My Five Year-o-versary!

Monday was my five year anniversary here at GottaBook. That's a long time ago... 1,000+ posts, thousands of comments, hundreds of thousands of visitors, and a lot of other metrics.

Today is another five year anniversary - five years since I posted my first poem hereabouts. That's probably even more meaningful to me than starting the blog itself. (If you were gonna go hunting for the poem, by the way, no worries - I'm gonna post it this week to celebrate.)

As always, you - yes, YOU - are a huge part of the story. I love your reactions... your support... your friendship (and your emails alerting me to horrendous typos!). Without y'all, I wouldn't even be thinking about what comes in the years ahead here on GottaBook. But you're here... so I do!

So, thanks for sticking around, and I'm looking forward to sharing a lot more with you in the time ahead.

Book Trailers and Ebooks and Apps, Oh, My!

Over at the Happy Accident yesterday, Darcy Pattison wrote a guest post about book trailers - not only ideas about how to use 'em, but also stats about how teachers and librarians like 'em and use 'em. I really found it informative... so if you haven't seen it, I encourage you to head on over if you're at all interested in book trailers.

Also, yesterday's #kidlitchat was about ebooks and apps, and the transcript is now up for perusal. A lotta good links and ideas were shared, so if you're interested in that area of the biz, it's also prolly worth a check.

Trailers and ebooks and apps also seem pretty linked to me. We're still at the infancy of how books and video and interactivity are gonna work together. Fascinating times, indeed.

Congrats, Cybils Winners!

Yesterday saw the announcement of the 2010 Cybils. The range of books that get recognition is really fabulous... as are all the winners I'd encountered. I use the Cybils lists as book recommendation/buying lists all the time, actually.

I was part of the poetry crew that tapped Marilyn Singer's Mirror Mirror for the Poetry Cybil. We had a great group of books to choose from which made the conversations spirited, to say the least!

Good times... and fantastic books. I hope you'll go check out the results if you haven't already seen 'em.

Melancholy Valentines - a Valentine's Day poem

Melancholy Valentines
by
Gregory K.

I got two dozen Valentines.
I look at them with sorrow.
Sure, today, they mean "be mine" -
But what about tomorrow?


May your day be full of candy hearts and lots of chocolate (no matter what day you end up here, in fact!).

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E-books and Apps and #kidlitchat, Oh My!

Next week, on Tuesday the 15th at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific, #kidlitchat will be all about e-books and apps and how we in the broad collection of lovers of books for young readers from board book to YA, from poetry to prose are dealing (or not!) with this brave new world (which, I must note, has a lot in common with the brave old world).

Let's pool our knowledge and ideas and resources and, if we've got 'em, discuss our fears. And let's have fun and speak in 140 character bits as we do so.

Personally, I think apps and e-books are our friends. I also think that we can't afford to watch the changes happen without understanding the whos whats and wheres of it all.

I hope you'll join us on Twitter next week. If you're new to chats or want a refresher in how to get the most out of them, I highly recommend Debbie Ridpath Ohi's article on Twitter chats. And if you've got questions, feel free to ask here or find me or #kidlitchat co-host Bonnie Adamson on Twitter!

I'm gonna be in Austin (and you can still join me)!

Over President's Day weekend, I'll be speaking at the SCBWI-Austin 2011 Regional Conference: Books, Boots, and Buckskin. I'll be talking social media for us author and illustrator types, but the conference is packed with fabulous faculty, so I hope to be listening a bunch, too. And... I hope I'll be seeing some of you there!

Registration is still open, but only until Thursday, so if you were thinking about it... well, now, come on and sign up. And if you're gonna be there, please say "hi!" here in advance or there when you see me!

The publishing future of poetry for kids

Over at the fab Poetry for Children blog, Sylvia Vardell has posted an interview with Lee Bennett Hopkins about the future of publishing poetry for kids.

It's an excellent read, even though it's not entirely encouraging when you see someone like Lee saying the anthology is dead/dying.

Got something to add? Let's keep the conversation alive here or there or somewhere, because while I'm confident that poems will still be getting out there to kids... I think we should be focusing on the challenges now not feel run over by 'em later!

The January Carnival is up!

The January Carnival of Children's Literature is up over at Challenging the Bookworm. There's a lotta good stuff contained therein, and I heartily recommend a browsing trip.

Good weekend reading, indeed.

A Cheer for 300!

No... I didn't bowl a perfect game (not even on the wii). Instead, I'm cheering for poem 300 over at the Poem Farm.

Every day for the prior 299 days, you see, Amy has posted a poem over there - an original one, at that. Today is day 300... which means her goal of a poem every day for a year will be reached in 65 more days.

You really should go check it out - not just to say "yay for 300" but because I think you'll have a great time reading her blog.

Spinach - a vegetable poem/a food poem

SPINACH
by
Gregory K.

There are little bits of spinach
Up above and down beneath.
I'm glad you like your vegetables...
Now please go brush your teeth!


One of the joys of sharing this silly little ditty is learning that many families have secret words or signals to let kids and parents know that they've got a... uh... a "little extra in their smile" as one young friend shared with me. Do you have a code word? Wanna share?

This week's Poetry Friday roundup is over at A Teaching Life. Why not go on over and check out the poetry love going on in the kidlitosphere today?

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A Different Take on the Today Show and the Newbery/Caldecott Winners

Don't get mad at me, but I'm having a hard time being angry with the Today show for not having the Newbery and Caldecott winners on this year. Am I disappointed? Yes, I am - I love seeing children's literature get attention, and I think our field's big award winners deserve it. I'm also glad that advocates in our field are speaking out about the lack of attention children's literature gets. But...

I may be wrong about this, of course, but I think that IF this segment had been a big success for the Today show in the past, they'd've run it again this year. Wouldn't you? So, my thinking is that there's a problem and that it's not personal. It's business.

And honestly, having seen the Today segment in question many times over the years... well... from my point of view, it's usually not good TV. And if I ran a TV show, that would be a problem for me.

Not only that, but let's face the fact that no other network morning show has featured the ALA award winners (or has had a book club for kids) over the past few years nor did they step into the gap this year. It was great that the Today show did this segment in the past, but clearly, something changed for them. The lack of other networks diving in again says to me that this type of segment, for whatever reason, doesn't work for them, either.

Those of us who love children's literature should try to figure out what has changed and/or why this doesn't work, and then figure out how to overcome that obstacle.
 
I think one challenge we face here is that while the ALA awards are big news to all of us, unlike the Oscars, Grammys or even the People's Choice Awards, there's not a national audience of millions for the awards nor weeks of public speculation about who might win. Sure, we all talk about it, and some schools do, too, but it doesn't create the same level of buzz.

As a result, when the winners are announced, it's not "news" on the same level as those other awards, so there's no built in audience for a segment on the morning shows. Is this sad because books and authors should be news? Yes. Should we try to change that culture? Yes. But that doesn't mean we should expect others to do something that doesn't make sense to their business, for whatever reason.

Yet here's something we all know first hand: there is a hunger among parents and teachers and kids and grandparents and uncles and aunts for information about good books. I suspect the Today show knows this, too.

The question then is this: what other way can our books and/or award winners be presented to make for better TV, to make it more than anchors interviewing authors and illustrators about books that usually aren't yet part of the public conscience (though will be over time)? Our field is vibrant, influential, and about more than awards, so what should we do?

Maybe we can find an incredibly charismatic author who can talk about bigger children's lit stories than just the winners... to somehow give context and/or resonance? Can we uncover and present stories of kids in action with a book or books? Can we get an energetic bookseller talking about all sorts of amazing books from the year? Can we get Ashley Bryan to lead the entire Today staff in poetry call and response or have past award winners/best sellers use their "celebrity" or or or or? (I mean, honestly - having JK Rowling talk with the award winners is very different TV than having Matt Lauer do it.)

Clearly, I don't know the answer, as my above examples prove. But I'm positive that if we want to focus on things like network coverage for our field, we need to think out of the box here, because the message I take from the Today show is that the "box" doesn't work for them. It's painful and sad... very... but let's take this moment as one of opportunity and see what we can come up with.

We're creative types, after all!

Thinking about KidLitCon

This year will mark the fifth KidLitCon - a conference for bloggers in the kidlitosphere (from all perspectives (author, teacher, librarian, editor, etc) and for all age ranges from board book to YA). Colleen and Jackie, this coming year's co-organizers, have posted a survey to get input about what people have liked at prior KidLitCons and what people would like to see at this one.

I made it to the first three events, sadly missing this year's, and plan to go this year, so I quickly filled out the survey. But I wanted to write about what I said here in case it sparks reactions in any of y'all. (Plus, ya know, urge you to go fill out the survey!)

For me, a lot of the fun of the event is meeting people who share the same passion - children's literature - and love to talk about it. I like meeting fellow bloggers... and I like having group events where we're all thrown together rather than small groups breaking off into familiar clusters. I get the sense that we can be... not clique-y, as most of us don't know each other that well, but insular: we find folks we know/feel comfortable with/only see once a year and don't make the effort to meet others. Those of us who've been doing this awhile now probably need to lead the effort to introduce folks around.

This is not to say, by the way, that I wouldn't instantly pull up a chair so I can talk with, say, Mother Reader since I haven't seen her in so long. I will do exactly that. It's to say that we all need to be aware that each year brings us folks who know no one among us.

In terms of panels, well, this is tougher. With 100ish people there, we're all gonna be at different levels, we all come from different perspectives, and we all have different priorities. I think the goal in panels has to be balance: some topics appeal to all equally, some have a strong, specific focus (reviews), some technical, some creative.  I think we always need to look at topics that we as a community can grapple with together (how blogs can help books find an audience, for example), and I think we need to focus on how to help the kidlitosphere move beyond speaking to the hard-core, committed book lovers of the world and into becoming a voice that creates new hard-core, committed book lovers.

Those are my first-blush thoughts, also shared via the survey. I hope you'll all chime in on the survey or here in the comments. And I hope to see you at KidLitCon!

Revisiting diversity this week on #kidlitchat

Last year, we had a great #kidlitchat about diversity in the children's lit world. This year, well, it's time to have another one. Let's see how we, collectively, have done as a business this year, looking at issues of diversity in gender, race, sexual orientation issues, and more... and where we should be going moving forward.

Please join us Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific on Twitter for #kidlitchat.

Hope to see you there!

Poetry Re-Issue: Belly Button Blues - a belly button poem

BELLY BUTTON BLUES
by
Gregory K.

My belly center’s really bare:
My belly button isn’t there!
I got no innie, got no outie.
Every day it makes me pouty.

I wouldn’t mind a belly snap,
A zipper, hook, or belly flap.
Still, most of all, I’d like a button,
But sad to say, friend, I got nuttin’.

 
Earlier this week I was doing a school visit and had brought along my big 3-ring binder full of poetry for some show and tell. This poem fell out, and I took that to mean it wished to be seen again. I originally posted this here back in 2006... so my bet is that, as NBC (I think it was) used to say about reruns, "If you missed it, it's new to you!"

Irene Latham's hosting the first Poetry Friday Roundup of 2011. Head on over and see what's up in the blogosphere today.

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Let's Review... Fibs! (And comments)

Would you believe the EIGHTH issue of the fib review is up and available online? It is! This makes me very happy. Once again, it's packed with poems by people who take the fib form and really do amazing things with it. Well worth a looksee, if you're so inclined.

Today also marks the kickoff of the Comment Challenge, the brainchild of Mother Reader and Lee Wind. It's a great community event, and I'm excited to be participating this year. Are you?

The Cybils' Short Lists are Up! And...

It's New Year's Day (happy new year, by the way), so that means it's time for the  Cybils' short lists to be announced. You can find links to them all right here (or go straight to the poetry list via this handy link). I use the Cybil lists to catch up on reading in a lot of categories....

And if that's not enough fun for one day, I send you over to the Golden Fuse Awards for 2010. Where else will you find a category for Most Unexpected Blurb?

Still need more? The December Carnival of Children's Literature is waiting for you, too.

There. That should keep ya linked up for a spell. Enjoy!

Taking Stock (and Happy New Year!)

I always like to do a personal year-in-review, looking to see what's going right and wrong, what's on and off track, what I should do going forward, and what I definitely shouldn't do going forward based on looking backward!

The review a personal thang, not really the stuff of blog posts for me, but this year something really stood out in sharp relief: I am happy when I'm writing, and when I don't have time to write... well, jeez, it's frustrating in a way I don't think I ever understood.

So, I'll use that as motivation next year, stealing minutes when days don't offer hours, and taking hours when they come. It's a rare moment of clarity... so feel free to remind me of it sometime in the middle of next year :-)

I wish you and all of yours a very happy and healthy 2011!

Thoughts During the Downpour - a rainy day poem

Thoughts During the Downpour
by
Gregory K.

I always wished the rain away
And said “come back some other day.”
It worked real well, but now I fear
“Some other day”?
It's here.

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Oddaptation Redux: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

It's been a while since I've posted an Oddaptation here at GottaBook. If you've never seen one, I think of them as picture book Cliff's Notes, though with attitude and almost always in verse (hence my thinking of one for Poetry Friday).

You can see a selection of Oddaptations here if you'd like to get up to speed.

My Grinch Oddaptation is a little bit different than others, but since it is the season....

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
by Dr. Seuss
Oddaptation by Gregory K.

Don’t worry. He didn’t.


You can check out the Poetry Friday roundup over at The Poem Farm, where Amy is not only also throwing a surprise party but posts fabulous poetry all year round. Go on and check it out!

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!

26,522

What, you may ask, is the significance of 26,522? Well, thanks to an article brought to my attention by the wonderful author Erica Silverman, I can tell you that that's the number of children's and YA books published in 2009 (at least per the Library and Book Trade Almanac).

What's not clear is how many of them are traditionally published vs. self-published (and Harold Underdown said on Twitter that he believes these stats include the self-pubbed titles). No matter what, though... that's a lotta books!

Oh, You Think Nothing's Happening Here?

Sure, I've been quiet. But that doesn't mean it's been quiet here at GottaBook.

No.

How about 60 spam comments left last night? Hmmm? How about that. But these were special, as the author of them attempted to be on topic, occasionally even writing poetry.

Oh, sure, it was poetry with a hyperlink to generic pharmaceuticals thrown in randomly, but it was poetry!

I also liked this comment, finding it quite in keeping with current events:

I was really impressed with the way you redact the blog. I thought "this guy must be a professional poet."

It is nice to have fans. And if any of you are searching for generics as gifts for the holiday season, I think I have a link for you....

Twitter Tags of Interest for Children's Literature (from Picture Book to YA)

Here is an attempt to create a list of the various tags used on Twitter that relate to the field of children's literature. This will be a "living" document, changing as Twitter changes and as new tags pop up.

#kidlit - used all the time. used for news of interest in children's literature. (To be honest, this tag isn't used as often as it could be!)

#kidlitchat - used on Tuesdays at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific for a weekly chat about all things kidlit, but used sporadically through the week, too.

#YALitChat - used on Wednesday at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific for a chat about YA, but also used all week long for YA Lit type topics.

#kidlitart - used on Thursday at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific for a weekly chat about the art of picture books. Used some during the week, too.

#yalit - used all week long for items related to YA Lit.

#PBlitchat - another picture book chat tag, writing based. The chat has moved off Twitter, but the tag still used for picture book stuff during the week, too.

#scbwi - used to tag news and information related to or of interest to SCBWI members (local, national, and international)

#titletalk - a Sunday chat, but the tag is used during the week, too, highlighting specific titles

#amwriting - a cross-genres and cross-age groups tag for those who are writing

#speakloudly - this tag deals with a situation involving Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, and is still heavily involved in issues involving challenges to children's books.

#nfmon - used to tag posts related to non-fiction Monday.

#NFforKids - used all week long for links related to non-fiction for kids.


#poetryfriday - used to tag posts related to Poetry Friday.


There are many more tags that cross into children's literature from time to time:

#askagent, #publishing, #books, #poetry, #amediting, #literacy, and no doubt dozens more I'm forgetting.

There are also tags like #kidlitcon that relate to individual events and others that relate to one-time chats. I am trying to list only tags that work year round.

Have any to add to this list? Please let me know so we can keep this list up to date. Leave a comment here, email me, or even tweet me!

Poetry Friday! A Carnival! A Biiiiiig Book Giveaway!

Lots to pass on today, starting off with the biiiiig giveaway (like 125,000 books big) being done by Readergirlz and FirstBook. I mention this here not just to shine the spotlight on this great thing... but also because they're looking for organizations which reach out to teens to help in the distribution. Do you know any such org? If so, please check out the giveaway announcement for more info.

Also worth a peek and shoutout... the November Carnival of Children's Literature is up, kindly hosted by Wendy Wax. Lots to see there, so head on over and check it out.

And it's Friday, so that means there's a new Poetry Friday roundup! This week it's hosted over at the Miss Rumphius Effect. And like all weeks, it's well worth a peek.

That should keep us all plenty busy, as if this time of year isn't busy enough already. But hey, this is cyber busy. It's different, I tell ya!

This is my type of research!

Not that I'm turning GottaBook into a hub of science info or anything, but this is the type of research that I can fully get behind. In fact, most writers I know can, too:

Coffee and a Sweet Treat to Think Better? Caffeine and Glucose Combined Improves the Efficiency of Brain Activity

As my friends on Facebook and Twitter have agreed, this is not really "news" to those of us who partake of the combination already. Still, this is a great excuse... errr, I mean... this is a great reason to commit ourselves to the cause of fully exploring this important topic and experimenting frequently in the true tradition of scientific inquiry.

Are you with me? Excellent! I knew I could count on y'all. Now who's brewing?

The Day After Thanksgiving - a Thanksgiving poem

The Day After Thanksgiving
by
Gregory K.

Yesterday my grandpa pinched my cheek and said I’d grown.
I heard my uncle’s lousy jokes and held back every moan.
I had to watch the football games instead of what I like.
I had to watch my cousins all take turns on my new bike.
I had to take a taste of Auntie’s tofu bean sprout "stuff."
I didn’t get the apple crisp – Mom didn’t make enough!
The table got so messy that I had to clear it twice.
I couldn’t wear my comfy clothes since Dad said, "Please dress nice."
All day I heard my grandma say how crazy my dog drove her.
Today I’m thankful we’re alone ‘cause I’ve got zilch left over.

I hope all of you who celebrated Thanksgiving had a happy day. I did (the above is actually not autobiographical in any way, I'm pleased to say)... and am looking forward to the weekend ahead.

A big thanks to all the folks who have hosted the Poetry Friday roundup, including this week's host Jone! (You can find the roundup here.)

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It's a Fibonacci Kinda Day! (Or... Figure Skating and Fibonacci: Who Would Have Guessed?)

It's 11/23 (or 1-1-2-3) and therefore a great day to be talking Fibonacci. OK, sure, 11/23/58 woulda been an even better day, but I'll take four numbers in sequence anytime.

And how to celebrate such a superbly sequential day? What about a guest post from author Kate Messner who, it just so happens, features Fibonacci in her upcoming novel Sugar and Ice (a Junior Library Guild Selection and a Winter 2011 Kids IndieNext pick)? Yes!

Because the truth is, I just had to find out how Fibonacci and figure skating ended up in the same place... and luckily for me, Kate was willing to explain.

Figure Skating and Fibonacci: Who would have guessed?

The great thing about writing a novel is the mental playground that opens up during that process. Writing a book is an invitation to explore places you love, places you’ve always wanted to go.  It’s a chance to meet people long dead and invent people out of thin air.  And it’s a chance to play around with all of your favorite ideas.

Like a maple farm at sugaring time.  A figure skating rink with high stakes competition. And why not throw in a little cool math, too?  Though they might seem like unlikely companions, all of those threads play a role in SUGAR AND ICE, my latest novel for young readers, due out from Walker/Bloomsbury December 7^th.   

Small-town figure skater Claire Boucher has always been content to skate in her local Maple Show and help out at the community rink, but when a charismatic Russian skating coach shows up in town with a scholarship offer, she finds herself transported to the uber-competitive world of Lake Placid’s Olympic Center, where ice time takes priority and Claire finds herself struggling to meet her school obligations – even the math project on Fibonacci numbers she was so excited about.

Why is Claire fascinated by Fibonacci?  Mostly because the number patterns he wrote about really do appear in some amazing places in nature and elsewhere (maybe even in skating!)  And it doesn’t hurt that the cute, friendly guy at skating is a math geek, too.  Here’s an excerpt from one of Claire and Luke’s Fibonacci conversations in SUGAR AND ICE:

“You still working on that Fibonacci project?” Luke asked. “I could give you a hand if you want. I like that stuff.”

“Actually, I’m doing pretty well. I’m making a slide show, so I’ve been taking pictures around the farm now that the flowers are out. I’m trying to find more examples of the numbers in places other than nature and art.”

“Don’t forget music.” Luke held up the iPod. “You can listen to that Bartók on here later if you want.”

“I found that on iTunes when you talked about it before. But I was thinking about Fibonacci in figure skating. Those numbers are everywhere. They must be in skating, too, don’t you think?”  Claire leaned forward in her seat. “Any idea whether or not the rink is a golden rectangle?”

“Hmm…it might be a little long. We could check.  But what about the lead in to our spins?”  Luke traced a spiral in the air with his finger.

“Oh my gosh!” Claire bounced a little in her seat. “I bet you’re right! I bet it’ll be a golden spiral. That would be perfect!”

Luke’s eyes lit up. “We can test it out later. I’ll do a scratch spin right after the Zamboni comes out, and we’ll check the tracing on the ice.”

Abby sighed a dramatic sigh.  “Luke, this is the saddest attempt to impress a girl in the history of the world. You are getting geekier by the minute.”

Luke leaned back and punched her lightly on the arm. “You’re just jealous that you don’t share my mathematical awesomeness.”

“You mean your Fibo-nerdiness.”

Claire laughed. “Aw, go easy on him, Abby. I’ll take all the help I can get. If I can manage to get this project done with my skating schedule, it’ll be a Fibo-miracle.”

Sweeeeet! Thanks for stopping by, Kate, and all I really need to say is "Fibo-nerdiness!" Yes!

For more on SUGAR AND ICE,  you can visit Kate’s website. And if you live in the Northern NY area, you’re invited to join Kate for a book launch at The Bookstore Plus on Main Street in Lake Placid from 3-5pm on Saturday, December 11^th.  

If you can’t make it but would like a personalized, signed copy, call The Bookstore Plus at (518) 523-2950 by December 10th, and they’ll send it out after the event on the 11^th. Pretty cool.

For even more Fibonacci fun, I've got a guest post up over at Kate's blog today, too, telling a little about my own fascination with Fibonacci... and the sequence that led to my own book deal. 

Do you have any big Fibonacci plans today (or anytime, really)? We'd love to hear about it if you do. Regardless, enjoy the day, and Fib on!

A #kidlitchat pot-luck, and...

Tomorrow night's #kidlitchat should be a lot of fun - it's gonna be a pot-luck! Bonnie and I are inviting everyone to bring topics to the table, and we'll chat about 'em all. I imagine some topics will lead to full chats later, others will involve giving thanks, and no doubt a few will revolve around food. But what else will happen?

#kidlitchat happens on Twitter every Tuesday night at 9 PM Eastern. If you're new to Twitter chats or want to learn more about 'em, I highly recommend Debbie Ridpath Ohi's incredibly helpful article about them. I hope we see you there!

I'm also excited about tomorrow as I'm featuring a guest post here by Kate Messner. And guess what? It involves two of my favorite topics: children's books and Fibonacci! So, I also hope I'll see you here tomorrow. Good times, indeed.

Publishing, Whirled

I don't often talk about the world of publishing here at GottaBook, though it's not for lack of interest. And as things continue changing so rapidly, I find that I think about the business side of things more and more.

So it was with great interest that I watched, yakked in, and read tonight's #kidlitchat, all about the questions, really, of what it means to try and make money in this nutty business... and of whether the goal is to be published at any cost, to be well published, or to combine what we must do to make a living.

As usual in areas like this, there are no definitive answers. But as big publishing consolidates and publishing options expand, these choices are gonna be more and more prevalent. I think they're worth thinking about now, at least for those hoping to make a career out of writing. And if you're not, well, I'd still love to hear your thoughts!

The Guilt of the TBR Pile

I have a big to-be-read pile (well, more of a mound plus a shelf, but that's just semantics)... and it makes me feel guilty. Not cuz I haven't read all the books in it, but because I've realized that some books simply slide down the imaginary list of the TBR pile. A new book comes along and suddenly I'm reading that instead of a 9 month old denizen of the mound.

So I review the books to see if I can get rid of those older ones... but no. I want to read them. Really. 

I can't be the only one who goes through this cycle, can I? Don't you find some books that never quite make it to the top of the list, even if you can't determine why? Yet I also know that sometimes I read those same books and curse myself for waiting so long. That, I suspect, is the cause of what I'm calling "guilt."

If you've got solutions, I'd love to hear. An extra couple hours a day or days in a month would be really helpful, if you happen to have any to spare!

This week on #kidlitchat - what's working for you online?

I spend a fair amount of time online - I tweet, Facebook, blog, email, am on listservs, and hang a couple places, too. Sometimes I hang out for fun, but sometimes I have more of a business focus. We chat co-hosts, that Bonnie Adamson and me, know that EVERYONE who participates in #kidlitchat hangs online, too, so we have a bunch of questions for this week's chat:

What's working for you? Do you mix professional and personal... and is that only on certain networks? Do you find anything particularly effective for marketing? For friendship? For connecting?

In other words... how do you spend your time, and what's working for you?

I hope you can join us for #kidlitchat on Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern/6 Pacific. For information on how to join in Twitter chats, check out Debbie Ridpath Ohi's incredibly helpful article. And if you can't join us, please feel free to weigh in here!

Too Much, Too Soon - a holiday poem

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON

by

Gregory K.

I’ve looked in every book I own...

I still can’t find a reason.

So tell me why’s November first the start of Christmas season?

I see the trees and hear the songs.

Big ads are everywhere.

I even saw a pumpkin wearing Santa’s beard and hair.

It’s not that Christmas isn’t swell,

But can’t we wait a tad?

Besides I got a frantic call -- Thanksgiving Day is mad!

This poem's been kicking around these parts for a long time. It's never seemed done to me, and maybe it still isn't. But every year, it seems more and more relevant, so... voila! And hey, if you want to check out other poems and poetry related posts that might be more finished, head on over to Teaching Authors and check out the Poetry Friday roundup. 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!

Books, Audio Books, and More

Over at the Happy Accident, I have an interview up with Holly Cupala - YA author, Readergirlz diva, and verrrrrry creative when it comes to using social media and other tools the help create opportunities for herself and her debut novel, Tell Me a Secret.

If you're interested in the story of someone who turned down a deal for an audio book and did it on her own... who used blog tours and blogging along with traditional tools... and who, oh, just go on over and check it out :-?

One Week

My blog spoke to me. It said "It's been one week since you blogged on me, typed your words on my page and showed you loved me; Five days since you checked you stats saying 'where'd ya'll go, wontcha come back and see me.'"

I can always look back at my year and identify different events in my offline life by looking at gaps in my blog and, specifically, Fridays when I don't even mention Poetry Friday or mention it late in the day (and for the record, this week's roundup is at Toby Speed's Writer's Armchair). 

I wonder if the uber-active on Facebook or Twitter can look back at an individual day and say "oh, see that one hour gap in activity? I was really busy doing xxxxxx and talking to yyyyy" or if it doesn't quite scale the same way? Questions. I've always got questions....

Happy Halloween, y'all! If you end up with any extra of those adorable little Reese's cups, be sure to save me a few!

Not To Sound Like a Broken Record...

Actually, I don't think I will. Instead, I have a question:

How many people, when they hear that phrase, know what a broken record sounds like? Do any kids today know it? At what age does it go from being something that has no relevance to something that, for me at least, brings up specific LPs that stuck and repeated like, well, like broken records.

Writing for kids, we're always told it's best to avoid slang that dates your book (unless you're trying to be of a certain time, of course). I wonder if a phrase like this, which is one I can use naturally, is going to disappear from the lexicon? And what other phrases are like this, based on something that we just don't experience with regularity anymore?

Now You're Talking

Or really, "Then We Were Talking" would be more accurate....

No matter, though, I wanted to put up a link to the transcript of last night's #kidlitchat conversation about the differences between Middle Grade and YA... and whether any of it matters.

We had authors, editors, readers, agents, and teachers weighing in on a whole range of issues related to the topic. We talked about "upper MG" and "teen" and chapter books, and whether it's all about marketing or not.

Good times and a good convo, I thought. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

Is it YA? Is it MG? This Week on #kidlitchat

Can you define the difference between YA (young adult) and MG (middle grade)? Is it about content? Theme? Language? Sex vs. no sex? All of this and more? None of the above? And why do any of these distinctions matter... or do they?

That'll be the topic of conversation tomorrow (Tuesday, October 19th) at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific at #kidlitchat. I hope you'll come join us.

#kidlitchat is a weekly chat on Twitter, co-hosted by Bonnie Adamson and me, and featuring an incredibly smart, vibrant, ever-changing collection of others passionate about children's literature - writers, illustrators, editors, agents, librarians, readers, teachers, and beyond. Everyone's welcome. I think it's always informative and a blast, though I suppose I'm biased.

If you have never participated in a Twitter chat (and even if you have!), Debbie Ridpath Ohi has a must-read article that will explain the whats, whys and hows of it. Feel free to ask questions here or find me or Bonnie on Twitter and ask there.

You can also check out the transcripts of all prior #kidlitchats at their home on my other blog, The Happy Accident.

Hope to see you there!

This is Not a Poem

This Is Not a Poem
By
Gregory K.

This is not a poem:
It’s a moment caught in time.
It isn’t full of imagery
Or meter, form, or rhyme.

This is not a poem.
It can’t be heard or read.
It’s nothing but a small idea
Now planted in your head.


I've written many a poem when I should've been listening or working on something else. This one probably had its roots in M.T. Anderson's breakout session at the SCBWI Summer Conference this year... or maybe at a recent visit to the BCAM here in LA. Or maybe it's never had roots because it's not a poem :-) No matter, though, the Poetry Friday roundup (full of poetry and NOT poetry, perhaps) is up today over at Liz Garton Scanlon's Liz in Ink. That's always a lovely blog to visit, so you should go there just cuz.

And if you want to get all my new poems (and only the poems, yet including the "not a poems") emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Fibonacci EVERYWHERE

It's not just in poetry or nature. Nope, Fibonacci... and the Golden Ratio... show up the darnedest places.

Like Twitter's new design!

Sweeeeeeet!

With a Link, Link Here....

And a link, link there!

Here's a link to the Poetry Friday Roundup over at at Jen Rothschild's Biblio File.

There's a link to the new Carnival of Children's Literature over at Great Kid Books.

Everywhere (well, I wish!) a link to nominate books for this year's Cybils awards.

(And again, if you happen to be coming to the Orange County Children's Book Festival on Sunday, be sure to say "hi!")

Cybils Time! Judging and... Nominating

I'm excited to be a judge for the upcoming Cybils awards - I'll be serving as a finals round judge in the poetry category. And I'm super excited to be joining such great folks in looking at this year's children's poetry books. Check out these fab folk:

The round one judges (who read 'em all and hand over a smaller group to us final round judges):

Bruce Black, Wordswimmer
Elaine Magliaro, Wild Rose Reader
Gina Ruiz, AmoXcalli and The Graphic Landscape
Laura Purdie Salas, Writing the World for Kids
Sylvia Vardell, Poetry for Children

The final rounders (who debate and discuss and ultimately determine one book to get the Cybil):

Kelly Fineman, Writing and Ruminating
Sara Lewis Holmes, Read Write Believe
Greg Pincus, right here at GottaBook
Jama Rattigan, Alphabet Soup
Liz Scanlon, Liz in Ink

Kelly, by the way, is the "fearless leader" of the whole poetry category. Lots o' work, that, and I'm glad she's there to do it.

Now, the Cybils start taking nominations on Friday, October 1st. And the thing is, if folks don't nominate, then we judges have nothing to do. So start thinking about your favorite books (not just in poetry, but across the kidlit board) and get ready to nominate. You can only do one book per category... but there are a lot of categories!

UNFAIR - a county fair poem/a life's unfair poem

UNFAIR
by
Greg Pincus

The fluffy candy looked bright pink,
But it was really cotton.
The caramel apples looked delish…
But every one was rotten.

The petting zoo had great big signs,
You Only Look -- Don’t Touch.
The penny candy cost twelve bucks -
I didn’t have that much.

My giant lolli fell apart:
The spiraled rings uncoiled.
I waited for the rides so long
My deep-fried Twinkie spoiled.

I went to watch a sheep get sheared.
Instead, it cut my hair!
I sure can’t wait 'til I go home...
I don’t like this Unfair.

The Poetry Friday roundup is over at Karin Edmisten's Blog with the Shockingly Clever Title. Head on over and see what's poetically what this week in the blogosphere.

And as always, 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!

Emcee is in the House (OK, Fine - in Orange County)

On Sunday, October 3rd, I'm going to be down in Costa Mesa at the Orange County Children's Book Festival. There's a ton of fun to be had there with authors and illustratrors galore as well as other entertainment. Oh, and booooooooks!

Plus, if you come on by the illustrators' stage, you'll see ME as the stage MC! I'm excited and working on all my old comedy routines and... okay, not really on the routines. But I am excited and hope that you come on by and say hello.

Talking PoetrE

I have a guest post up over at David L. Harrison's blog today, talking about poetry and the online world (I'm an optimist, by the way). I hope you'll go check it out, and I also urge you to check out David's blog in total. It is packed with great stuff.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is up over at Elaine Magliaro's Wild Rose Reader today (another blog you should explore). Be off and enjoy some poetic thoughts and posts... and I'll see you back here soon.

Those Were The Days!

It's volunteer librarian season hereabouts again. This year, besides the elementary school where I've been involved for five years, I'm also spearheading the startup of a middle school library. I'll be yakking more about this in the weeks ahead, I'm sure, but I've already noticed a "probably good for my writing but tough on my time management" issue....

Every book that comes into our system goes through my hands. I've been known to, uh, read a few of them. Okay... a lot of them. When it was all picturebooks, I could enjoy dozens and still get the library cleaned up in the limited time I can devote to volunteering.

Now, though, more middle grade novels are coming through my hands. And yes... I'm reading. I can't get through dozens anymore! I guess it's a lucky thing for me that we haven't built up much of a collection yet.... Unluckily for me, most of what I'm scrounging up is slightly older... and covers a lot of what I somehow missed when it came out.

I often put out a call for donations (I will again!), but right now I'm accepting donations of reading time. Feel free to pass some along. Thanks!

Shhhhhhhhh.

I am being very quiet... though I am not hunting wabbit. Still, I just looked hereabouts and realized it's been a week since I posted! Why is that?

Well, I was busy saving the world in a top-secret undercover mission involving books, the beach, lots of coffee (both iced and hot), and cotton candy. That's all I'm at liberty to say, but I'm sure you can all read between the lines and, uh, figure out the, uh, top-secret mission. Yeah. The mission.

But it's almost done. Only a couple days left, in fact, and then I know we'll all sleep better. Or at least I will!

See you then....

It's Overseas! It's Everywhere!

The August Carnival of Children's Literature is up over at Sandy Fussell's Stories Are Light blog. Writing for children knows no borders, of course, but I'm trying to recall if there's been another Carnival hosted from Australia or anywhere else that to me is overseas (cuz, like, to Sandy I'd be overseas!). Anyone remember one?

Regardless, there are some fabulous links at the Carnival, and I hope you'll head on over and check it out.

I dunno. It amuses me.

Thanks to the BookChook, I got to play with Iconscrabble and came up with this:

It amuses me, I tell ya!

"Tag, You're It," He Said Poetically - an adverb poem/a dialogue tag poem

"Tag, You're It," He Said Poetically
(a dialogue tag poem)
by
Greg Pincus

"Cut them quickly," she said speedily.
"I want them gone," he said needily.
"Show don't tell," he said directly.
"Use them well," she said correctly.
"I hate adverbs," he said whinily.
"We're all done," she said finally.



It's a little silliness either designed to end your summer or to send you back to school, I type optionally. Regardless, I hope you enjoy!

The Poetry Friday roundup is over at Teach Poetry K-12 today. Why not go 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!

A Facebook Moment....

Over at my other blog, The Happy Accident, I put up a tutorial about Facebook's privacy settings in light of their rollout of Places - their geo-tagging equivalent of Foursquare or Gowalla.

Since I figure most everyone who reads GottaBook is either on Facebook or familiar with it, I wanted to share the link and take a moment to note that taking care of your privacy settings is really rather important. Even though I always assume that everything I do online will be public in the end, I do take whatever steps I can take to make that less likely!

Word Choice and a Dis-invitation

I had a lovely little real-world vacation... and while I was gone, I missed being a part of a few interesting conversations. But that doesn't mean I can't link to 'em or talk about 'em later!

Over at MotherReader's blog, she writes about the new Lane Smith book, It's a Book. There's some controversy... and interesting comments, too.

And at a slew of blogs, there's talk of Ellen Hopkins being disinvited to the TeenLitFest in Humble, TX. A few other authors have now bowed out of the event. I liked Pete Hautman's post on the topic - The Nasty Thing in the Corner - in which you'll find links to many other posts and good conversation in the comments.

I'm still catching up, so who knows what else I've missed?! As if that's not enough....

Poetry. Awards. Poetry Awards.

Yes, I'm late to this, I know, but it's still worth a shout-out or two. While I was all SCBWI-ing, Betsy Bird was talking about whether there should be an ALA poetry award or not. Check out the heavy hitters talking in the comments there!

Then last Friday, Elaine Magliaro reposted something of her own on the same topic from 2006 that's well worth a read, too.

Guess what? I'm in the camp that's pro-award. Shocking, isn't it!

A Charity Auction... With Cool Art!

Dan Santat - author, illustrator, trailer-maker-extraordinaire - has put together an auction to benefit 826LA, a fab organization that brings the arts to school kids. And this particular auction will be happening online and gives you a chance to nab some artwork by a slew of amazing artists working in the children's book field.

You know, folks like Sean Qualls and Mo Willems and and and and, well, see the picture below. If you click the link, you'll see a trailer and more information about how you can get involved (as in... buy the art!). Check it out!

Quick Bites on a Summer Friday

Over at the Happy Accident, I wrote up more about Rubin Pfeffer's keynote as well as my own thoughts on this whole future of publishing debate. The comments are rocking, too, so be sure to check them out.

The Poetry Friday roundup is over at Author Amok today. Give yourself a little moment of poetic fun and go check it out.

Learning, Connecting, and Caffeinating at SCBWI LA 2010

I have probably said this after every single SCBWI summer conference I've attended, but I'll say it again: what a blast! This was my first year on faculty - a huge honor and thrill, I must say - but that didn't change my experience very much at all, other than meaning I had to prepare and miss a few sessions when I was talking. I'll have a post up at The Happy Accident recapping what Alice Pope and I talked about in our sessions, by the way. Soon. Soooooon.

Highlights, as usual, are too numerous to list in detail... though here are a few of mine.

I was excited by what Jon Scieszka is doing with his new series Spaceheadz. The story and the multi-faceted online components work together even as either stands on its own. But they combine to enrich the universe of the story AND offer more fun for the reader. Check out http://www.sphdz.com to get a taste.

M. T. Anderson's breakout session on experimental fiction included a great reading and analysis of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, including comparing it to Burrough's Naked Lunch! Earlier, he sang us a Delaware state anthem that had 1,000 people roaring. But I digress.

Ruben Pfeffer delivered a clear-eyed view of the fact that, well, the future is now so to speak - ebooks are here, technology does have an impact, the business is changing and will continue to... and really, it's not a bad thing. This was the clearest, most direct, non-blinders-on view of the industry I've heard, and I applaud Ruben for delivering it and the SCBWI for asking him to do so. Denial is our biggest enemy, seems to me.

Ack! Already long enough and still no mention of Rachel Vail or Julia Durango or Gail Carson Levine or Marian Dane Bauer or or or or. Ack! Well, they and dozens of others were great. But I can't leave ya without one more...

Seeing 87 year-old Ashley Bryan on stage, getting 1,000 of us chanting poetry with him, filling us with inspiration, and reminding us of the importance of words on a page and getting young readers to connect with them was an experience that will inspire me for years to come.

There are a ton of great roundups already appearing on blogs today, and I'm sure more will come during the week. The SCBWI Conference blog has write-ups on all of this and more and is really worth a trip whether you were there or not.

Finally... it was great to see so many familiar faces there... some only familiar from Twitter and blogs, but many from knowing you now for years. It was a great time, and I'm already looking forward to next year!

The SCBWI Summer Conference is here!

Well, "here" as in it's time, not "here" as in on my blog.

If you're at the Conference, I do hope you'll say "hi." I'm mighty thrilled to be on the faculty this year, but I'm even more excited to be able to reconnect with so many friends and connect with new ones....

If you're there, also think of coming by and joining in our Tweetup on Sunday at 5:30 in the hotel lobby. And if you're there or not, follow along the Conference tweetstream via the hashtag #LA10SCBWI (and, of course, the fab SCBWI team blog where they will be live-blogging the conference)

I'm a Sweetheart!

More specifically, I'm the Featured Sweetheart over at the Texas Sweethearts' blog! Y'all should head over and check out their site: Jo Whittemore, P.J. Hoover, and Jessica Lee Anderson have a great, fun group blog going on over there, and I'm flattered to be part of it.

Fibbing on a Poetry Friday

What better day to talk about Fibs than on a Poetry Friday? (Well, I suppose a 11/23/58 woulda been a good day, but I wasn't blogging back then).  And what do I have to say about Fibs? Well...

The Fib Review is still going strong, now with issue #6 online. It's mighty good reading... and for those of you so inclined, they take submissions. More than one GottaBook reader has ended up in the Review, so why not join the group?

Also, head on out and check out William Cullerne Bown's new blog/project - A Year in Fibs. He's posting a Fib a day... and he's just begun. That's an ambitious project - they aren't always easy to write, I must say - and it should be fun to follow.

Finally... it's Poetry Friday! The weekly roundup is at Language, Literacy, Love. Head on over and enjoy!

#kidlitchat turns one!

Can you believe it? We've now had 52 #kidlitchats on Twitter (you can see the transcripts here). It's been a fabulous year, and we'd love to have you join us for a community celebration this week. If you're new to chatting, you might want to check out Debbie Ridpath Ohi's great blog post on Twitter chats. If you're a frequent chatter... thanks! And either way, I hope you'll come join us on Twitter this (and every) Tuesday night at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific.

See you there!

Combination = Win!

Today I'm sending you off again to celebrate poetry Friday... and the first stop combines two poets who were both part of this year's 30 Poets/30 Days celebration. Yup... you can find Charles Waters being interviewed over on David L. Harrison's blog!

Here on GottaBook, you can also find Charles' poem, I Love Being Me, and David's poem, Lookit!, from this year's celebration.

For more poetic fun, you can also find the Poetry Friday Roundup over at Carol's Corner today. Enjoy!

I Am a Grammarbender

I'm a big fan of the series Avatar, the Last Airbender... and I love applying the idea of "bending" to other things besides air, water, fire, and earth as in the series. Some other bending seems really useful - timebending, perhaps? But being a Grapebender? Probably not so much.

I also always wonder what bending could help writers (or give us a common vocabulary to refer to certain writers or, I suppose, for editors and agents to classify certain submissions).

Grammarbending seems useful. Spellbending? The computer might fight it, but still.... e.e. cummings was a master Capitalizationbender. And... what else?

As I await answers, I'm gonna practice my timebending. With any luck, you'll have read this a few hours before I posted.

PoFriWeRo!

PoFriWeRo is my new acronym for the Poetry Friday Weekly Roundup. Don't all thank me at once :-)

This week's roundup (aka PoFreWeRo) is over at The Poem Farm. Go on over and check it out!

And while you're at it, if the mood strikes you, you can see my poem from last week - Hello, Summer! - translated into Chinese. I do so love the web!

Meanwhile...

I mentioned this in passing at #kidlitchat tonight (transcripts of the chats are here, by the way), but I think it bears repeating: I really think Jason Shiga's Meanwhile is quite something.

I have yet to meet a kid who wasn't fascinated by it and enjoyed reading it/interacting with it. It works in groups, too. It's not a perfect book (what is?), but boy I am so happy it exists.

A Poetry Re-Issue: Hello, Summer!

Summer began this week and school ended hereabouts, too. Seems like a good time for this re-issue....

Hello, Summer!
by
Gregory K.

Goodbye, classroom!
Goodbye, Teach!
You can find me at the beach...
Or in the park or at the pool
Or any place that isn’t school.

Goodbye, quizzes!
Bye, reports!
Hello days packed full of sports
And days when I’m just lazybones
While eating melty ice cream cones.

Goodbye, homework --
Lunchroom, too.
There’s so, so much I wanna do.
I know the school year flew on past…
But please, please summer -- last and last.


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Here a link, there a link....

Everywhere a link, link!

The 2010 edition of KidLitCon has been announced (October 23 in Minneapolis). You can follow the conference blog for more info. I've been to the first three, and I highly recommend attending if you blog in the broad children's literature space.

Guess who's blogging? No. No. Not her. No... not him. Keep guessing. Give up? Arthur A. Levine, that's who! This is exciting - he's a wonderful writer (with a new book out in 2011 in fact) and now I don't ever have to feel guilty blogging since my editor is doing it, too. (Right????)

And finally... why not check out the first trailer for a documentary about children's literature? It's called Library of the Early Mind, and it will be premiering in October at Harvard, no less! You can follow the movie's blog to stay up to date. I think it looks great.

The Brainstormer!

I apologize because I can't remember where I initially saw this link. I know it was on Twitter (and it might have been Colleen Lindsay (and if it wasn't this time, you should follow her anyway regardless)), but that is all I know for a fact.

Anyway, here's The Brainstormer by Andrew Bosley. Is it art? Is it a tool for writers who need to brainstorm ideas or plot points? Is it both? It doesn't matter, frankly... I just think it's cool and will keep you all busy all weekend!

Of possible interest...

Over at my other site, The Happy Accident, I've been yakking a bit about the idea of "branding" when it comes to authors. Or, perhaps NOT branding, as it's a word that rubs a lot of folks the wrong way AND is mighty hard to define anyway.

But for all you authors and illustrators (and maybe even bloggers), whether you like the word 'brand' or not, there are some real opportunities... and pitfalls, too... that you can take advantage of. It's a choice, but ignoring options because you don't like the terminology doesn't seem like a good approach to me.

I'd be curious to hear what you have to say, particularly when it comes to the various suggestions we all seem to hear that we HAVE to be out there helping out books sell. Or is that just a rumor after all?

Packing books. PACKING?!?!?! Again??!!!!

Another school year is coming to an end... and once again, we're moving chunks of our library. A couple thousand books will need to be boxed and moved... then unpacked... then other boxes packed up and moved elsewhere. Sigh.

Five years ago, at one point, I'd vowed never to move another box of books for the school. Currently, I have three boxes here at home that have to be brought in to the library, so you can see how well I've done on that pledge! Still, it's all worth it.

Except for the packing and moving, that is.

I'll be talking about this more as the summer goes on, I imagine, but the newest task our all volunteer library committee has is to start a middle school library. Yeah, that's right. Start another library. For middle school. From scratch.

Any ideas appreciated. Any books are, too. ( And, as always, a hat tip to all of you have sent books over the years (I can almost always cover media mail postage, by the way!). And if you've got a lot of middle grade lying around, be sure to get in touch!

Meanwhile... I'll be packing. Gah!

Go hither and thither....

I actually went thither (to Orlando for the SCBWI Florida Mid Year Conference, where I had the pleasure of presenting with Ed Masessa, author and Scholastic Book Fair guy, and Cynthia Leitich Smith, author and blogger extraordinaire), but in this case I actually mean I've got a few links for ya.

Over at Publishers Weekly's Shelf Talker blog, Elizabeth Bluemle has a thoughtful, action-oriented piece called The Elephant in the Room, all about diversity (or the lack thereof) in publishing. It's a good read... and important, too.

And then, to keep ya busy, over at her Writers Digest blog, Jane Friedman posts links to the articles from the first half of 2010 that she thinks all writers should read. They are gooooooood. I think you should read them, too :-)

Middle Grade Fabooness!

How cool! 26 middle grade authors have teamed up to launch a blog all about middle grade novels. And what a title - From the Mixed-up Files of Middle Grade Authors.

They say they'll be offering up booklists and interviews and behind-the-scenes glimpses and giveaways and more. Doesn't that sound great? Well, it does to this middle-grade loving author and reader, anyway. Go on over and check it out!

An early summer (blog) vacation

It's gonna be quiet around here for a week or so. You have been warned!

May your early June be wonderful....

A Familiar Lament :-)

Another video for your pleasure, sure to be a hit with any author who's done a bookstore signing - Parnell Hall's Signing in the Waldenbooks (which I found courtesy of the talented and generous Sarah Laurenson):

The "Where's Greg?" Edition

Like Waldo, I've been flitting around from landscape to landscape... though I do not have a camera, a key, a dog, or wizards along with me. It's been fun and adventurous (well, sorta)... but unfortunately, one place I haven't been found much is right here. Ahhh, to be cloned!

One thing I've been doing on my journeys is starting to mull a year-end read-aloud. It's been a fabulous year, and I'd love to end it with a bang. If you know of any brilliant picture book to read to a slew of 2nd-3rd graders to finish off the library year, I hope you'll let me know.

Off to the next picture....

Worlds Collide... and Humor Happens

What happens when one of my favorite groups, Improv Everywhere, teams up with the wonderful New York Public Library? Good things!

When Do You Know?

We had an interesting conversation during #kidlitchat last night about how you know when you've written or read a "winner" of a manuscript. Is it hook? Voice? Something else?

My take on reading from agents, editors, and fellow writers is that there's really an emotional reaction of some sort that lets you know - you want to tell everyone about it; writing scenes makes you laugh or cry (as appropriate!); your characters have a life of their own and you like spending time with them; you miss your subway stop to keep reading. There's also a difference between thinking you've written something fantastic and getting validation from others that proves the point - validation that usually produces an emotional reaction!

It was interesting for me, as I don't know that I'd ever spent time thinking about the question before, and it's hard to come up with a concrete answer. It really is kinda "I'll know it when I see it" situation.


You can find all the #kidlitchat transcripts here (including last night's, May 18th). I found it really interesting to see the different perspectives of what would let you know. And feel free to add yours to the mix, here, too!

Foods That Scare - a scary food poem, a lunch poem

This poem first appeared here at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup, where it looks fabulous! The same post has a recipe of my grandmother's and some quite entertaining comments. You should go see it. I repost the poem here just cuz I can.

Foods That Scare
by
Gregory K.

Beware of foods with names like "hash."
You can't know what's put in it.
And still don't trust a succotash
If you see the cook begin it.
Have fear of soups if they contain
Mysterious cooked greens.
Also have most great disdain
Of salads called "Five Beans."
A casserole can hide so much.
It's quite a frightening thing.
If there's one food you should not touch,
It's Chicken ala King.
Everybody knows that gruel
Is not a food to munch.
All this is why, when you're in school,
Be sure to bring your lunch.


This week's Poetry Friday roundup is also over at Jama's Alphabet Soup. My word, her posts are so scrumptious it's almost cruel. Go 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!

Cutting Libraries?

I no longer recall where I saw that image first, but you can get it here, and use it under a creative commons license if you'd like. I agree with the sentiments, I must say....

Book Report on the Thesaurus - a homework poem/a thesaurus poem

Book Report on the Thesaurus
by
Gregory K.

Words? There were lots, very many, a ton.
Plot? There was zero, zilch, zip, nada, none.
I found it enjoyable, likable, fun...
But was glad when it finished, completed, was done.


I'd call this poem a companion (or partner or kissing cousin or... or... or) to my poem Book Report on the Dictionary. What can I say? Reference books inspire me....

This week's Poetry Friday roundup is over at Random Noodling. Head on over and see what else is going on poetically today (including Fibonacci poems by some talented kindergarteners).

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!

Collecting

When I was a kid, I collected a lot of different things - baseball cards, bottle caps, buttons (the kind with slogans on them, not clothing buttons), and stamps among them.

Now, here I am as an adult, and I realize that the only thing I seem to be collecting is poetry books. Okay... maybe I'm just accumulating them, rather than truly collecting (it's not curated nor do I ever try to trade for missing titles). Still, the increase over the years is noticeable.

Here's where being a volunteer librarian is great, however - I get to share my collections. And, I'd like to think, new collections will be borne from it. But if not, hey, I'm a happy guy anyway.

And you? Been collecting these days?

Poetry (and the web) = Family Finders?

I hope you've all seen Susan Taylor Brown's post How poetry, Google, and Craigslist helped me find the family I never knew I had. It's a wonderful read about the power of poetry and the web and without a doubt my favorite National Poetry Month story.

The word "wow" comes up a lot in the comments over there. For once, I think it's deserved.

Go on over and check it out. I predict you'll be glad you did!

Thirty Poets/One Day - The 2010 Wrap Up

Sigh. Once again, 30 Poets/30 Days has come to an end. Still, it's been a great month here, so no regrets.

Now, just for fun, here's a review of all the previously unpublished poetry we saw during April:

Alice Schertle - Triolets That Trouble My Sleep
Joseph Bruchac - Bear Path
Laura Purdie Salas - Anaconda
Calef Brown - Re: Me
Carole Boston Weatherford - Move Out!
Jorge Argueta - Cancion De Mango/Mango Song
Susan Marie Swanson - Wonders
Ralph Fletcher - Weeds
Alan Katz - Ch-ch-ch-check, Please
Carmen T. Bernier-Grand - Dancing Fingers
Charles Waters - I Love Being Me
Kathi Appelt - The Ouija
Kurt Cyrus - The Big Snore
Arthur A. Levine - These rules are here for your protection
Eileen Spinelli - Praying Mantis
Bobbi Katz - Lesson
James Carter - Clouds Like Us
Elaine Magliaro - Things To Do If You Are King Kong
David L. Harrison - Lookit!
Brad Bogart - Personification
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer - Cousins of Clouds
Heidi Mordhorst - Smaller Than I Thought
Charles R. Smith, Jr. - I Speak
Georgia Heard - Ars Poetica
George Ella Lyon - Trying to Get Out of My Tree
Jacqueline Woodson - One of the Many Stories
Graham Denton - Sounds Delightful
Francisco X. Alarcón - Listen/Escucha
Liz Garton Scanlon - Reflecting
Walter Dean Myers - Walking

There are many people to thank in regards to 30 Poets/30 Days, but I'll try to be brief. First off, I must thank the generosity of this year's 30 poets - without them, you'd've seen 30 blank pages! I tip my hat again to last year's 30 poets for making the event possible at all, as well as for their suggestions, encouragement, and support this year, too. Truly, the children's literature community never ceases to amaze.

I want to give a shout-out to the amazing bloggers of the Kidlitosphere for their enthusiasm and talent. What an amazing bunch! To Bonnie Adamson for the logos and the extra #kidlitchat support this month? You rock! To all the folks who linked here or tweeted about the project or the poems or used Facebook or left comments... I tip my virtual hat to you once more. And finally... to all of you who read and shared the poetry this month, yay!

I think I can speak for everyone on this year and last year's list when I say that poetry is a year round thing, not just April. I look forward to more poems and poets here in the months ahead... and I hope you stick around. More will be coming soon, but now? Now, I gotta book.