Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The June Carnival of Children's Literature....

It's up! And it's in two places. So, if you want to see a whole bunch of great stuff from the month of June, check out...

Book Dads for part one

and...

Chapter Book of the Day for part two (aka, the bonus edition).

Friday, June 24, 2011

Oooh. A New Form to Try

It's Poetry Friday today (you can find the weekly roundup over at Carol's Corner) and, while I don't have an original poem to share this week... April Halprin Wayland has shared a new-to-me form of poetry called the trimeric that looks well worth trying.

Check out April's examples and see what you come up with. Try a trimeric, she says! Indeed. Indeed.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Sleeping In! - a sleep poem/a sleeping late poem

Sleeping In!
by
Greg Pincus

Sleeping in!
What could be greater
Than staying in bed ‘til it’s later and later?
Forget about sunrise and breakfast and brunch,
If I have my way then I’ll sleep right through lunch.
Sleeping in!
There isn’t much to it:
You stay fast asleep - that’s the best way to do it.
On weekends, vacations, and random days off
(On days with no need to fake fever or cough),
There’s nothing that’s better than waking at 10
Then rolling right over and snoozing again.
Sleeping in!
I’ll start in tonight...
And practice all summer to get it just right.

It's Poetry Friday once again, so head on over to Check It Out for the weekly roundup, kindly gathered by Jone, and, uh, check it out.

Plus, if you want to get all my poems emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Counting Down (Always) - An end of the school year poem/A summer vacation poem

Counting Down (Always)
by
Greg Pincus

Counting down
Time goes slow...
Six long days of school to go.

Counting down
Five, four, three...
So, so close to being free.

Counting down
Two... one... yay!
School is out! Hooray! Hooray!

Counting down
Time goes fast.
80 days... then summer's passed.

If you want to get all my poems emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Announcing Kidlit Drink Night- the Los Angeles Version (June 18th)!

Here in L.A., many of us have been watching the New York Kid Lit Drink Night for some time with a tinge of jealousy. Heck, I've even BEEN to one, and it was a whole mess of fun. So, driven by Lee Wind and Jill Corcoran, a plan has been concocted for the first ever Los Angeles Kid Lit Drink Night. Here are the details:

The First Ever Informal And Amazing
Los Angeles Kidlit Drink Night
June 18, 2011
6-8pm
at
Pink Taco in the Century City Mall
meet on the patio!

Who should come? Anyone involved in the world of children's literature from board book to YA: authors, illustrators, bloggers, librarians, teachers, agents, editors, etc. Who will be there? Folks involved in the world of children's literature (including Lee, Jill, me, Sara Wilson Etienne and Rita Crayon Huang (all of us, of course, contingent on schedules)!

This is TOALLY informal and driven by all who attend not the five of us listed above. In other words, if you want to come chat, you come chat; you want to chat and eat, you buy your food and chat and eat; you want to chat and drink, you buy your drink and chat. It should be a mess of fun.

The location was chosen with eyes on having a second LA Kid Lit Drink Night during the upcoming SCBWI Summer Conference (not that the night is affiliated with SCBWI, mind you, though many of us will know each other from there). So keep that in mind for August.

Gonna be there? Cool! Let me know... or I'll just see you there.

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Zoom, Zoom, Zooooooom!

Days fly past around these parts - I suspect a rift in the time/space continuum, though I can't prove it - and I have had precious little time for blogging. Ahhh, but I've been scribbling and jotting and writing other things, including poetry, so it's all about tradeoffs, I tell ya.

Since time is gonna move fast for all of us (due to the rift, I'm telling ya!), I don't think it's too early to mention the next KidLitCon! It's coming September 16-17th in Seattle, and I can't wait. I missed last year's Con (my first absence :-(), but sure darn tooting plan on being there this year.  You can get more details at Chasing Ray... and even more info will be forthcoming soooooooon.  Hope to see you there!

Now, off to slow down all my clocks....

Friday, June 03, 2011

It's June (And I Am Still In School) - an end of the school year poem

It’s June (And I’m Still In School)
by
Greg Pincus

I’ll tell you something most uncool –
It’s June… and I am still in school.
I’ve got some friends whose year is done.
They’re sleeping in. They’re having fun.
Next week they’ll only play and rest
While I will take an English test.
And when they run and laugh and swim...
Guess what? I’m stuck in math and gym.
It isn’t right. It isn’t fair.
I need the late spring’s fresh, warm air.
It’s not that I hate school at all.
I’ll gladly come back in the fall.
And sure, vacation’s coming soon,
But I’m in school. And. It. Is. June!

It's Poetry Friday, and you can see the roundup of blogosphere poetic doings over at The Writer's Armchair. Good times and good reading, indeed.

And if you want to get all my poems emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Thursday, June 02, 2011

J. Patrick Lewis - With Nuts Only (on Yell "Fudge" at the Cobras in North America Day)

With Nuts Only
by
J. Patrick Lewis

If you enter his arena
From here to Pasadena
And laugh like a hyena—
A cobra will not budge.

You wave a red bandanna
From here to Indiana,
Or dangle a banana—
He’s sober as a judge.

Since the time of Noah,
A cobra’s like a boa,
And neither one will go a-
Way till you say

“Fudge!”

Did you know that today, June 2nd, is Yell "Fudge" at the Cobras in North America Day? No? Well, I didn't either until J. Patrick Lewis (oh, excuse me - Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis) sent me this piece of wonderfulness. And so, I pass on the news and the poem to you. Fudge!!!!