Poetry, poetry, poetry!

First off, another big thanks to all of you who have been coming on by and reading... and extra thanks to those who've left comments, linked in, told friends, sent me email, and in general made the last three days a blast.

I want to urge you all again to go check out the Poetry Friday roundup hosted over at Amy Planchak Graves' ayuddha.net. I had said I'd be talking about other poetry fun going on in the Kidlitosphere, and I will... but that roundup post will keep you (and me!) busy all weekend! Yowza.

Outside of the children and teen poetry realm, there's also a ton going on, of course. I wanted to point out 30 in 30 - a collection of Canadian poets reading their work aloud. I really love the use of podcasting as another way of getting poems out there. So if you like poetry for adults, too, go on and check it out.

It's going to be a great, poetic weekend here, and I'll see you shortly with an X. J. Kennedy poem for your Saturday (and beyond!)

Charles Ghigna - A Poem Is...

    A Poem Is...
  -a poem cycle-
            by
  Charles Ghigna

A Poem Is A Spider Web

A poem is a spider web
Spun with words of wonder,
Woven lace held in place
By whispers made of thunder.


What's A Poem?

A whisper,
a shout,
thoughts turned
inside out.

A laugh,
a sigh,
an echo
passing by.

A rhythm,
a rhyme,
a moment
caught in time.

A moon,
a star,
a glimpse
of who you are.


A Poem Is A Little Path

A poem is a little path
That leads you through the trees.
It takes you to the cliffs and shores,
To anywhere you please.

Follow it and trust your way
With mind and heart as one,
And when the journey's over,
You'll find you’ve just begun.

©2009 Charles Ghigna. All rights reserved.

---

When Charles Ghigna, who's also known as Father Goose, sent me A Poem Is..., I started reading and just couldn't believe it. You see, that version of A Poem Is... contained 14 poems, each of which was wonderful and different and could stand alone like the three you see above, but all of which worked together perfectly in cumulatively describing what a poem “is.” Each time I read one, I thought "well, he can’t come up with another new way to describe a poem." Each time, I was wrong.

Once we decided the entire cycle was too long for a blog post, I played around and came up with, well, at least 18 different variations of three poems that I'd like to run. Luckily for me, he suggested the above three... which matched one of my choices exactly. Whew. Oh, and by the way… there are more than 14 poems in the whole work, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest, believe me. I suspect it will be a standalone book some day. It sure should be….

Today is Poetry Friday! For folks new to the Kidlitosphere, Poetry Friday is perfect for exploring what's out there. Here's a link to the "roundup" of folks talking poetry today (hosted at Amy Planchak Graves' ayuddha.net where there's also mighty fine reading to be done beyond the roundup). Go on and check it out!

Yesterday gave us Midnight Stray by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. Coming up tomorrow, X. J. Kennedy - Ladder to the Moon.

Rebecca Kai Dotlich - Midnight Stray

MIDNIGHT STRAY
by
Rebecca Kai Dotlich

She stared at me from where she sat,
one matted lump of fragile cat
who wore a grayish tattered ear --

she heard me whisper cat, come here.

A squint, a lick, a paw so small,
she did not move or purr at all --
just skin and bones and stars above her.

And that is how I came to love her.

©2009 Rebecca Kai Dotlich. All rights reserved.
Used by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

---

Rebecca Kai Dotlich's poetry just flat out wows me. Maybe you've seen her poems in anthologies or in her own collections, but if you haven't... leave the computer now and go find them (or go to her website where you can peak inside some of her books). She packs so much oomph into her words… so much emotion… such a clear point of view. Suffice to say, I'm a huge fan… as are the many, many kids who've heard me read Rebecca’s work aloud to them or taken a book out of my hands and read it on their own.

Rebecca is the subject of today’s Poetry Makers post at the Miss Rumphius Effect. Head on over there and read a great Q+A, see another poem, and learn a lot about what makes this poet tick. Then take a peak at her picture book Bella & Bean (illustrated by Aileen Leijten) about a moody, obsessed poet mouse! And then go find her poems… and read.

Yesterday was "A Little Poem For Poetry Month" by Jack Prelutsky. Coming up tomorrow, “A Poem Is…” by Charles Ghigna.

Thanks! Day one of 30 Poets/30 Days was...

... a rousing success! Extra thanks to those who commented at the blog, sent email, linked in, and Twittered #poetry and #kidlit, and super extra thanks to all those who shared Jack Prelutsky's poem with a child! It's really such a thrill to see thousands of people come read poetry. So to all of you who have helped spread the word... I think I can speak on behalf of all the poets in 30 Poets/30 Days in saying "thanks!"

Did I mention how fun it is to see people talking poetry? It is! Whether it's at EducationWorld.com or at Elaine's always fabulous Wild Rose Reader, you can find links to so much information... and at Elaine's blog you can WIN POETRY BOOKS during April. I won a J. Patrick Lewis book last year from Elaine, and I hope to win again this year.

There is so much more going on in the Kidlitosphere, too, including one very different type of poetry project -- at Lynn Hazen's Imaginary Blog, they're talking bad poetry. Say what? Go check it out. I mean really... any poetry contest that has National Book Award Winner M. T. Anderson as one of the past winners and has Fuse #8 Betsy Bird in the hot seat now simply has to be worth a look.

I could link all night, but I gotta book. Coming up soon... Rebecca Kai Dotlich's Midnight Stray! See ya then.

Jack Prelutsky - A Little Poem For Poetry Month

A Little Poem For Poetry Month
by
Jack Prelutsky

I’m glad we have a Poetry Month,
But still, I wonder why
They chose a month with thirty days—
Were months in short supply?
I wish that they’d selected
A longer month, like May.
I’m certain I’d appreciate
That extra poetry day.

Of course, if they’d picked February,
I would be aghast,
For February’s very short
And passes far too fast.
But April’s not as short as that,
So I don’t hesitate
To say I’m glad it’s Poetry Month.
Hooray! Let’s celebrate.

Copyright ©2009 by Jack Prelutsky. All rights reserved.

---

Jack Prelutsky went from being a kid who couldn’t stand poetry to being named by the Poetry Foundation as their first Children’s Poet Laureate. I could give you biographical information galore, but you can find that at his website or at the Academy of American Poets’ site or many other places.

Instead, I want to encourage each of you to grab a Jack Prelutsky poetry book and a child (or 10!) and mix 'em together to see what happens. Pick a collection like A Pizza the Size of the Sun or this March’s The Swamps of Sleethe: Poems from Beyond the Solar System and read a few poems aloud. Watch the reaction of your "audience." See them delight in the rhythms, the words, the images. Depending on the poems you’ve chosen, you might get laughs or "ooohs" or both (and you might react the same way!). But once you’ve done this, I think you’ll understand exactly why Jack Prelutsky is beloved by so many kids -- and teachers and parents and librarians. Try it yourself and see!

I know I’m absolutely thrilled to have Jack Prelutsky kicking off 30 Poets/30 Days… and I’m looking forward to Midnight Stray by Rebecca Kai Dotlich tomorrow!

#poetry!

There’s no question I’m excited about 30 Poets/30 Days kicking off tomorrow along with National Poetry Month. And there’s also no question I’m excited about using Twitter as a way for us fans of poetry (and children’s literature) to find each other and have fun talking about what we love… and maybe broaden our community to include others who love what we love. They’re out there on Twitter -- I’m sure of it.

I posted before about using the #poetry and #kidlit hashtags so we can all find each other and others can find us. Now here are some poetry specific ideas about what to tweet about, just in case you want to jump in:

Tweet a link to any National Poetry Month event or news story… to your favorite poet’s website… to a blog where people are talking about poetry.

Tweet short poetry – create Twitter verse for the Twitterverse! Haiku, Fibs, tetractys all should fit fine, and #haiku is already being used. Maybe #poetwee should be the catch all?

Find poetry lovers on Twitter and re-tweet their tweets of interest.

Tweet about poets you love… and why. Create a conversation!

The goal here is to have fun, with us all tweeting about what we’re passionate about. For me that includes #kidlit and #poetry. Will I be tweeting about 30 Poets/30 Days? Of course! But I’m looking forward to much, much more than that.

Here’s a link to a search of everyone talking #poetry and #kidlit on Twitter. You can modify the search to find one or the other… or whatever else you’re interested in. Have fun… and hope to see you there!

You can follow me on Twitter at@GottaBook or follow @30poets30days for a purer #poetry experience.

Tomorrow's the big day!

Yes, tomorrow launches the first ever 30 Poets/30 Days, and I'm pretty darn excited about that. It also launches National Poetry Month, Mathematics Awareness Month, and is April Fools' Day. And...

For Kenn Nesbitt (a 30 Poets participant and the man behind the fab Poetry4Kids), April 1 also happens to be the launch date of his new book, My Hippo Has the Hiccups: And Other Poems I Totally Made Up! I hope you find a way to help him celebrate his big day. Maybe follow him on Twitter and say "congrats!"

Looking forward to tomorrow and a new Jack Prelutsky poem to kick things off hereabouts. Hope to see you then!

Talking 30 Poets/30 Days (and more) on Just One More Book, plus....

I've talked about the joy that is the Just One More Book podcast before since it's my single favorite podcast around... so you can imagine my excitement at being asked to be on it. You can hear the results here on their episode 550. While I'm super excited about 30 Poets/30 Days, I'm also incredibly looking forward to their Rock Stars of Reading video series which starts tomorrow.

I also wanted to thank Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Books for letting me write an On Reading column at their site about my love of children's poetry.

Another hat tip to my compatriots in the Kidlitosphere for all their help. I encourage y'all to go check out the most recent Carnival of Children's Literature being hosted at Jenny's Wonderland of Books to get a little idea of what's going on in the children's literature blogosphere.

In barely under 36 hours, we'll be kicking off 30 Poets/30 Days with a new Jack Prelutsky poem... and I'm incredibly excited. Thanks again for all your support. I'll have more later, but right now I gotta book!

A 30 Poets/30 Days welcome to...

... all the folks getting here to GottaBook via the Choice Literacy newsletter! I'm glad you've come to see what we're up to here in April... and I hope you come join us (and keep spreading the word, too).

One of the great things for me about this whole project has been that as I've surfed the web looking for places I thought might be interested in what we're doing here, I've ended up discovering so many great informative and entertaining sites. I've certainly spent more time reading online and emailing people links than I have anything else during the last few weeks! Go figure.

It's only four more days until 30 Poets/30 Days kicks off, and guess what? I'm excited... and looking forward to seeing you all next month!

Twitter, #poetry, #kidlit... and an invitation!

It’s Poetry Friday again, with this week’s roundup at The Drift Record, the blog of Julie Larios -- one of the participants in 30 Poets/30 Days! But before you head over there, why not stick around a minute while I talk a little about Twitter (and poetry!)?

Twitter is a fast growing social network where folks “tweet” messages of 140 characters or less to each other. To make conversations trackable, people can categorize what they say by the use of the # sign (called a hashtag) within a tweet. For example, if you include #poetry in your tweet, folks can find your comment (and other people talking #poetry) by searching Twitter for the hashtag.

There are millions of users of Twitter (including President Obama), but only a few of them are tweeting about #poetry and #kidlit. National Poetry Month seems like a good time to change the former, and Poetry Friday, all the great children's poetry blog projects this month, and the growing Kidlitosphere make it a great time to change the latter, too. But why? Well...

One thing I re-learned when Fibs were spreading around the web is that there are poetry lovers in every walk of life. They may not write or read poems regularly, but they love to be reminded of it… and get re-invigorated. They’re on Twitter. Parents are on Twitter, too, maybe not spending enough time thinking about kids' books... or maybe looking for information. You don’t go on Twitter and say “buy my book!!!” of course, but if we start using #kidlit even just talking among ourselves, I'm pretty sure before long we'll meet all sorts of fascinating people who share our love of children's literature.

So my invitation to you is to join me in April, tweeting away about #kidlit and #poetry. We can share ideas and resources. We can make some poetic noise. And really, now… doesn’t that sound like fun?

You can find me on Twitter as GottaBook and also get updates from 30poems30days. I'll have more detailed information (including ideas about what to tweet to get you started) next week. I'm soooo looking forward to April here on the blog... and I'll see you in the Twitterverse, too!

30 Poets/Countless Thanks... and more!

It's been a fun couple days for me since the 30 Poets/30 Days announcement, I must say. Besides enjoying the fact that I no longer had to keep quiet about the event, it's also been really gratifying to see that other people are as excited as I am about how much fun April is going to be (throughout the Kidlitosphere!).

I want to take another opportunity to thank all the poets for jumping into this with me, and I also want to thank all of you who have been helping spread the word about this fun, freeeee project via links on blogs and by emailing me ideas. I've had a great time reading some blogs that were totally new to me (Mental Multivitamin, for example) and spent hours clicking around blogrolls. I've once again wondered how Melissa Wiley has time to blog so wonderfully, write books, parent her brood, AND coin the word Kidlitosphere. I've again been inspired to write poetry by Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides. And I can't wait to read Tricia's Poetry Makers series. (Perhaps I can bribe her with a Lee Bennett Hopkins or Linda Sue Park or Jack Prelutsky poem???)

There are many more folks to thank (Camille! Sondra! Adrienne! Cheryl R.! Cheryl K.! Lee!), and I'll be doing so all month, I'm sure. And I'm so excited about the days to come... but for now, I gotta book.

Announcing 30 Poets/30 Days!

I'm incredibly excited to announce the first annual 30 Poets/30 Days, a celebration of children's poetry taking place here at GottaBook during National Poetry Month.


(You can CLICK HERE to see all the 2009 poems and poets.)

(There is also a 2010 edition of 30 Poets/30 Days!)

(There is also now a 2011 edition of 30 Poets/30 Days!)

Every day in April, I'll be posting a previously unpublished poem by a different poet. Here's the alphabetical list of who's participating:

Arnold Adoff, Jaime Adoff, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Douglas Florian, Betsy Franco, Kristine O'Connell George, Charles Ghigna, Nikki Giovanni, Joan Bransfield Graham, Nikki Grimes, Avis Harley, Mary Ann Hoberman, Lee Bennett Hopkins, X. J. Kennedy, Bruce Lansky, Julie Larios, J. Patrick Lewis, Pat Mora, Kenn Nesbitt, Linda Sue Park, Ann Whitford Paul, Gregory K. Pincus, Jack Prelutsky, Adam Rex, Jon Scieszka, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, April Halprin Wayland, Janet Wong, and Jane Yolen.

We'll launch on Tuesday, April 1, with former Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky's new “A Little Poem For Poetry Month.” We’ll end April 30th with “Books & Me” by Pat Mora to help celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day). And every day in between will bring something new. You can follow along here and via 30poets30days on Twitter.

There will be a lot of other poetry related fun going on in the Kidlitosphere during April, including...

- at the Miss Rumphius Effect, Tricia has a great series called Poetry Makers featuring interviews with 36 (!!!) poets.
- at Poetry For Children, Sylvia Vardell will be reviewing a new children's poetry book every day.
- at the Pencil Talk blog, Anastasia Suen will be collecting school poems written by children throughout April... and posting one each day.
- and of course there's Poetry Friday every week... plus much, much more, so look for updates here at the blog throughout the month.

I want to thank all the poets for their generosity and enthusiasm, and I particularly want to single out J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt for going above and beyond the call in helping me put this event together. Also, special thanks to my brother Jon and all the folks who've given me ideas and support along the way. If there has been any frustration in organizing this event at all, it's only that there are so many other wonderfully talented people writing poetry for kids and it was hard not to invite them all. But that's why I plan to make this an annual celebration.

I'm really looking forward to April. I hope you'll all come join the fun!

(Again, the poetry has begun! If you click here, it will take you to the top of the blog where the day's poem will most likely be the first post you see. If it's not, just scroll down a little and it'll be there. After today, if you keep scrolling down, you'll see the whole month's worth of poems to date. Enjoy!)

The Best Concert Ever -- a music poem/an orchestra poem/a poem about instruments

THE BEST CONCERT EVER
by
Gregory K.

A violin told knock-knock jokes.
A trumpet made a pun.
A French horn told some riddles that were really goofy fun.

The timpani and xylophone
Made lots of silly faces.
A tuba and a piccolo decided to switch places.

A double bass got lots of laughs
By standing upside down.
Every last viola had been dressed up like a clown.

The instruments played forte soft.
They played piano loud.
The woodwinds all threw whipped cream pies directly at the crowd.

I haven’t laughed this heartily
Since I can’t tell you when.
I sure can’t wait ‘til I can hear this Symfunny again.


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

Elaine is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup today over at the Wild Rose Reader. Go on over and check it out.

And I'll see you back here on Monday when I stop teasing and finally say what's going to be happening at GottaBook during April for National Poetry Month. Did I mention I'm excited? Good. Because that's the truth!

Retro RIF!

I just had a wonderful flashback, thanks to the Reading is Fundamental website. In a wonderful section of the site called Retro RIF, they've collected some of their old commercials. There are two I remember as if I just saw them yesterday (which I didn't)! Good stuff. Good site in general, by the way, and highly recommended for a visit....

You gotta like that!

I'm happy to see a good New York Times review of Douglas Florian's just out Dinothesaurus (read a bit of the review over at The Florian Cafe). If you've been reading his blog, you've seen some excerpts of the book. I've loved them all, personally, and have a copy of the book waiting at a nearby bookstore... which I look forward to getting, if I ever leave my desk chair.

And I look forward to April here at GottaBook where Douglas Florian might very well be a part of my oft-teased Poetry Month celebration. Look for an announcement on the 23rd to know for sure....

It's Pi Day!

Yes, today is 3.14 aka Pi Day.

A day like this appeals to my admittedly geeky heart. Plus I use it as an excuse to eat pie! And since it's annual, it's easier to celebrate than waiting for 1-12-35 or 11-23-58 to come around to celebrate Fib day... though Fib Time is a whole different story....

I want to point out that I attempted to put up this post on 3.14 at 1:59 but was not on top of things enough to do so. Pi Day doesn't not change the natural order of things, apparently!

I can't help it! I'm a tease.

Yes, call this another poetry tease, but I am incredibly excited about what's going to be happening here at GottaBook for National Poetry Month this year. I'll be announcing it here on the blog on March 23rd, but in the meantime here's what I'll say since I can't contain myself:

There will be new poetry here every day of the month, just like the last three years. HOWEVER... this year, it's not just my poetry. Nope. Definitely not. And who's joining me? Well, I'm still not saying, but I'm telling you, it's gonna be a monthlong party. I hope you'll all come join in.

For less of a tease, go on over to the Miss Rumphius Effect for today's Poetry Friday roundup.

A hippo in the classroom!

Well, not exactly. Instead, what about poet Kenn Nesbitt in your classroom, virtually? In celebration of the release of his new book My Hippo Has the Hiccups, Kenn is offering up a free 30 minute web-based visit for any group that purchases 10 or more copies of his book. I did the math. That's a deal, indeed.

I want to add, by the way, that Kenn Nesbitt is actually one of the main reasons I blog. When I first knew I was gonna have an "online presence," I started thinking about what I might want to do. I thought of building a website with my poetry and links and information and... well, Kenn's already done that at Poetry4Kids, and I wasn't gonna be able to do it as well, let alone better. There is a soooo much funny stuff on his site AND so much great information, too. So, I sulked for awhile then eventually started blogging instead. And I'm glad I did, of course! But sometimes I have site envy :-)

Anyway, I really think you should check out Kenn's offer and book and site. And, as a further tease to a prior tease... I should mention that Kenn Nesbitt will be part of the (I think very) exciting April here at GottaBook. Ooooooh. How? Why? When? Patience. Patience. No get thee hence.

Run, run, run....

While this blog rarely, if ever, delves into the details of my life, you can actually tell when I'm busy -- I miss Poetry Friday! Luckily, I can still post a link to the roundup over at Anastasia's blog (or rather, ONE of her blogs) even though it's now Saturday.

The busy-ness will only keep me quiet a few more days, here, but part of what's taken up some time is working on this April's poetry extravaganza here at GottaBook. It requires left and right brain action, so those of you who know me (or who've seen my desk) know that this presents challenges. But it's all good. And the end result in this case is something I'm realllllllllly excited about, too.

So, as they say, "don't go away. We'll be right back!"

The top 100 picture books -- a poll!

Over at Fuse #8, Betsy is putting together a list... with everyone's help, that is.

Here's her post explaining the poll on the Top 100 Picture Books. Each of us gets to list our top 10 and send it in to her. Only ten?? This should be fun and challenging both, and the results should be fantastic. I can already see cabals forming to try and gather votes for favorites. Deals made in smoky back rooms. Yes, this should be good.

No go on and check it out so you can jump on in....

Happy Dr. Seuss's Birthday to You!

If you were to ask the kids at the school where I'm the volunteer librarian who my favorite author of children's book is, I'm pretty sure every one of them would say Dr. Seuss. What can I say other than "true!" Hey, don't get me wrong -- I don't argue that every one of his books is perfection or anything like that. But holy smokes, the combo of artistic fun and verbal play is so extraordinary. Yah, I know, I'm not the first so say so. :-)

Anyway, loving him as I do, I also realized that I've done Oddaptations of 10 of his books. You can see the whole Oddaptation collection right here (or click individually on the links on the right hand side of my blog AND, in doing so, see an explanation of what Oddaptations are!). I write 'em from love, I tell you.

So Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss. And thanks!

Reasons Why I Don't Write -- a procrastination poem/a writing poem

This is actually a repost of the very first poem I blogged, just over three years ago. It was (and is!) aimed more at my writer friends, as that pretty much was my entire audience back then (all 11 visitors that day, I believe!), but it still seems accurate to me....


REASONS WHY I DON’T WRITE
by
Gregory K.

Errands
Cooking
Cleaning up

Nothing
In my
Coffee cup

Snail mail
E-mail
Blogging, too

Crosswords
Comics
Sudoku

Phone calls
Lunches
Fear of debt

Daydreams
Nap times
Internet

Laundry
Sunsets
Batting cage

“Research”
iTunes
Empty page



The Poetry Friday roundup is at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books today. Go on over and check it out!

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

The Carnival's back! And...

Yes, the February Carnival of Children's Literature is up for your perusal (hosted by Lynn Hazen at her Imaginary Blog which is, of course, a real blog. Whoa! I better have more coffee and think about that...).

And... did I mention that I'm really looking forward to National Poetry Month here at GottaBook this year? I did? Well, I'm saying it again, tease that I am. But I'll make good. I promise.

My blog is mad at me!

I missed my blogoversary. It was Saturday, and GottaBook celebrated its third anniversary. Are there appropriate gifts like there are for people's wedding anniversaries? "Third blogoversary gift is a new template". Anyway, happy belated. I'd note that today is exactly three years since the first poem I posted (which I will do as a re-issue this poetry Friday to celebrate).

My blog and I are actually quite excited these days. You see, it's almost April and National Poetry Month. This year, we're gonna be doing something new here... and I'm incredibly excited. What is it? I'm a tease. You'll know soon enough, but as always, you'll all be a part of it.

Thanks for three great years....

What a character!

OK, that could refer to many people I know, but in this case it was a broader comment. It's a rare thing here at GottaBook, I know, but I wanted to shoot of a link about, gasp, craft!

At the SCBWI Westside Schmooze (which I used to co-coordinate for years but is now in the stupendously-way-beyond-competent hands of Rita and Lee), we recently had a night all about character. It was faboo. And now there's a great blog post up all about what was shared that night.

It's good stuff, I tell ya.

The Cybils!

The winners of the 2009 Cybil awards are up over the Cybils site. Go on over and check out the fabulous blogger-picked goodies.

My Febluaries -- a February poem/a blues poem

MY FEBLUARIES
by
Gregory K.

I’m gloomy, gray.
Don’t want to play.
My Febluaries are bad today.

Outdoors, inside --
No place to hide:
These blues I’ve got won’t be denied.

I’ll give a cheer
When March is here
And February’s gone this year.

But ‘til that day
I’m sad to say
My Febluaries are here to stay.


The Poetry Friday links are collected over here at Big A little a today. Why not go check them out?

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

One of those poetic internet mysteries...

For the last week or so, folks have been coming to my blog after searching the net for me and a specific poem I blogged here -- I Lost My Voice. While it's not unusual for me to see folks searching for a specific poem/stanza/turn of phrase (often, I'm convinced it's teachers checking to see if homework turned in was original work or not!), this is different, as it is people clearly searching with my name as well.

So the mystery is... where did this poem appear (obviously credited to me), and why are people coming this way? It's all good, certainly. But I'm curious, I tell ya, and since it's people from all across the U.S. it wasn't just a local thang... which makes it that much more intriguing.

OK, fine. Maybe this isn't a mystery anyone but me wants solved, but if you happen to know the answer, I'd sure love to hear it! So would my mom. So just know you disappoint her if you keep it to yourself :-)

It's everywhere!

Ya just never know where the Fibonacci sequence will pop up and surprise ya. OK, maybe "surprise" isn't exactly right... but how many folks expect to see it in the Sunday comics?

Foxtrot -- 2/8/09

And funny, too, at least to this geeky fellow....

That Friday thang...

Well, I had fully planned to get a post up for Poetry Friday and be in this week's lovely collection of links (gathered by the Wild Rose Reader herself!), but that's surely not how the day turned out. Although at least now I'm linking in....

Next week, an original, I tell ya.

Math. Poetry. And an article...

Yesterday, there was a lovely article by Shirley Dent in the Guardian's Book Blog all about the relationship between math and poetry. I'd tell ya to check it out no matter what, but since it happens to talk of Fibs (and me!), I doubly tell ya!

I'm just saying....

...it's not always a bad thing to live in LA. After hearing Just One More Book's great interview with Neil Gaiman last week, I got a second dose of Gaiman-ness, if such is a word, this week: an invite to a Coraline screening this weekend. Oooooh. I said yes, of course. I shall report back, but thought I'd made at least a few of you a tad jealous beforehand. I know... give, give, give, that's all I do!

Here a link. There a link.

Everywhere a link, link!

It's Poetry Friday, and while I've missed even posting on the last couple, today I can link ya in to the roundup (at Adventures in Daily Living).

And, if that's not enough, the January Carnival of Children's Literature is up at Lisa Chellman's Under the Covers. Get on over and check it out....

A modest proposal...

Ya know, I think I've got a solution for the economic woes of the country, and I suspect many parents of school age children will say "Well, duh! Of course!" when I tell you my idea.

The government should sell wrapping paper as a fundraiser.

Seriously, if we all bought just a couple rolls... well... not only would our money go straight to the federal coffers, but we'd also all need to buy gifts to put inside the wrapping paper! It's a win-win scenario.

I do see one potential problem, though. We'd probably ask other nations to buy wrapping paper from us, but they might be selling it, too... and we'd feel obligated to buy from them. But these are details I'll leave to others to sort out....

That's a lot of things!

Over at Mother Reader, she's celebrating her third blog-o-versary by reprinting her 100 things about me list. Mighty entertaining and a nice way to celebrate. I, on the other hand, have a 3rd anniversary coming up next month where I have no similar plans. But MR has raised the bar again, so I figure I either have to coast in under the radar or do something to celebrate. Hmmmm.... Hmm............

Once again...

... I was not nominated for an Oscar for best actor. This is consistently the case, of course. Perhaps no surprise.

But I'd note that beyond the Oscars, it's awards/best of season elsewhere, including in the Cybils and the upcoming Newbery. I can safely say that I've got no predictions, but I love tooling around and reading all the "mock" awards on the net where people who have read 10 times what I've read predict with, well, usually with more accuracy than me!

But I'm still stinging over my Oscar overlook, so I'll just have to wait a spell before I go mocking....

Poetry in the spotlight

How nice to have (for the fourth time ever) a poem read at the inauguration. I know you're all clever sorts, and I suspect most everyone who ends up here saw or heard Elizabeth Alexander's poem, but just in case and for the record....

Here it is!


And if there's another poem any time soon read before an audience of millions, I'll probably link that, too.

Inkheart, the movie. Seen with my own eyes, I tell ya!

One of the advantages of living in Los Angeles is that every now and then you get to see a movie first... or at least early. So this morning, I got to see Inkheart, based on Cornelia Funke's book of the same name. I'm not a reviewer nor will this be a review, but I will say that more important than my reactions (which were positive, by the way) is that everyone in the target age range seemed to be loving it.

What was particularly fascinating to me was seeing a movie that's all about books and words and writing. There were certainly things that the writer-me laughed at that flew over the heads of... well... perhaps everyone who isn't a writer. But beyond that, the movie is steeped in book references and images and that alone is worthy of celebration, seems to me.

Inauguration read-alouds?

I'm curious if any of y'all have great read-aloud ideas for the Presidential inauguration? I'm thinking that there aren't any inauguration-specific stories ("If You Take a Mouse to an Inauguration" excepted, of course), but I'm open to being proven wrong. Or just to getting good ideas!

Piles. Big piles.

This week I dismantled big piles of books in my office. You know the piles I'm talking about -- books I'd planned to read. I assume I'll still read them, but I needed to redistribute them to shelves and other places so I could start fresh.

It's not that I don't plan to read them all. I do. And it's not that I never made progress on the piles. Instead, they grow faster than I can read. I think this is a good thing, but if you were waiting for me to have a convo with you on any specific book title, you might want to find someone else to chat with!

I expect build new piles, of course, and can only imagine that it'll include books I recently shelved. But for now, I feel like a huge amount of progress has been made!

The Happy New Year Conundrum

No, that's not the title of a lost Robert Ludlum novel (too many words anyway, I think). Rather, it's the question I'd posed on Facebook but seems worthy of blog discussion as well:

When does one stop saying "Happy New Year!"?

There were many thoughts on this, including Mary Hershey's statement that January 26th was the last acceptable date... but she had no proof! Besides, Mary has been known to go for humor....

Still, I know I said "Happy New Year" a lot today, because it was the first time I'd seen many folks this year.

So, have I gone too far? Is it like wearing white pants after Labor Day? Does anyone know????

Resolutions -- A New Year's Resolutions poem/a broken New Year's resolutions poem

RESOLUTIONS
by
Gregory K.

Every year on New Year’s Day,
I grab myself a pen.
I write my resolutions down to look at now and then.

Two years ago, I’d written twelve.
I broke them all by June.
Last year I broke them faster still (the first of March at noon).

This isn’t great, I must admit,
But now I’ve got it solved.
And so, this year, on New Year’s Day, here’s what I have resolved:

Bug my dad, annoy my sis,
Distract my oldest brother.
Skip a chore, create a mess, and once ignore my mother,

Chew some gum, devour pie,
Eat burgers, fries, and cakes,
Teach my baby brother all the joys of chocolate shakes.

My resolutions could go on.
Instead, I’ll stop right here.
Just once I’d like to keep them all...
And this might be my year.

The first Poetry Friday roundup of the year is here over at A Year of Reading. Go on and check it out!

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

And Happy New Year!

The Cybils' short lists are up!

The short lists (aka, the finalists) for the Cybils are up right here. Like with all such lists, it's fun to check 'em out and learn of new books or argue about what's missing. So jump on in and see what's what. As per usual, I'm facing what's sure to be a tough choice in the poetry catagory, with a couple books I was expecting to be on the list not even making it. Good times. Good times indeed.

Looking back, looking forward, just looking...

This year is almost gone (gone I tell ya, gone!), and frankly, I am okay with that. Not that it would matter much if I weren't, of course, as I understand that this changeover is inevitable. This year is ending with a flurry of travel, family, friends, and even of snow (though the latter was not right here in LA), though not a flurry of blog posts. I've also taken four full days off from checking my email, surfing the web, or any such net-based things until re-appearing here today. And guess what? I've lived to tell the tale! I think that's a valuable piece of news for me to carry into next year... though not one I plan to put to the test very often....

Happy, Happy, Merry, Merry

Yes, well, indeed -- it's Happy and Merry time of year, and I'm clearly blogging like I've been out hitting the eggnog every night. Or something like that. And it's gonna continue like that through the end of the week, at least, if not the whole darn year!

I wish all of you and yours a wonderful, peaceful holiday time, whatever holiday you celebrate (or not!). It's been a pleasure hanging out with y'all this year, and I look forward to the next year, as well.

The last Carnival o' the year... and it's a big'un

Yes, the December Carnival of Children's Literature is up over at Jen Robinson's Book Page. It's a doozy, full of everyone's hand-picked "favorite" post of the year on a raft of children's literature topics. Great stuff.

Not only that, but it's Jen's 3rd Blogoversary, so go on over and say "hi!" if nothing else!

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

One of the great perks of being a volunteer librarian is that I get to pick whatever I want to read-aloud (well, more or less). This holiday time I've forgone the Grinch and gone with The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, a Christmas Story by Lemony Snickett with illustrations by Lisa Brown. The big advantage, as far as I'm concerned of this as a read-aloud is that it allows me to scream "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" many times. If one knows that a committee meeting is going on in the room right next to the library, it allows one to scream with extra gusto.

I was hoarse for days, but the looks I got later that day were well worthwhile.

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Why I Love the Holidays in My Family -- A Christmas poem/A Hanukkah poem/A Chrismukkah poem

WHY I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS IN OUR FAMILY
by
Gregory K.


My dad lights the menorah.
My mom hangs Christmas lights.
And so the way I do the math,
It’s presents 20 nights!



The Poetry Friday links are collected here at the Wild Rose Reader. Go on now... go check 'em out.

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

Internet friends....

While I have poetically made the claim of being Pretty Well Connected, today via those very connections (and more specifically via Laurel Snyder), I heard a wonderful song that treads some similar terrain: All My Internet Friends.

Now, what makes this even more poetic to my mind... the singer/songwriter is Amanda French, and she was an early Fibber right here on GottaBook! All that lovely connected-poetry aside, you'd still like the song if you heard it. So go hear it!

Shaking, I tell ya.

We've been having sporadic internet outages, and it's remarkable to me how frustrated I can be when I'm unable to pop online and check my mail or, honestly, research. And so I started to remember back before I was ever online. And then I realized how I never woulda known most of y'all.

That just doesn't work for me.

So, with a few minutes of up time, I stopped reminiscing and simply decided to blog about how clearly addicted I am to being online... and how totally okay with that I am!

Aglay, I tell ya. Plans went aglay.

As they gang aft, do my plans (in this case, to return to daily blogging) went aglay, indeed. I suppose this makes three posts this week (and this a post about posting!), but that wasn't my intent.

For me, this week brings to the end 3 1/2 years of coordinating/co-coordinating a monthly SCBWI Schmooze here in the L.A. area. I have to say that I've learned so much from the monthly conversations on sooooo many topics related to children's literature, both from doing preparation work and from the wonderful fellow schmoozers. One thing that is certainly true about folks who write (and illustrate and edit and art design and publish and sell books) for children is that they are passionate, giving, and mighty smart, too. I know I'll even see a few of you GottaBook readers at the Schmooze this week (and next year, too), but in general, consider this a public shout out to everyone who's been part o' the Schmoozing, and particularly to Sara Wilson Etienne, the talented writer (and gifted baker!) who has co-coordinated (and done the bulk of the hard work!) with me the last 2 1/2 years.

Yep. Y'all rock. Now stop reading blogs and get back to work :-)

The poetry questions, part two

Again, looking towards the future here at GottaBook, I'm trying to figure out what to do with the ream of poetry that already covers the place... and will continue to grow next year, I'd suspect. I get lots of email requests to use my poetry in all sorts of wonderful places, and along with those, I get requests for links to my poetry books. This is problematic, of course, as I don't have any. I have been asked and thought about compiling the blogged poems and offering them for sale as an ebook or a printed book, but one thing (of many!) that holds me back is that it becomes a business, the whole self-publishing thang. Also, I have a book I've been focusing all my writing energy on and takes priority both time and career-wise.

But I do think about all this, and would love to hear the thoughts of others who have suggestions, experience, or anything to add. Again, comments or email all work. And thanks to those who've come up with design ideas as mused about in my last post!

The poetry questions, part one

So, as I look towards next year here at GottaBook, I start thinking about more posts, more Oddaptations, more Fibs, and more poetry in general. And I start to wonder -- what the heck to do with it all? I'm gonna break this down into two parts, with today being... ta-da!... part one.

I link to all the poems I've posted over there on the right hand side of the blog, and I know that people click on those links all the time. But really now... is this my best layout option? The list has become long and ungainly, to say the least. I've organized to some extent with Tags, but my sense is that people like to see the poem titles (and I get this sense by seeing what links get clicked the most). Do I lay my blog out over a website that keeps the poems static? Do I just keep going?

So the question for today is... does anyone have a good idea or 10 about layout thoughts? As always, feel free to email me or leave thoughts in the comments....

Hibernation

I have been attempting to do my best bear impersonation (errr... imanimalation?) these past few days by eating so much that I can simply live off of it for months and months. It's unclear whether it will work (particularly as there's flourless chocolate cake one room away!), but I think you'd all applaud my efforts.

If any of you are also thinking of heading to a cave for a few weeks, let me know... or I'll just see you there!

And happy Thanksgiving, too

It's a lonnnnng weekend here, and I hope, though am not sure, to come back from it blogging more regularly. Still much going on hereabouts, but I miss this place!

I hope all of y'all in the U.S. enjoy the holiday (and all of y'all everywhere can, too!), and hope that each of you have much to be thankful for this year.

Fibs. Yes... Fibs!

Fibs continue sprouting up around the Web (and world, I guess). "Where, Gregory K., where?" I hear you ask. Welllll, the new issue of the fib review is up. There's some inspired experimentation going on with the use of Fibonacci in this issue. Well worth checking out.

Then over at London Word Festival, they're doing a months long Search for the Golden Fib. Already some excellent examples up over there. Why not join in the fun?

There have been other Fib sightings, too, but those two should keep the Fibbers among you plenty busy....

A poetry re-issue: Thankful

It seems like a mighty fine time to dust off a Thanksgiving poem (originally posted right here)....


THANKFUL
by
Gregory K.

You ask me what I'm thankful for....
I hope I don't sound jerky,
But I'm really, truly thankful that I wasn't born a turkey!


And why not go check out the Poetry Friday collected links over at author and readergirlz diva Holly Cupala's Brimstome Soup? You'll be glad you did....


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

The Carnival (November edition)

Sure, I'm being quiet, but if you need a kidlit fix, why not head on over to November's Carnival of Children's Literature (hosted at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books)? You'll be glad you did....

Travel, with kidlit overtones

It is fun and funny to tool around Southern California and view things through a children's lit perspective. For example, this weekend, I saw many plants that clearly musta inspired Dr. Seuss to draw what he drew. Oh, sure, I have no proof of this inspiration, but you just look at some of our native flora and suddenly some of the good doctor's stuff doesn't seem as totally far-fetched anymore. I bet all of you in other locales can find similar points of reference.

In fact, perhaps many of you around the blog-reading-world have had the same experience as me: this weekend, I actually drove to where the pavement (and sidewalk) ends... and even drove beyond.

I am hoping to be duly inspired. But it was fun, regardless!

Shelved at last. Shelved at last.

Library two is shelved at last!

Hard to believe we're pushing into November and just now getting the second library open, but there was construction and provisioning and lots an lots of dust. Oh, and books. But intrepid volunteers have taken care of that and today we're thaaaaaat close to opening.

We have books, too, thanks to parental donations (and some from y'all!) and cannibalizing from our existing library. We have celebrity books (Carville, Foxworthy, the Barber brothers), quirky gems, and a Joyce Carol Oates' picture book. I think we're ready. Though it would be nice to have some of these titles, too.

This is one of many projects that's had me in blog-lite mode. All are actually progressing, so I remain lite... but I'm blogging every day in spirit!

What could make me re-surface?

How about learning that Douglas Florian is blogging! That'd do it.

So would someone offering lots of Reese's Cups, by the way. I'm just saying....

Blog-lite

Things are busy here in GottaBook land, so let this serve as a heads up that posting is potentially sporadic for a few weeks here. This doesn't mean I won't be posting. For all I know I'll be posting every day as random thoughts occur. But it also means I might not and that the silence has no major, hidden meaning (though I should also note that my Halloween stash of Reese's has gone to nil, and that can cause me to become withdrawn and moody. But I get over that!).

Now, watch me end up posting three times a day now that I've blogged this....

As it should be....

I have voted. The line at our polling place was only about 20 minutes long, and it was a beautiful day here at that. Everything went smoothly... and there was a wonderful feeling of community in our line, of a shared sense of purpose. I have no idea if people around me were Democrats or Republicans or Greens or anything else. At that moment, we were all just citizens exercising our rights, and we also shared agreement that it was a net positive that this many people cared enough to give up time, to make an effort, to VOTE.

Years ago, when someone asked me what I liked to read the most (beyond "funny" and "good thrillers!"), I realized that my favorite books, even ones that were darker, all offered one common theme: they were ultimately hopeful. That tends to drive me in my own writing, too. And today I found waiting in line offered that same feeling: this many people caring enough? That is ultimately hopeful. And that, to me, is as it should be.

Why I Vote

I’ve voted in every election since I was old enough to vote, a pattern of behavior that I suspect comes straight from my parents (who I recall voting and discussing elections and politics in a way that transcended party-line thinking). There have always been specific issues that I’ve been passionate about. As a writer and reader, for example, I care passionately about freedom of speech and threats to it. More recently, as an online enthusiast, I see threats to our freedoms there. These issues still are part of what drive me to cast my ballot.

But not terribly long ago, I became a parent. Now I constantly think about my children and the world they live in today and the world I want them to live in when they’re grown. So I vote in an attempt to deliver the future that I want for my children, and also because I want to exhibit behavior I want my kids to model.

Parents often say “use your words” to our kids. As adults, we need to “use our rights,” and we need our kids to see us do it. I use my right to free speech to talk about the issues with my children, and I talk about what it means to have the right to vote. As I said here, voting is more than just a word – it’s an action that gives us a voice.

So tomorrow I will go to the polls and use my voice for myself and my children. I’m going to vote... and I hope all of you who are registered do the same.

This post is written as part of the non-partisan, non-bashing Blog the Vote event. Please head over to Chasing Ray to see links to a wonderful collection of posts about voting.

(If you encounter problems while trying to vote, you can call the non-partisan Election Protection hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA.)

Halloween -- a poetry re-issue!

It's Poetry Friday AND Halloween, so it seems like a good time to re-post a poem originally posted here two years ago.


HALLOWEEN
by
Gregory K.

Be prepared
To be scared.
Ghosts and ghouls are haunting.

Mummies moan.
Specters groan.
You know it’s you they’re wanting.

Wolfmen howl.
Goblins yowl.
A shadow hides a grave.

Streetlights flicker.
Heart beats quicker.
It’s so hard being brave.

Flashing lightning,
Far too frightening.
You know you want to flee.

But don’t run.
Just have fun.
And bring candy home for me.


Poetry for Children has the Poetry Friday links collected right here. Have a happy and safe Halloween if you're heading out tonight. Feel free to bring me candy!

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

Look who's blogging!

Why it's the pumpkin carving, picture book and YA writing (and illustrating), all around nice guy David LaRochelle! Go check out his most recent post on the blog where he is one of 10 bloggers: One Potato... Ten! And you too can learn why not to sign books with a Sharpie!

Oops. And a reminder.

Yes, that's right: oops. I had the best of intentions to get up a blog today about all sorts of interesting things. And then I looked at the clock. Right. Another day.

Instead, I'll simply remind y'all that on Monday the 3rd, it's time to Blog the Vote. Hope you'll all join in....

Once again... with feeling!

It's time for this month's Carnival of Children's Literature (hosted at the Well Read Child). Lots of good stuff over there, indeed. And heck, I even got myself together enough this month to rejoin the fun.

Go on... enjoy a carnival on a lovely Fall day (or whatever type of day it is where you are!).

Why Vote? -- a voting poem/an election poem/a voting Fib

Why Vote?
by
Gregory K.

Vote.
Why?
Folks fight
For this right.
It's not just a word:
Vote! It's how you make your voice heard.


It's a Fib, but it's no fib: you should vote if you can. And don't forget about Blog the Vote on November 3rd. And I have another voting poem here. Oh, and don't forget to visit the Poetry Friday links, collected over at Big A little a.

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

Flashback, children's literature variety

For absolutely no discernible reason, today I began reciting a "jingle" from a Homer Price story (by Robert McCloskey). A Homer Price story that I last read... oh... maybe when I was 10? I'm in Hollywood and 29, of course, but even so that's a long time ago. Anyway, the point is that here I was, working away when suddenly I'm saying "Punch, brothers, punch with care!" And I said more than that, but I don't want it to get stuck in YOUR head the way it did all those years ago with me.

Sure, it could be my weird brain chemistry that made me flash back to Homer. But instead, I think it was multiple readings of the Homer Price stories long, long ago... books I loved that sank in and even now can come back up at any time (such as whenever I see a donut machine).

What about you? Any children's literature flashbacks for you (whether you're younger or older than my 29 years!)?

Three years ago...

... as I shuttled books from my car up to our new school library... then into classrooms... then into storage only to bring them back out of storage, I vowed not to lift another box of books.

So here I am, shuttling boxes of books from one library to the other, bringing new books to each and carting 'em up stairs or to the farthest spot on campus, depending.

Deja vu all over again! Along about January, I will vow not to lift another box of books for the school.

You might as well laugh right now....

There is no joy in Mudville

For me, the baseball season is as good as done now (though if there's a Game Seven, I'll be watching). I was thinking, though, how hard the feeling of fandom, of your team winning/losing is to capture for the younger set. I mean "just wait til next year" means something very different when you're thinking about Kindergarten rather than offseason free agent moves.

Lucky kids, he grumbles!

Ah well... just wait til next year!

Vote for Me! -- a voting poem/an election poem

VOTE FOR ME!
by
Gregory K.

Vote for me!
Vote for me!
Everybody vote for me!

I put up my posters. I promised free toasters!
Boy, asking for votes is so fun.

Vote for me!
Vote for me!
Everybody vote for me!

The votes are all in... errr... I guess I’m the winner.
So tell me now... what have I won?


The Poetry Friday links are collected here at Becky's Book Reviews. (And I now have another voting poem, in Fib form, here!)

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

Ziiiiip

Are you kidding me? Past the middle of October already???? It's wrong, I tell ya. I was not informed time would pass so quickly, unlike prior years.

Do you think we could all get a "time bail out" from someone? Those of us who have overly-leveraged our time would be appreciative.

Today I actually attempted to carve out time to write poetry for fun, something I haven't been doing nearly enough of. I need to return to starting each writing day with poetry, I think, because it entertains and gets the writing blood flowing. Kinda like the coffee of writing for me. Ahhh... if only poetry sold like coffee! But that's for another day. Because I'm overly-leveraged right now, and I gotta book!

Blog the Vote.

At the Kidlit08 Conference in Portland, Colleen, Lee, and I hatched a plan:

On November 3rd, the Monday before election day, we're encouraging folks throughout the children's literature blogosphere (and because of interest already expressed, the broader lit blogosphere, too!) to blog about why voting matters to them. The post can be broad ("Voting is great because that's what makes democracy work!") or personal (here's a post by Little Willow that's a great example). The two things we ask are that it be positive and non-partisan. Instead of promoting or bashing a candidate or party, let's concentrate on one thing we should all agree on: getting out and voting.

Colleen will be putting up a master list of all the posts on Chasing Ray. She'll have the post up early enough (the 1st or 2nd) so that you can link to it when you blog on the 3rd. The instructions on what to do with your post are here on Colleen's original announcement... well worth a read. But in short, mail your link to Colleen or Lee or me. We'll be reading each post to make sure it's copacetic, pulling a great quote, then linking to you on the master list.

Questions? Check the links above or email any of us. And I hope you'll join us on November 3rd.

And in the boxes o' surprise...

... weren't that many surprises, actually. Whenever, in the past, I've been lucky enough to unpack boxes of donations for my school library, there have been some remarkable finds. Mind you, remarkable can mean any number of things! This time there weren't that many treasures (though a copy of Little 1 by Paul and Ann Rand was sweeeeet), but there were a handful of interesting moments.

One box (and these were donations from many sources mixed together) had picture books written by Dolly Parton, Madonna, and James Carville in it. James Carville? I don't recall Mother Reader nailing this one in her Bloggers Against Celebrity Authors writings.

Regardless, books were sorted and alphabetized and admired... and library two is about to open for business. The shelves could certainly be fuller, but hey, we've only just begun! Thanks to all my readers who have donated, by the way. It really is true that neither of our libraries would be the same without you. Our students are exceedingly lucky that so many of you (and so many others, as well) are so generous.

Fall

Really early this morning, I got up and went outside to get the paper. Nothing unusual about that, of course... but outside, the sun was just up, a crisp wind whipped, leaves -- actual leaves -- flew in the air and down the street, and it was even chilly enough to make me notice. Now, here in Los Angeles, where it was 100 just recently -- today was Fall. It might be all we get here, at least of the crisp and perfect autumnal variety.

You might think I would be immediately inspired to hurry inside and write a poem. Nope. Instead, I did something even more poetic -- I walked down to the sidewalk, found some dried leaves, and crunched them!

Yeah, I know. Some of you get to do that for months. Forgive this city boy. I'm just saying it was a mighty fine thing.

CRUNCH!

Poetry news on a Friday

How nice that on Poetry Friday (links collected here by Anastasia) we've got the announcement that Mary Ann Hoberman is the new Children's Poet Laureate (taking over from Jack Prelutsky).

I was lucky enough to see Mary Ann Hoberman do two small classroom visits. I learned more in those two hours than I ever thought possible (including learning just how much work I was gonna have to do to do what she was doing!). She should be a great choice to raise awareness about children's poetry, indeed.

Better late than never!

It was a month ago when I said I thought we'd get our second library up and running... thought I'd get to dig through boxes of books and find happy surprises. Didn't happen quite like that. But now, I tell ya, now it's gonna happen. This is the second full library I've helped start... and we moved our original library and relaunched it once, too. In three and a half years! I remember vowing never to carry another box of books....

By the way, as our school has aged, so have our students... and it's not unlike building yet another library on top of them all -- a deep, rich middle grade library. I figure that without a budget, we're never gonna be an A-list research library, but fiction? Well, if any of you are sitting on boxes of middle grade (or great picture books!), lemme know how I can get 'em!

Meanwhile, I'm still looking forward to finding some hidden gems. In fact, I already caught sight of a few of Sid Fleischman's McBroom books... but who knows what else there'll be? Soon enough I'll know... and maybe so will you!

Funny, political, good read-aloud

Yup -- if I were taking out a personal ad for books right now, I'd be looking for a picture book that covers voting, or American history, or politicians... was a good read-aloud... and definitely has humor in it. I could give on the latter. Fiction or non-fiction or a combo, it's all good.

Lane Smith's John, Paul, George, and Ben is a great example. Duck for President, too. And...?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Laughs, I tell ya.

This is so self-reflexive -- linking off to Fuse #8 the same day she links to me (whoa. So meta, man.), but her Video Sunday is always a highlight of the week... and today's first video is, as she accurately notes, kinda the musical version of my recent poem. Plus you get sock puppet theater! What's not to love?

Simply put...

I love the playoffs. I know it's not profound or anything, but baseball and I are mighty close... and playoff time? It's all good.

Sure, it's better when I've got a rooting interest (and I do this year), but it's still the playoffs!

Good times. Good times.

Kidlit08 (less quickly-like)

There truly have been so many great recaps of the conference (go here for a master list) that I'm gonna avoid doing a full recap. I'd have little to add that hadn't been said about the various sessions, and I already did my quickie look. Instead, I'll be more reflective and specific. Like...

My trip to the conference started with meeting Lee Wind in the airport and getting go fly up to Portland with him. We couldn't get seats next to each other (small plane and tall people on the aisle who didn't want either of our window seats) but we talked anyway, in a way that was kinda like passing notes. A great way to start, and knowing Lee would be around meant I knew there'd always be someone interesting to talk to.

That wasn't a problem, of course, because I didn't actually meet anyone there who WASN'T interesting to talk to. Go read all their blogs, and you'll see what I mean.

But one person I would've loved to talk more with... about anything... was Mark Blevis, half of Just One More Book. This post of his about the conference is thought provoking and spot on in my opinion. And it saved me from having to type up big thoughts like that! Thanks, Mark (and thanks for the tech support, too).

Chatting with the Readergirlz (as represented in this case by Dia, Lorie, and newest diva Holly) was fantastic, as what they're doing online is wonderful and remarkable. And talking with Colleen Mondor about everything from Alaska to her Summer and Winter blog blast tours to Guys Lit Wire was fun and invigorating both. Again, the potential of the web is just being scratched... but these are some of the people scratching it.

I'm always inspired by what Jen Robinson has done and continues to do for children's literature, and getting to hang with Mother Reader and Fuse8 is always a treat.

But beyond the fun and information (and there was great fun and great information), my overall thoughts go towards what Mark Blevis was driving at... something bigger picture. We really are still learning the power of the net... of connectedness... of community... of how collectively we are greater than the sum of our parts (and individually there are some utterly stellar, remarkable parts). As we learn more and more... as we work harder and harder to understand and examine and act... then more and more becomes possible for us collectively and individually. The children's literature community online is just starting to flex its muscle, so to speak. And I look forward to being part of the community as we continue to push ahead in the years to come.

I interrupt recapping to say...

Cybils nominations open October 1st (aka TOMORROW).

Get thee hence!

NOMINATE!!!! (well... after midnight!)

Kitlit08 (even quicker)

There are so many great posts about the Kidlit08 Conference up already (and wonderfully collected here), that I ended up spending the day reading them instead of formulating my own thoughts and blogging them. And now, frankly, the weekend has caught up with me... and I only have one thought: bed.

OK, fine. I'm also thinking that I don't understand how come nobody brought a dozen maple/bacon donuts back to the conference!

But for deeper conference related thoughts... tune back in soon.

Kidlit08 (quickly)

Kidlit08 was faboo. I'll have more to say this week, as right now I gotta type and fly, but I just wanted to say what a blast it was and how grateful I am to Jone and Laini for all their work.

There will, I suspect, be a lot of posts about the conference, and to find them you can head here.

My brother popped in and live-blogged my session. (thanks, bro!). That post is on his blog. It's remarkably thorough, considering how fast I talk! Also thanks to Jon, we've gotten a fresh copy of the Book Promotion Wiki up for all to read, use, and add to. Come on by!

My first impression of this year vs. last year is that the community continues to grow (and be populated by wonderful people) and that we're all still learning our way to some extent or another. The potential reach and upside and options for bloggers, individually and collectively, truly is astounding.

More later, but I gotta book!

Oddaptation: Where's Waldo?

It's been some time since I posted an Oddaptation, and since Waldo just turned 21 last week and was in the news, it seemed like a good time to Oddapt Waldo. (For those new to Oddaptations, they are kinda like Cliff Notes with attitude... or distillations of the reading experience in rhyme (and with attitude). There are links to all the prior Oddaptations on the right hand side of the blog or through the label below.) And so, with no further ado....

WHERE’S WALDO?
by Martin Handford
Oddaptation by Gregory K.

Where is Waldo?
I can’t tell.
Boy, he’s hidden really well.
I tried to find his pointy hat
But sadly had no luck with that.
I failed to find his stripy shirt.
I’ve looked so long my eyeballs hurt.
I cannot find his wavy hair.
I just can’t find him anywhere!
I will not take another look.
It’s time to throw away this book.
I’m angry now and full of rage!
I... THERE HE IS!!!!
Hooray!
Next page!


Here are this week's Poetry Friday links courtesy of the Miss Rumphius Effect.

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

Collectively we are... what?

I'm heading off to Portland tomorrow for the second annual Kidlitosphere conference, and there I'll meet many, many bloggers. So I was wondering what the collective term for bloggers might be. Flock of seagulls, herd of cows, murder of crows... we know them. But what about a web 2.0 collective?

A bunch of bloggers?
A cacophony of bloggers?
A glob of bloggers?

Whatcha think? Any and all suggestions welcome!

Cybils time!

I'm quite excited to be judging the Cybils, once again, as one of the poetry judges. I can tell that the first round judges are gonna hand us fabulous books, but then it'll be up to me, John Mutford, Sylvia Vardell, Jama Rattigan, and Liz Garton Scanlon to pick the Cybil winner. I can't wait, frankly, as it's always invigorating (and good reading, too!).

Nominations open October 1st, so get yourself ready to be part of the process, too.

Another Carnival!

It's time for another Carnival of Children's Literature! This one is hosted by Jenny at the Wonderland of Books. It is chock, chock, chock full of good stuff, so why not head on over and check it out?

I'm Pretty Well Connected -- A Web 2.0 poem/an online poem/a social network poem

I’M PRETTY WELL CONNECTED
(a Web 2.0 poem)
By
Gregory K.

I’m pretty well connected:
Facebook’s got my face.
I AIM and blog.
Of course I vlog.
Come see me at MySpace.

I Flickr, and I Twitter.
I wiki and Squidoo!
I’m Live. I Ning.
I’m there on Xing.
I’m really LinkedIn, too.

I Hulu, Yelp, and Google.
My YouTube channel’s hot.
I share Goodreads,
Have many feeds,
And Digg and link a lot.

Second Life and Classmates?
Xanga? RateItAll?
I’m on those four
And dozens more
Plus some I can’t recall.

I’m pretty well connected:
My friends are EVERYWHERE.
I bet I’d meet
Them on the street...
If I’d just leave my chair.


Happy Poetry Friday (with this week's links collected here by author amok). I've posted an original poem that I can't wait to revisit in years hence to see how many of those hyperlinks still work!

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

Simple

I got an email today asking me for the "simple way to write a rhyming poem in iambic pentameter."

Hmm.

I guess my answer would be "just think in iambs, count to five, and rhyme!"

It must be the start of the new school year, where homework questions come to me via email or in various comments. Good times! I'm sure many of you get the same, particularly those of you who review books I'd imagine, but it treads that fine line between amusing and head-scratching to me. Brave new world, indeed!

Time value?

Not so many years ago, I was a fantasy baseball addict. True. I could watch a game on TV or in person and calculate how it impacted my team. In fact, sometimes I'd peek at a box score online just to see... as if knowing somehow made a difference since my team was set and not changing. It was, I must admit, a blast.

But then I realized that it was taking time and mental space away from... well, I'm not sure what. But it was definitely taking time and mental space.

I share this now because I have been filling up those same moments with reading... bits o' this... bits o' that. And of course, this doesn't in any way feel like procrastination or filling time (even though, I must add, I'm not always reading for work in any way, shape, or form!). It's strange how this works, but I'm embracing it.

Though I sure do miss my fantasy baseball team!

Poetically, he says...

"Eeeps!!!!"

That describes the day and week and leaves me to link to the Poetry Friday roundup, kindly hosted over at the Biblio File (where you should go to read her review posted in her Poetry Friday post. That's a must have!). I have been so remiss of late that I'm setting myself a goal to make next Friday an original poetry post. I expect harrasment should I fall short of my goal!

I blame the super-collider

I have a theory. I believe that unknown to anyone in Los Angeles, there is a super-collider underneath us. Furthermore, it is directly underneath my office where particles collide and create tiny black holes. No, they don't destroy the earth. Rather, the black holes suck in much of my free time, many of my best thoughts, and all the chocolate I expected to find in the third drawer from the top (to the right of the sink).

I cannot prove this theory (perhaps the proof, too, has been black holed?). But I can't disprove it either, and it explains a lot!

Kidlit08 is fast approaching!

Good to see the ever-growing list of the 2nd Annual Kidlitosphere Conference everly growing. Are you on it?

Why not? There's still time to come hang out with your favorite bloggers. You'll be glad you did....

Time for that first read-aloud choice again....

Hmm... this is the week where I'll (probably) pick the first read-aloud of the year. I'm not saying there's added pressure or anything... but what should it be? Different, most likely, for the incoming K students than for the returning and now fifth graders... but maybe not. Hmmm....

As always, I'm open for any brilliant suggestions!

Whew!

The week is done, and I couldn't be happier. This was the (abbreviated) first week of school for us, and that's always exciting and draining. It was also a week of no unpacking o' library books, as other projects popped up (and we have a bookcase shortage!). It was a week of working on my own projects, too. And, of course, it was a week of going Bananas.

And as usual, the sign of a long week hereabouts is that I don't get anything together for Poetry Friday, though now that the school year is here, I vow to be more diligent. But not today. Nope. Now I gotta book....

Hold the bus!!!

For a few of you, I suspect the above title will spark an immediate pop-culture reaction: you'll imagine four costumed characters running around crazily, bonking into each other and anything else in their path with great zeal. For the rest, lemme just cut to the chase: I'm talking about the Banana Splits!

Why, you might ask? Well, because not terribly long ago, I was lucky enough to be involved in writing some new material for the Splits -- a slew of one to two minute interstitial skits. And now, I'm pleased to say, it's coming out all over the place: the Splits' website, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang for starters. There's even a new album coming out (the Splits, lest you forget, were and are a band (performing in Myrtle Beach, by the way)).

It's pretty fun and funny stuff, I say with bias. And since I know at least a few of you who watch TV with your kids... some of you might even run into one or two of the skits I wrote. I know I'll be watching....

Boxes o' surprises

Over the summer, we gathered a lot of books for our school libraries (yes, now there are two!). One day this week, I'm gonna get to go through about a dozen boxes for the first time. I love this, as when you get donations, you really have no idea what will turn up. Besides the board books we'll re-donate, the books on parenting, the far-too-old Time-Life books, there are always remarkable gems and obscurities. We've been given first editions, children's readers from the 1800s, books by Cat Stevens and Fred Gwynne and Saul Bass, and more copies of The Giving Tree than anyone could possibly need.

What will this year's boxes reveal? I have no idea, but can't wait to find out!