Things from my refrigerator. Albert Allen’s alligator. Mr. Tobin’s fresh grown squash. Edamame succotash. Bacon, sausage, juicy steak, Pudding, pies, and birthday cake.
Mary Lee adds: "This is an accurate snapshot of the inside of my refrigerator at the moment!"
Penny Parker Klostermann has challenged us to
write one to four couplets following her example– things we might feed a dragon to avoid
being swallowed ourselves. Click HERE for more details.
Send your couplets to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com,
or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. All contributions
will be included in a whopper of a cumulative poem featured at our wrap-up celebration on Friday, August 28th. One
lucky participant will win a personalized copy of Penny's deliciously funny debut picture book:
Things from my refrigerator. Albert Allen’s alligator. Mr. Tobin’s fresh grown squash. Edamame succotash. Bacon, sausage, juicy steak Pudding, pies, and birthday cake.
– Penny Parker Klostermann, all rights reserved
Peanut butter mixed with jelly spread on slices of pork belly.
– Patricia Podlipec, all rights reserved.
Penny Parker Klostermann has challenged us to
write one to four couplets following her example– things we might feed a dragon to avoid
being swallowed ourselves. Click HERE for more details.
Send your couplets to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com,
or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. All contributions
will be included in a whopper of a cumulative poem featured at our wrap-up celebration on Friday, August 28th. One
lucky participant will win a personalized copy of Penny's deliciously funny debut picture book:
Things from my refrigerator. Albert Allen’s alligator. Mr. Tobin’s fresh grown squash. Edamame succotash. Bacon, sausage, juicy steak Pudding, pies, and birthday cake.
– Penny Parker Klostermann, all rights reserved
Spinach-flavored ice cream treats. Pizza topped with pickled beets.
Foot-long hot dogs swallowed whole. Caesar Salad with the bowl. Fresh-picked corn, cob, husks and silk, And gallon jugs of chocolate milk.
– Vivian Kirkfield, all rights reserved
Penny Parker Klostermann has challenged us to
write one to four couplets following her example– things we might feed a dragon to avoid
being swallowed ourselves. Click HERE for more details.
Send your couplets to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com,
or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. All contributions
will be included in a whopper of a cumulative poem featured at our wrap-up celebration on Friday, August 28th. One
lucky participant will win a personalized copy of Penny's deliciously funny debut picture book:
'Swounds! Can I not take my leave for ONE MONTH without returning to a voracious dragon wreaking havoc in these parts? Methinks Penny Parker Klostermann is to blame! Verily, it is so.
Penny Parker Klostermann is the author of There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight (Random House, 2015). She loves all kinds of books, but especially very silly picture books that make her laugh. She has been known to hug her favorite picture books and seriously hopes that someday her books will gain huggable status too.
THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT
Random House Books for Young Readers, Aug 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0385390804
Find at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or via IndieBound.org
Hmmmm... plump... googly-eyed... this fellow seems harmless enough. I'm quite fond of the polka-dotted neckerchief he's sporting. Shall we give him a chance? It's not like he can swallow an entire ditty kingdom, right?
Think again!
This gorbellied, hook-nosed scoundrel is NOT to be trusted. Oh, he may look puppy-faced, but just like that old, witless woman who swallowed a fly, this cold-blooded hornbeast hath no clue about good manners. He gorges himself silly – bloatage maximus – until... well... you'll have to read the book to find out what happens next.
4-8 year olds are going to LOVE this picture book– especially budding squires and squiresses. The antics are hilarious, and British animator Ben Mantle's cartoon illustrations are the perfect match for Penny's rollicking rhymed verse– bright, expressive, and exuberant. Check out this interview with Ben Mantle describing his artistic process, then hie thee to Penny's blog for a fun activity guide or to sign up for her newsletter.
Perchance you would like to get to know Penny better? 'Tis thy lucky day! Hither art the lady's five favorites.
Favorite childhood memory:
Wading in the Crystal River with my three sisters
Favorite subject in school:
Physical Education
Favorite teacher:
Mrs. Ferguson, my fourth grade teacher. She praised my writing skills and let us cook and pull taffy at school.
Mrs. Ferguson
Miss Penny (1st grade)
Favorite food:
Rib-eye steak
Favorite smell:
Rain as it hits the ground and mixes with the dirt. I recently found out that this smell actually has a name. It's called "petrichor," from the Greek words "petra," meaning "stone," and "ichor," which refers to the fluid that flows like blood in the veins of the gods.
Congratulations on your debut picture book! We all have twists and turns in our lives, many of which are unexpected. Can you point to any events that, in retrospect, were instrumental to finding your way to children’s publishing? Or did you know you’d find your way here all along?
I didn’t know that I would find my way here. In fact I probably didn’t read a picture book from the time I outgrew them in elementary school until the time I started reading them to my son. Even when I was reading them to him, I didn’t have my sights set on being an author. I loved the books! Loved reading them to him! But I was a teacher and a mother and that’s about all my mind could handle. And then one day, after my son had outgrown picture books, too, I picked up a copy of The Math Curse. That book made me laugh so hard. Probably because I have the math curse! Anyway, that planted a seed and it grew slowly until I decided I wanted to give writing picture books a try.
Please describe your “writing zone” – when, where, how do you prefer to write?
I write on my laptop sitting on the couch in my living room or the couch on my patio. Both places have lots of light and I love light! Since I know it’s best that I don’t sit for long lengths of time (I get super stiff!), I set a timer for 30 minutes (sometimes I cheat and go longer ☺). Then I do the laundry or take my shower or clean my house or run errands…anything to get me moving for a while. Then back to writing. Also, I love to walk! Love! So a couple of times a day I head out into the neighborhood to walk. I consider this part of my writing zone as I have done a lot of creating and revising on my walks. I record my thoughts on my iPhone.
What inspired THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT?
I love cumulative tales. Many of the rewrites of THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A FLY were hilarious and well written. It appealed to me to give this a try. I had several ideas written in my 2011 PiBoIdMo List (Tara Lazar’s Picture Book Idea Month), but hadn’t attempted one. I started out with a different character but couldn’t find enough exciting things for him to swallow. So I ran through a list Tara has on her website-500+ THINGS KIDS LIKE. Dragons! Kids like dragons! It fit the rhythm and I could think of all kinds of medieval fun! I was off and writing.
After reading this book, it’s obvious that you had loads of fun writing it! What did you find the most enjoyable? In what way(s) did it challenge you?
I did have loads of fun! Most enjoyable? The basic story came quickly. I had it down in less than a day. It was really fun to imagine all of the items a dragon could swallow in a kingdom. Challenging? I wanted my dragon to have a reason for swallowing each item. In the beginning this resulted in some forced rhymes so I had to tweak and tweak until I found my way around those. Then once Maria Modugno (my fabulous editor at Random House) saw the story, she asked that I change the beginning. Here is the original beginning:
There was an old dragon who swallowed a knight. I DO know why he swallowed the knight… …he won the fight.
She didn’t want the word fight AND she wanted to have the traditional “I don’t know why” as part of the story. As you can imagine, changing this would change my story in other ways. But after giving it some thought, I felt she had excellent points. I love my story so much more after revising per her advice! Here’s the new beginning:
There was an old dragon who swallowed a knight. I don't know why he swallowed the knight. It’s not polite!
This is my favorite because
this annoying little steed clippity-clops through the entire book, which
I think, adds a special dose of humor. And once I saw how Ben Mantle
illustrated the steed and his clippity-clopping this selection went even
higher on my favorite scale.
Yep! I live just a hop, skip, and a rattle from Sweetwater, TX, home of the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup. They serve fried rattlesnake and I had to try it. They said it tastes just like chicken. Blech! I say it tastes just like rattlesnake and I don’t want to ever swallow it again!
Can you give us a hint about what’s coming up next for you?
Yes. I’m very excited about picture book number two, A COOKED UP FAIRY TALE. In this fairy tale mash-up, a well-meaning chef accidentally cooks with ingredients essential to famous stories-Snow White's apple, Jack's magic beans, and Cinderella’s pumpkin. Ben Mantle will be illustrating this book, too. It is slated for Spring 2017.
If you had all the world’s children in one room, what would you tell them?
I would tell them to embrace their sense of humor.
Finally, please tell us what you have chosen as this month’s ditty challenge.
Since my book is a cumulative tale, I thought it might be fun for challenge participants to contribute to a cumulative poem for this month’s Little Ditty Challenge.
The poem will be made up of couplets.
Here is the definition of a couplet from Kenn Nesbitt’s site:
Two lines of poetry, one after the other, that rhyme and are of the same length and rhythm. For example, “I do not like green eggs and ham. / I do not like them Sam I Am.”
What kind of couplets should you add? We know that my old dragon swallowed his way through the entire kingdom . . . what if it happens again? I think we should be prepared just in case the old dragon comes our way. Let’s think of things he can swallow so that we can avoid being swallowed? How it works:
I’ll start us off with three couplets naming things that the old dragon can swallow. I challenge you to add a couplet (or up to four couplets) to my couplets. Your couplets must be complete so that no rhymes are left hanging. Get as silly and outlandish as you wish. The poem will be cumulative, but not "progressive," so you won't be building off each other’s lines, only off of my starting lines. Your couplets will be part of the whole poem. Your lines can’t have "closure" — i.e., the dragon can't die or suffer some other poem-altering fate.
I have high hopes that by the end of the month we will have accumulated plenty for the old dragon to swallow and have a fun poem to boot. So let’s get started.
There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed . . .
Things from my refrigerator. Albert Allen’s alligator. Mr. Tobin’s fresh grown squash. Edamame succotash. Bacon, sausage, juicy steak Pudding, pies, and birthday cake.
Hear ye! Hear ye! All ye scribes, troubadours, wordsmiths–
Penny Parker Klostermann has thrown down
the gastronomic gauntlet!
(Pray tell, is that a dragon I hear or just my stomach growling?)
Thank you for making Today's Little Ditty a stop on ye olde blog tour AND for offering a personalized copy of THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT to one lucky participant (chosen randomly at the end of the month).
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Throughout the month, send your couplet(s) 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 celebration on August 28th, 2015.
Fare thee well, gentles and ladies!
Until we meet again... hopefully not in Dragon's belly.
If you participated in last month's DMC challenge, you're probably already "well-versed" (ha!) in how difficult it can be to use rhyme effectively. That's why it pleases me to welcome back TLD contributor, Carrie Clickard, with another installment of her series on how to write "crime-free" rhyme.
Previously, Carrie explained that getting the meter right doesn’t have to be daunting. All we need to do is –
Drop the clangers! Tricks and fixes to unwrench your rhyme.
What’s that strange clanging noise? Have we stumbled into metal shop instead of Michelle’s delightful poetry blog? No, it’s just our next Rhyme Crime offender, hard at work:
That’s Ralph you hear, clanging and banging away, forcing words into rhyme where they really don’t fit.
His crime is an especially auditory one. Try reading this example aloud:
He doesn’t mind the language being BENT And chooses words to force a wrenched ac-CENT He has no sense of how the words should SING And tries to get away with wrenched rhy-MING
– Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled
Awful, isn’t it? Did you feel yourself cringing as the wrongly stressed syllables approached? Shudder. It makes you wonder how people ever get away with wrenched rhyme. Wouldn’t an editor, wouldn’t any writer catch the mistake immediately?
Maybe not. Before you judge too quickly, spend some time listening to your favorite radio station. You probably won’t have to listen too long before you hear Wrench it Ralph at work, in everything from cowboy two-steps to high opera.
Consider this gem from the Austin Lounge Lizards, "Half a Man":
I buy a tenth of whiskey and a cold three-pack of beer I drink till I see single when I gaze into the mirror
Mir-REAR? Even if you’re willing to forgive the “rear” instead of “rur/ror” in that last syllable, putting the accent on the second syllable just isn’t done in polite pronunciation.
And in case some of you are blaming that ugliness on its country-western roots, I’ll offer up a little U2, "All Because of You":
I like the sound of my own voice I didn't give anyone else a choice An intellectual tortoise Racing with your bullet train
Tor-TOISE? Even with an Irish accent, that’s pretty unforgivable pronunciation.
And this part of writing rhymed verse is just that – unforgiving. You’re going to be expected to follow the gold standard for metered rhyme: dictionary perfect pronunciation. Not the slurred syllables you hear in coffee shops or on your phone line. Not the half mumbled abbrev-a-speak we use when we’re hurried or excited or just getting through another day. Metered rhyme demands more – it uses all those pesky syllabic markings you haven’t looked at since grade school.
Now, don’t panic. We’re not going to start marking up long passages with shorthand scansion symbols here. Instead here are two simple ways to catch Wrench it Ralph before he mangles your verse.
1. Don’t just look – LISTEN
On quick inspection, Wrench it Ralph’s work appears to work. It has the right number of feet. The final syllable may be a perfect match for its rhyme partner line. But when you read a wrenched rhyme aloud, CLUNK – you’re tripping over your own tongue. So don’t just type and read your verse silently. Stand up and declaim it – to the kids, the roses, the dog. If you get everyone’s stamp of approval, you’re ready to move on to the next test:
2. Let someone else read it aloud WITH NO COACHING
Why? Because we ALL fudge when reading our own work. We know how it should sound. We’ve heard it a million times through revision after revision. And that’s how we’re going to read it. Not the way it IS, but the way we INTEND it. So the answer is, give it to a rookie. Someone who’s never clapped eyes on the verse. And let them read it cold. Be prepared. It might sound a little like this:
Embarrassing, maybe, but isn’t it better to have that happen now and not ruin your chances with a potential editor? I thought you’d think so.
Ok… so with the criminal evidence in hand – how do we get that pesky monkey off our back and behind bars where he belongs?
1. Try a game of Eeny Meenie Minie- GO.
No matter how perfect the couplet looks, if the rhyme is wrenched, one of the two words has to be replaced. And making that choice can be the hardest part – which word to toss? Pick one at random, yes, even by eenie meenie minie moe if you have to, and settle into the hard task of replacing it.
2. Find a new word with some pond-picking.
If your mind is fixated on those first favored words, try this: Get a stack of paper scraps and your thesaurus. Pick one of the two words and write all its possible synonyms on the scraps of paper. Put them face down on the desk, swirl them around and pick one blindly. Treat it like a game of poetry go-fish. Make yourself use the word you’ve pulled in a revised stanza, even if it staggers like a turtle in a tar patch. Don’t worry. You’re not going to be stuck with it. You’re just loosening up your mind. Go ahead and try another. Maybe you’ll happen on a good choice by chance, but more likely you’ll find your mind offering better replacements.
3. Tackle it with the twins.
Your trusty thesaurus and a rhyming dictionary. For those disciplined rhymers out this, this is probably familiar territory. Crack open the thesaurus and replace one or both of your two words. Then try finding the right dance partners in your rhyming dictionary. It’s a slow, back and forth slog, but it works. The trick is not to give up. I use bribes. I’ll promise myself anything from chocolate to that panda bear hoodie I’ve been drooling over – but I can only have it when the broken stanza is fixed. Maybe you don’t need such childish impetus, but my inner poet is a bit immature – or perhaps she’s just greedy. (wink)
4. Ask a friend.
Yes you’ve heard this fix it formula from me before. It’s worth repeating. Sometimes we’re too close to our work. There’s an obvious fix, but our hearts are too tied to our “darlings” to see it. A skilled writer friend, critique partner, even a kind hearted “civilian” can sometimes point out what we’re overlooking. Don’t be too proud, or embarrassed, to ask.
There? Can you hear it, that beautiful silence framing your lovely verse? With Wrench it Ralph behind bars you’re safe from clunkers or clangers – and you won’t have to worry about hearing an editor say this:
Thanks for joining me. Keep an eye out for the next Rhyme Crime post, when we’ll be tackling Step Three: CHANGE IT UP.
Carrie Clickard is an internationally published author
and poet whose career also spans graphic design, illustration and
film. Her first picture book, VICTRICIA MALICIA, debuted in 2012 from
Flashlight Press. Forthcoming books are MAGIC FOR SALE (Holiday House, 2016) and THOMAS JEFFERSON & THE MAMMOTH HUNT (Simon and Schuster, 2017). Her poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous
anthologies and periodicals including Spider, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Clubhouse, Spellbound, Penumbra, Haiku of the Dead, Underneath the Juniper Tree, Inchoate Echoes, and The Brisling Tide.
Thanks, Carrie. I always feel better knowing you're on the case!
First, a big, bouncy THANK YOU, for all the kind, congratulatory messages I received, on the blog and on Facebook, for winning the 2015 Magazine Merit Award for Poetry. You make my heart smile.
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.
