and by showing their own affection for the genre. I find that some teachers (and parents, too) are scared of poetry. They think it’s high-falutin’ and difficult to understand.  I like to point out to them that there are many kinds of poetry and that there’s bound to be a type or even just a poem or two out there that will speak to you.

During a talk I gave to elementary school kids, one boy said he liked poetry because it was about feelings and he could express emotions in and through it. If that isn’t important, I don’t know what is!

Can you recount a specific instance of when poetry impacted a student or group of students in a positive way?

Well, I think I just gave an example above. Other instances come to mind, as well. I’ve given several Skype talks about my reversos, which are featured in Mirror Mirror, Follow Follow, and Echo Echo, all illustrated by Josée Masse and published by Dial/Penguin. A reverso is a poem with two halves—the second half reverses the lines of the first, with changes only in punctuation and capitalization, and it must say something different from the first half. The form seems to fascinate kids and adults alike. In classes I’ve spoken to, students generally write their own and read them to me. The satisfaction they get out of completing this difficult task—this literary game—is a delight to behold.

I also spoke to a poetry club at an elementary school and read a bunch of poems I’d written about frogs to show how a subject could spawn (pun intended) so many different types of poems and ideas about these amphibians. The kids gave me a big round of finger snaps, then read some of their work. A school with a poetry club? How fantastic is that!

How might your book be incorporated into an educational curriculum?

I think that a lot of my books can be incorporated into an educational curriculum. Teachers can use Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems about Our Presidents (illustrated by John Hendrix) and Have You Heard about Lady Bird?: Poems about Our First Ladies (illustrated by Nancy Carpenter), both published by Disney-Hyperion, to discuss history and to illustrate how prose and poetry can handle biography differently. 

For units on cultural diversity, Feel the Beat!: Dance Poems that Zing from Salsa to Swing! (Dial, illustrated by Kristi Valiant) and Every Month Is a New Year (Lee & Low, illustrated by Susan L. Roth) are good fits. My books for younger kids, such as A Stick Is an Excellent Thing (Clarion, illustrated by LeUyen Phan) and I’m the Big One Now (Boyds Mills/Wordsong, illustrated by Jana Christy), can help kids explore play and important, sometimes challenging, events in their lives and encourage them to write their own poems about these things. 

Can you suggest a specific classroom exercise related to each of your books?

For Have You Heard about Lady Bird?: have your class campaign for, then vote for favorite First Lady. 

For I'm the Big One Now: ask students to bring in photos, drawings, poems, or other material illustrating a special moment when they were younger—riding a bike, holding a new sibling, taking a trip, etc.

What is a simple, practical tip for teachers when it comes to incorporating poetry in the classroom?

Most importantly, teachers and students should get to know the many poetry books out there, and not just a few familiar ones. They should find poems they love, have fun with them, and definitely read them aloud. Poetry is an oral/aural form and it’s meant to be heard. They can stage performances and listen to audio books (Actor Joe Morton and I did audio books of all three reverso volumes for Live Oak Media, and there are many other wonderful audio books of poetry out there). And they should check out the article I wrote for School Library Journal about making poetry relevant and engaging:  http://marilynsinger.net/onwriting/knock-poetry-off-the-pedestal-its-time-to-make-poems-a-part-of-childrens-everyday-lives/. Lots of useful stuff there!

One favorite tip from the above article is this one: How about making poetry trading cards? It’s another way to fall in love with poems and the poets who write them. Plus, it’s easy to do. Start by asking your students to find a poem they like in an anthology. Then have them find a book written by the same poet and pick out another poem that appeals to them. Next, kids can copy their poems on blank cards and illustrate these with their own drawings or pictures from old magazines. Finally, it’s time to trade. If students don’t like the poems they receive, they can keep trading for another one.


CONNECT WITH MARILYN SINGER

Website: www.marilynsinger.net

Look for Who Named Their Pony Macaroni?: Poems about Pets in the White House (Disney-Hyperion), illustrated by Ryan McAmis, this fall!

Many thanks to Marilyn for participating in our Classroom Connections series for National Poetry Month, and to Hyperion and Wordsong for providing me with copies of Have You Heard About Lady Bird? and I'm the Big One Now! for two randomly selected TLD readers!

To enter, leave a comment below or send an email with the subject "Lady Bird Giveaway" and/or the subject "Big One Giveaway" to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com by Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Winners will be announced on Thursday, May 2nd, so be sure to check back to see if you've won!

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

Check out the other Classroom Connections posts and giveaways on offer this month by clicking the names below!

• Eric Ode (Otters, Snails and Tadpole Tails: Poems from the Wetlands)
• Kip Wilson (White Rose) 
• Carole Boston Weatherford (The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop)
• Skila Brown (Clackety Track: Poems About Trains) 
• Janet Wong (A Suitcase of Seaweed & MORE) 
• Debbie Levy (This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality)
• Susannah Buhrman-Deever (Predator and Prey: A Conversation in Verse) 
• Charles Ghigna (The Night the Forest Came to Town)
• Margaret Simon (Bayou Song: Creative Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape)  
• Patrice Vecchione (Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience)
• Leslie Bulion (Superlative Birds)

Digital art © 2018 by Miranda Barnes,
based on a line from "Ghazal" by Tracy K. Smith.

TO FOLLOW:

The best way to keep up with the Classroom Connections series is by subscribing to Today's Little Ditty via email, which you can do in the sidebar. I will also be announcing the posts on social media. Like me on Facebook and/or follow me on Twitter (also in the sidebar) to stay informed that way. Catch up with Classroom Connections posts you may have missed by clicking on the "It's time to INSPIRE" icon in the sidebar, or by visiting my "Poetry in the Classroom" board on Pinterest.

Book Love: FRESH DELICIOUS

It's no secret that I love Irene Latham's work—
          her poetry for children, her poetry for adults, and her middle grade novels as well.

I also happen to love Irene's gracious personality and the authenticity with which she lives her life as a creative artist.  If I could hire her as my personal guru, I would.

Irene Latham was one of Today's Little Ditty's first Spotlight ON interviews, celebrating the release of DEAR WANDERING WILDEBEEST: And Other Poems from the Water Hole (Millbrook Press, 2014). This year she has two new collections of children's poetry— WHEN THE SUN SHINES ON ANTARCTICA: And Other Poems about the Frozen Continent (Millbrook Press, February 2016) and FRESH DELICIOUS: Poems from the Farmers' Market (WordSong, March 2016).

I've been excited about FRESH DELICIOUS since last summer, when a few of us were given a sneak peek at an SCBWI workshop with Rebecca M. Davis, senior editor for Boyds Mills Press and WordSong.  I'm pleased to finally be able to share that excitement with you!

FRESH DELICIOUS: Poems from the Farmer's Market
WordSong (March 8, 2016)  ISBN: 978-1629791036
Find at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or at your local independent bookstore.

Let me start by saying,

this collection is as fresh and delicious as they come!

Twenty-one whimsical poems about farmers' market produce are paired with Mique Moriuchi's playful collage illustrations to delight readers from age 4 to 104. Although I won't be doing an in-depth review of FRESH DELICIOUS (Jama Rattigan already did a brilliant write-up on Jama's Alphabet Soup), I'd like to share my personal impressions and a couple of poems.

What appeals to me most about this collection is that it's chock full of wonder.  Several of the poems remind me of the work of another favorite poet, Valerie Worth. In writing her "small poems," Valerie Worth keenly examined ordinary objects to find each one's "mysterious poetry," as she called it,

"...a poetry still wordless, formless, inaudible, but asking to be translated into words and images and sounds—to be expressed as a poem. Perhaps it could be said that written poetry is simply a way of revealing and celebrating the essentially poetic nature of the world itself."  
        — from Lee Bennett Hopkins' NCTE Profile of Valerie Worth

Whether it's a fleet of green submarine cucumbers, basil butterfly wings, summer squash punctuation, or treasure chests of farm fresh eggs, Irene pays respect to that inventive process in FRESH DELICIOUS. With a flavor all her own, ordinary produce becomes extraordinary as we discover each fruit and vegetable's unique and unexpected character. Irene is masterful at capturing both the imagination and enthusiasm of her youngest readers as they discover the joys of healthy eating, right down to the handful of recipes at the back of the book.

I'm telling you, kids are going to gobble this book up... and their fruits and vegetables too! 

My favorite spread from FRESH DELICIOUS has two poems about corn-on-the-cob. When I approached Irene about sharing her corn poems, she sent me a scrapbook page that included this photo of her Granddaddy Dykes standing in front of his corn garden. Isn't it marvelous?

Irene says, "this book is very much tied to my memories of summers spent at my grandparents' Port Saint Joe, Florida home... back then I didn't need a farmers' market, because we WERE the farmers!"




Now, on to the poems.... 

The first one I'm sharing is a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier— the revelation of corn's unique and unexpected character.

Text © Irene Latham. Illustrations © Mique Moriuchi. Used with permission from WordSong.

CORN

I don't know
why

they call it 
an ear

when
I see

rows 
upon rows

of tiny
noses.

                                                  Oh, those noses!!! My heart is melting like a pat of butter. 

The second poem picks up where the first left off.

Text © Irene Latham. Illustrations © Mique Moriuchi. Used with permission from WordSong.

ABOUT CORN

Mama says
we call them
ears

for the way
they grow

on the sides
of the stalk—

pert
and tufted,

tilted
away from

one
another,

listening 
to the
sun.

Listen... did you hear that? 

The sun is saying don't miss out on the opportunity to share this charming collection of poetry with all the special mice, bunnies, and other little ones in your life!


Learn more about Irene Latham by visiting her website and blog– Live Your Poem.
Learn more about Mique Moriuchi at miquemoriuchi.com.