Bruce Coville - Steve: A Cautionary Tale

Steve: A Cautionary Tale
by
Bruce Coville

See this boy? His name is Steve.
He wipes his nose upon his sleeve.
Some day he'll learn this habit's dirty:
He'll do it in a short-sleeve shirty!

© Bruce Coville. All rights reserved.

---

I am an unabashed Bruce Coville fan, so when I was putting together this year's edition of 30/30, I shot him an email. You see, I've heard him speak (a MUST if you get the chance)... and he's had bits of his poetry in different presentations. He also always makes me laugh, so I was hoping he'd have something fun lying around. As they say, score! I laughed when Bruce sent this - a poem inspired by his days as an elementary school teacher - then laughed again when he came up with the title. Good times!

The author of more than 100 books for kids (or, from another perspective, author of over 14 million books in print!), Bruce Coville is truly a master storyteller with tremendous range. When I'm working in the school library and kids are looking for something good to read, I always know I can turn to him and, even if I haven't read everything we have on the shelf, I know I can find a great match. From magic shops to unicorns to monsters to Shakespeare retelling to kids with nasty habits, I'm always ready for the ride he'll take me on... just one of the reasons I'm thrilled to have Bruce Coville here today as part of 30 Poets/30 Days.

Yesterday, Thanhha Lai shared The Last Hen with us. Tomorrow... In My Backyard from Susan Taylor Brown! For more on 30 Poets/30 Days and ways to follow along, please click here.