Thoughts, opinions, and ramblings about (broadly) children's literature from my perspectives as a writer, parent, and volunteer elementary school librarian. Plus I post Fibs, Oddaptations and poetry galore, all listed on the right and left hand sides of the blog.
If you haven't read Sonya Sones' novels in verse... well... just go and do so. Oh, I suppose you can
wait for her upcoming box set but you're only postponing what you know you should do. Her books are so vibrant and full of the type of detail that makes everything come alive for me... and yet she does it all with such economy. I read and enjoy. Then I read and try to learn. (But don't tell her!)
It's a good time to be a Sonya Sones fan, by the way. She's got a novel out in August with the fantastic title of To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story). And she's got a picture book for high school grads coming out soon co-written with her daughter, Ava. Perhaps that will lead me to a future 30 Poets/30 Days participant... but for now, I'm thrilled to have Sonya Sones here at GottaBook. Achooooo!
Big boxes! Small boxes!
Sturdy and tough.
I love you space figures,
I can’t have enough.
Your bases and faces
I truly adore.
Big boxes! Small boxes!
May I have one more?
Big boxes! Small boxes!
Piled high in my room.
You wobble, you bobble.
You topple down— Boom!
Your bases are strong.
Space figures, you’re great!
Big boxes! Small boxes!
You’re cool! But, wait.
Pyramids, prisms, and cones,
how you rock!
Your faces and bases
I like quite a lot!
When I look at you
I see 3D perfection.
I want more figures—
a bigger collection!
What is a Space Figure?
An object like a tissue box is 3-Dimensional. It may also be called a space figure. The sides and the top of the box are sides, or faces. The edge is where the base and face connect. A tissue box has six faces and twelve edges. Try counting them for yourself!
Of course, it's not enough just to be a poem about a concept. No. It's still gotta be fun to read. The words and images have to speak and inform on their own, and if you read Heidi's poems, whether about math or seeds or whatever else, you'll find they always do.
He's also, as you can see from the above example, a wonderful weaver of words. Blackbird is such a soothing, lush poem and combined with the art that goes with it, from Catherine Hyde, it's got me wishing that the book it's from, Conjuring the Dusk, were out NOW. But, no. We have to wait. That's not right.
Still, in the interim, we can pick from Andrew's other books as poet, novelist, anthologist, and picture book author. Or we can hope to find him didgeridooing somewhere. In all cases, however, it's a real pleasure for me to have Andrew Fusek Peters here today as part of 30 Poets/30 Days.
You've lost your shoes – you don't know where.
You do not have another pair.
Your mother says they're in your room.
You trod upstairs to face your doom.
They aren't lying on the floor,
Not on your desk, not in a drawer,
Behind the chair, under the bed –
They must be someplace else instead.
You pull the door – it makes a creak –
Into the closet's depths you peek.
The hanging clothes are all unhung
Mixed in a pile with things you flung.
You sift and dig. You sort and toss.
You start to become very cross.
Then finally, inside a box,
You find your shoes. Where are your socks?
If you've followed Writing and Ruminating, Kelly's blog (where her ruminating is not to be missed, by the way), or seen her picture book, At the Boardwalk, or run into her poetry anywhere else it's been published, you'd no doubt share my opinion. With a keen eye and a great ability to push her reader just a little farther (as in... to socks!), it's always a treat to read her poetry... just as it's a treat for me to have Kelly Ramsdell Fineman here today as part of 30 Poets/30 Days.
It occurs to me that some of you may not know Mary Lee's poetry. Instead, you might know her as half of the A Year of Reading duo or as a teacher or the Poetry Friday organizing dynamo. In fact, I didn't know Mary Lee wrote poetry when I first got to cyber-know her years ago. But she does! Oh, indeed she does!
Now published in both the Poetry Friday Anthologies (for K-5 and middle school), I predict it won't be long before we're seeing Mary Lee Hahn authored collections. She has a way with phrasing and imagery that can often take my breath away and a startling ability to make me see the world through her eyes. And I find that I truly like the view, one reason I'm so happy to have here here today kicking off 30 Poets/30 Days.
Believe Me When I Tell You
The Rolling Stones
Mick Jagger—1943-; Keith Richards—1943-;
Charlie Watts—1941-; Ronnie Wood—1947-;
Brian Jones—1942-1969
Rock ’n’ roll’s
The perfect party favor
Rock ’n’ roll’s
Granddaddy’s nervous tic
Rock ’n’ roll
Believe me when I tell you
Rock ’n’ roll
Is always Keith and Mick
It’s the penthouse floor in a snazzy hotel
It’s a symphony written to a sorcerer’s spell
At the wedding of the undertaker and his bride
When they kiss, he’s happy, she’s terrified
Rock ’n’ roll
Comes shaking like a preacher
Rock ’n’ roll
Some say’s a dirty trick
Rock ’n’ roll
In case you ever doubted
Rock ’n’ roll
Is purely Keith and Mick
It’s the cyclone rush of a wind tunnel high
It’s a poke in the snoot and it’s mud in your eye
It’s a cream pie hit to the guv’nor’s tux
As he swindles the choir for a few hundred bucks
Rock ’n’ roll
Is caution on a riptide
Rock ’n’ roll
Is opera with a kick
Rock ’n’ roll
I think I oughta mention
Rock ’n’ roll
Is always Keith and Mick
By the way, you can check out today's Poetry Friday roundup at A Year in Reading to get a bunch of pre-National Poetry Month poetry joy. And consider today's poem pre-kickoff to 30 Poets/30 Days.
To get all the poetry that appears here on the blog in your inbox instead, you can join my poetry list. Simply enter your email address into the box and click subscribe:
And if you listen really closely, you can probably hear me singing and shouting with joy and glee.
There are so many folks to thank, of course, and that includes y'all. I know so many of you have been hanging around these parts since this book was not even a manuscript. Others of you have come by more recently. And all of you here are a big part of what's kept me writing during the good and bad times. That's why I look forward to celebrating a lot with you in the months ahead.
I feel awfully lucky right about now: National Poetry Month and 30 Poets/30 Days are coming up, I get to see my debut novel's cover soon (and will share it here, natch!), and did I mention... my book is coming out in October?
I'm thrilled to announce the 2013 edition of 30 Poets/30 Days, an April-long celebration of children's poetry that takes place here at GottaBook.
Each day of the month, I'll post a previously unpublished poem by a different poet. I've seen a lot of the poetry already, and I can safely say it's gonna be a great month. Here's an alphabetical list of who's work you'll be seeing here during National Poetry Month 2013:
Am I excited? YES! Yes, I am. Now, there are a few easy ways to follow along and not miss out on any of the fun. You can visit here every day, of course. Or you can subscribe to GottaBook via email or your blog reader.
You can also join my poetry list, and get all the poems emailed to you the day they hit my blog. To be on the list, enter your email address into the box and click subscribe:
That list runs year round, by the way, so whenever I post a poem here, whether it's my own or a poem from a visiting guest poet, you'll see it.
There are always a ton of people to thank with an event like this and other details to share, but today I'm simply going to wrap it up with a bit hat tip to the extra-talented Carter Higgins for designing this year's 30/30 logo. And, of course, thanks to all of you for reading! Now...
THE POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP!
Please leave a comment with a link to your Poetry Friday post, and I'll be adding things in as the day goes on....
Wanna see an original poem about wishes? Exellent! Because that's what's up at the ever wonderful Poem Farm, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's poetry rich home on the web.
Maria shares a process and a poem - definitely a process to try yourself - over at Teaching in the 21st Century. And I am jealous because she's done workshops with Kate Messner and Ralph Fletcher!
You gotta check out Portrait of a Trembling Poet, wherein Buffy Silverman (one of the March Poetry Madness's final 16 poets) details her process of how she crafted her poem using the word "gnawing."
The Sea Gypsy appears... or really, is posted... over at Bildungsroman. If you're a fan of Richard Hovey or if you're not, go on over and be swept away in the wonder of the sea.
Paintings and poetry mix at the Bald Ego blog... as do father and son. Charles and Chip Ghigna share a picture book in progress... and I hope we see it in stores, soon.
Steampunk! Haiku! You Steampunk Me comes from Lorie Ann Grover... complete with a photo you just gotta see (cuz, like, someone out there is a way cool parent).
Cathy at Merely Day By Day is sharing an original poem - One Wish - today, and it asks a question that I will be mulling over for some time now. I guess it's rhetorical, but it's in my head now, and it'll probably be in yours, too.
I'm caught up with links... but keep 'em coming, y'all, in the comments below. Poetry Friday is like the New York City subway: there's always room for one more.
It is rare that I focus on YA books here, probably because I am only 11 years old and don't yet read up. Or something like that. However, I did want to take a moment to talk about Bridget Zinn's debut novel, Poison.
I met Bridget at an early Kidlitcon. I think it was impossible not to like her, even via a brief encounter. She just exuded positivity and good humor and... you know... you just liked her.
So, it was exciting to see her on her path to publication, even though, unfortunately, she ended up on a simultaneous path of cancer, chemo and hospitals. Bridget passed away in 2011 at only 33. Nearly two years later, her book has finally arrived.
But really... what's going on here is a celebration of a debut novel that's garnering reader love. It's what all of us authors want. Are there deeper levels? Of course. So go kiss a loved one or rededicate yourself to your own manuscript or both!
And maybe, in celebration, you can spread the word about Poison, too!
My dog has it in for me badly.
I swear he’s the worst cur on earth.
I wish I could get away from the vendetta
He’s had against me since my birth.
Instead, he finds new ways to hound me.
My days are spent shaking with fear!
And he is why actually, truly and factually,
None of my homework is here.
This was a poem written for this year's March Madness Poetry shebang... though it did not help me advance to the next round, as you can see. My task was to write a poem using the word vendetta, by the way. I believe it was the first time I'd done so, and I was pleased enough with the result to share it here.
If you want to get all the new poems here (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 even better news is that whether I move forward or not, you can keep voting as new matchups keep coming! I know I'll be casting a vote in every matchup til it ends....
Look for the Poetry Friday round up here a week from today... but in the meantime, go see this week's Roundup over at Jone's Check It Out blog.
Things are gonna heat up around these parts, I tell ya, and I'm looking forward to hanging out with you here all April long.....
Sweeeeeet! March Madness, poetry style, is back again thanks to Ed DeCaria at Think Kid, Think. And once again, I'm giving it a go along with 63 other poetry loving foo... errr... poets!
The way the Madness works is pretty simple: we "face off" against another poet, each of us having 36 hours to write a poem based on an assigned word. This year, I'm a 13th seed, and that means my words are gonna be challenging. But isn't that the fun of it all? Yes!
I hope you'll follow along with the whole bracket. I'm in action starting Tuesday the 12th, and others begin the 11th. Last year was a blast and a great way to lead into the fun of National Poetry Month in April, too.
We’re locked in our classroom all day for a test
Answering questions for hours with no rest.
You want us to learn? Well, this isn’t the way.
Sequester the tester and just let us play!
I wrote this poem almost a year ago during last year's March Madness (the fantastic event masterminded by Ed DeCaria). During the Madness, some poor poet had to write a poem in 36 hours using the word "sequester"... and I decided it was such a great word, I'd give it a try, too, just cuz.
Flash forward to a year later, and "sequester" is suddenly in the news (AND it's standardized testing time all over the place, too). So, I've decided to dust off this little ditty. (And, yes... I'm doing the Madness again! More on that soooooon.)
And hey... it's Poetry Friday, so you can see what else is going on around the Kidlitosphere by heading over to the weekly roundup at Heidi's Juicy Little Universe.
Plus, 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!
It's been a sparse blogging few weeks, and I've realized once again that for me, the joy of blogging is y'all. I miss the interactions and conversations and the idea that even when we're not in direct communication, you are out there reacting in some way to what I'm sending out.
I don't miss the act of blogging or the blogger interface or the joy of pressing "publish." Nope. It's you!
So thank you for being out there. Things'll be picking up here again soon. And then, just as now, I'll so happy you're here with me.
You can head over to this post at Jone's Check It Out blog and enter for a chance to win a copy of The Late Bird (my ebook of poetry). Plus you get to see my poem Doughnuts! Oh Doughnuts!
What's not to love, I ask you? What's not to love?
I'm excited about the whole shebang but must give an extra cheer for Laura Purdie Salas and BookSpeak! - Poems About Books winning the poetry category. It's a great choice in a great poetry year....
Keep your "Bunny Ears" and "loop-de-loops" -
I'll tie shoes with the method I've got.
Oh, sure, it's a mess
Yet there's often success...
So I call it the "Probably Knot."
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!
I was so excited, I jumped at the chance to film some interstitial thangs for him of me performing a bunch of my poems. Here's a sample Brad whipped together of me and my poem, Today is Not Tomorrow....
The ALA Awards are coming tomorrow morning (or, for a lot of you, have already happened by the time you'll read this). I'm wondering who gets that early morning Newbery call... who will win the Caldecott, the Belpre, the King, and so many more.
It's always an exciting day in our world, but we don't think the fun should end tomorrow. No! So this week's #kidlitchat - held each Tuesday night on Twitter at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific - will be all about the award winners. Come join us in conversation and celebration!
Over on David L. Harrison's blog, J. Patrick Lewis stopped by to introduce a poetic form he calls the Careerhyme. Basically... four lines (in two rhyming couplets), a career name to start it and a definition of the career to follow. And they're meant to be "light verse"... so you know I gave it a whirl.
Dentist: cleaner of the gums;
Remover of stuck seeds and crumbs.
Years of school are on this track...
Yet no diploma! Just some plaque.
You gotta head over to David's blog, though, where you can read Pat and David's examples (oh,
and Jane Yolen and Laura Purdie Salas and so many more fine folks
stopped by, too). I left two others besides the above in the comments, too.
As always, these are great lists of books in a slew of categories. And apps, too.
I was a poetry category finalist judge a few times, so I always look most closely at that category's gems... and then offer up my thanks that I don't have to pick just one from the list!
Yesterday came and folks burst into song,
Yet nobody's cheering when I come along.
I don't get confetti. I get no parade.
A movie about me has never been made.
I've tried bringing sun, bringing snow, bringing rain.
It just doesn't matter: I don't rate champagne.
In some ways I'm lucky - at least I'm a date...
But always the second's a frustrating fate.
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!
I have a bad trait - I procrastinate.
Last year it was the worst:
The very first date that my work wasn't late
Was March the thirty-first.
I think the solution's a resolution,
So hear these words I speak:
"Elimination of procrastination
Starts soon! Perhaps next week!"
May you stick to all your resolutions... and may 2013 be filled with good health and happiness galore!
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 world is still here!
Yet I'm still sensing doom
Cuz I lost my excuse -
Now I must clean my room.
Whether or not this is my last post of the year (which it might be, but not because of misinterpreted Mayan calendars), I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season and happiness and health in 2013 and beyond!
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!
My teacher said to calculate
3.141 times 8.
I threw my hand up instantly
and so, of course, she called on me.
She asked me, “What’s the answer, please?”
I’d figured this one out with ease.
I looked her squarely in the eye
and calmly answered, “Octopi!”
It took her half an hour to get it,
and then she gave me extra credit.
It is always a happy day here at GottaBook when I'm getting to share Kenn Nesbitt's poetry. Octoproblem comes from his new book, The Armpit of Doom: Funny Poems for Kids, and it's a poem that makes me gleeful.
I find the book quite true to its title - it is full of very funny poems AND there is an armpit of doom therein. I'd recommend it any time of the year, truth be told, yet I know it makes a perfect holiday gift (for anyone from kids to adults). Go on and check out what J. Patrick Lewis called "more mayhem from one of the masters."
I post a fair amount of poetry here at GottaBook, both mine and other fine folks who stop by. If you'd like to sign up for the poetry email list and get the poem-filled posts (and only those posts) emailed to you as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!
Mother Reader has a fabulous post up called 150 Ways to Give a Book. It's chock full of great recommendations of books and ways of giving them, and even if none of the specifics work for you (which seems unlikely, actually), I bet the ideas will spark you. So check it out!
And of course, I should add that The Late Bird itself makes a great gift! But you knew that :-)
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.
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!
I don't talk much here at GottaBook about my social media consulting work. I mean, I send out subliminal hints that you should all hire me, of course, but beyond that....
If you don't want to bid on little old me, you really gotta poke around over there: amazing Skype visits, autographed books/signed art, manuscript critiques, and much more are up for auction. Great deals, great cause, great stuff!
For those of you new to my Oddaptations, they're kinda Spark Notes meets Shrinklits for picture books, usually in rhyme and always with attitude.
So, for example, they go like this....
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
by Mo Willems
Oddaptation by
Greg Pincus
The Pigeon wants to drive the bus.
How to stop his whine? His fuss?
Saying "No!" is not a winner...
Here's a thought: try squab for dinner.
It's been some time since I posted a new Oddaptation, so if you've not even seen 'em before, you can check out a bunch over on the right hand side of the blog (or by clicking this handy Oddaptation link here). Heck, you can check 'em out even if you have seen them before.
And if you want to get all my poems emailed to you for freeee as they
hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click
subscribe!
Etto had the deepest voice.
He boomed out his words, and it wasn’t a choice.
So when he tried singing as high as a bird,
“False Etto!” was yelled...
And we got a new word.
For what it's worth, I had originally called this poem "Ettomology." Should I change it back?
The Poetry Friday roundup is over at Ed DeCaria's Think Kid, Think! today. Which is nice, as I started on the word "falsetto" due to his March Madness competition. Anyway, head on over and check out his effort to make the Poetry Friday roundup even more fun and relevant for YOU. Yes, for YOU.
And if you want to get all my poems emailed to you for freeee as they
hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click
subscribe!
All that and so much more is possible if you check out the KidLit Cares auction going on right now. Organized by authors Kate Messner and Joanne Levy and with 42 items up in the first round of the auction right now, this event is a response to the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy. It's great stuff for a great cause.
A new batch of auction items will be going up on November 12th, too, so don't forget to check back then.
(This post is part of a broader idea: posts by authors, illustrators, and children's book lovers of all stripes about why we vote (not who we vote for). You can find links to this year's collection of posts over at Chasing Ray.)
Why do I vote? That always seems like a "wrong" question to me because the reality is that I can't come up with a single reason why I wouldn't vote.
I wrote in 2008 about the sense of responsibility I feel when it comes to voting, and that remains as true today as it was then. I also know that whatever the issue, from the Presidency to controversial propositions to the House to local offices, if I've skipped voting for it, it's harder for me to make a forceful argument about my positions. It's a bit like putting your money where your mouth is. And, hey, if "my" candidate doesn't win and I didn't even vote... well, I'm certainly part of the problem, not the solution.
Likewise, I've heard the idea that one vote doesn't matter. Yes, it's true that most
elections aren't decided by tiny margins. Then again, each vote is
"only" one vote. Collectively, they matter. And if you're not part of
the collection, then you aren't part of the group that matters.
Is our voting system perfect? Of course not. Yet it is our system, and I want to be part of it, not an outsider looking in. I want to honor the lives of those who've died so that all of us who are old enough to vote get to vote regardless of race, religion, or gender. And I want to assure that all those who come after us have that right, too.
As I watch the devastation of hurricane Sandy, I'm reminded again how we all pull together... how we are, despite vast spaces between us, all part of something bigger than just our own smaller communities. To me, a Presidential election is about that, too.
So, wherever you fall on the political spectrum, I hope you exercise your right to vote. I know I will.
(Again, I hope you'll go see the roundup of posts to see the wonderful reasons why so many of us will take to the polls this coming Tuesday.)
I'm long overdue in posting here about the remarkable Poetry Friday Anthology - a collection of poems and curricular connections put together by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell. You should own a copy whether you're teacher, student, parent or poetry lover.
I don't say that just because I have two poems in the anthology. I say that because it's flat out great reading (not to mention perfect for schools). Plus, the poets who contributed are an utterly remarkable lot (and I am kinda giddy to find myself mixed in among them).
I could go on, but for an incredible glimpse of what's inside (and why), I want to send you over to an amazing post on Renee LaTulippe's blog. (Bonus fun is that it's a Poetry Monday post about Poetry Friday which I send you to on a Friday).
Speaking of which... this week's Poetry Friday roundup is over at TeacherDance today. I hope you enjoy it and the anthology, too!
Yes, it's that time of year again - nominations for the Cybils are open til October 15th. Follow the link to go nominate your favorite books of the year. All the possible categories are in the sidebar (right now you have to scroll down a bit to see 'em) and they range from book apps to poetry to graphic novels to YA.
You won't see me do this at my launch... but that's only cuz I can neither sing or play like he can. If I could, I'd ask him for the rights to this song in a heartbeat.
Go buy his book. I mean, if you like seriously funny middle grade stuff and all. Or if you just want to help him get new pants.
Let me read Alexie's Diary from sea to shining sea.
When Margaret wants to talk to God
Don't take away her voice.
Avoid To Kill a Mockingbird but let ME make MY choice.
I'm enlisting in the Chocolate War.
I'll count Alice as my friend.
What My Mother Doesn't Know can't hurt me in the end.
Twilight and the Hunger Games?
Don't rip them from my hand.
Yet if you try, I'll still read on...
Since I am with the banned.
I give myself lots of poetry prompts and challenges, though it's rare I share the results here. However, I liked how this one started with the phrase "I'm with the banned" and ended up where it ended up. Plus... it's timely since it is, indeed, Banned Books Week.
As I always have in the past, I had a great time at this year's KidLitCon. From a publisher's preview at Little, Brown (boy do they have a lot of good books a-coming) to a dinner gathering with the fabulous Grace Lin speaking to the conference and to KidLit Drinks night at the end of it all, there was nary a dull or bad moment from my perspective.
A big part of that, of course, is the wonderful people you meet when you hang out with bloggers in the kidlitosphere. I mean, really, these are my peeps! Too many great people to list them all, though it's always fantastic to see Mother Reader and Liz Burns again. And Maureen (attendee of all six kidlitcons!). And... and... and!
I saw great presentations, of course, and enjoyed Maureen Johnson and Robin Wasserman giving the oddest "keynote speech" I've ever seen... yet one perfectly in keeping with KidLitCon's very essence.
For those of you who might be interested, I wanted to let you know that this week's #kidlitchat will be all about school visits. Got ideas or questions or stories to tell? Come join us!
#kidlitchat is held every Tuesday at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific on Twitter. For information about Twitter chats and joining in, I highly recommend Debbie Ridpath Ohi's article about chats for writers.
(Then, unrelated to chatting, I recommend congratulating her on her first picture book, I'm Bored, launching (and being reviewed in the New York Times by David Small!).)
You’re asking who did this?
Well, Mom, I don’t know.
I don't even have a good guess.
Who'd leave the oven encrusted with goop
Or the counters in such a big mess?
I don't have a clue why there's flour in my hair
Or how frosting has turned my shirt plaid,
But really, I... what?
You demand that I guess?
Well, fine....
It must have been Dad.
Over at The Miss Rumphius Effect, today's poetry stretch comes courtesy of current Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis... and it's a new-to-me form called the homophoem which uses, can you guess, homophones!
I'm excited to be going back to Kidlitcon after a two year absence. I hope some or ALL of you - yes, all!!!! - will be joining me for the fun. The conference itself is Saturday, September 29th in New York City. And , the conference is FREE. Yes, you read that right. You can register here.
Kidlitcon is an annual gathering of children's and YA bloggers... though it's open to ANYONE. It's a great place for authors and illustrators to learn about what book bloggers are thinking and doing... and vice versa. And if I were a publisher based in NYC, I'd send a lot of my staff to meet folks and listen and try to understand where value can be created in this space... and where it can't.
The schedule has been posted... and, lookie there! I'm speaking about avoiding the children's literature echo chamber. This is a bit ironic, as I'm flying across country to hang out with bloggers and authors and librarians in the children's literature world, of course, but I think it's a critical topic. Or put another way...
Those 100 million folks on Twitter? A huge number of them are potential allies, fans, supporters, word-spreaders, and book buyers. When we ignore this and only talk among ourselves, I think we miss out on a great opportunity.
Beyond that, there are fantastic talks and panels (some at the same time as me, even), and a keynote address from Maureen Johnson! Awesome stuff thanks to the conference organizers. And did I mention that all you have to do is register, cuz it's free?
I wanted to share a video a friend of mine put together, as I think it's poetic in the best sense of the word. The video features parents of kids with disabilities offering up what they might have told themselves on the day their child was diagnosed. Powerful stuff, I must say.
This week's Poetry Friday roundup is over at Sylvia Vardell's Poetry for Children. You'll find all sorts of goodies over there (including a book I'm thrilled to be a part of and which you'll see more about here soooooon!).
I didn't realize that today was the conclusion of the Reinvention of the Toilet Fair (with a winner announced today). Here at GottaBook, I'm always ahead of the news trends, ya see...
I am not actually going to be an attendee at the now sold-out SCBWI Summer Conference here in LA, but as a local, I will be coming by and hanging out, at least a little. I'm not attending because I can't actually be there the whole time - a disappointment on multiple levels. Still, I'll get there... and I hope to see YOU!
I suspect you can find me in the hotel lobby a lot, but you most certainly can on Friday night from 8:30 to 9:30 for a #kidlitchat Tweetup. Yes, it's time for us all to meet in person (or see each other again). Hopefully, by doing this Friday night, folks will have a richer weekend cuz they'll know the, oh... 100+ others at the conference who have also come by #kidlitchat.
By that hour, I doubt many of us will still be tweeting, so just look for a chatting crowd or me or Bonnie Adamson and jump on in.
Oh, and for those Tweeting the Con or hoping to follow along at home... the Conference tag is #LA12SCBWI.
It's Poetry Friday, and I'm still trying to catch up from days of no internet and everything in boxes... so rather than a new poem, I decided to give a copy of The Late Bird away over on Facebook. All you gotta do is "like" or comment on the post by 7 PM California time today, and you could win! Wheeee!
There's no mystery as to why I post unhappily today - Donald J. Sobol, author of the Encyclopedia Brown books has passed away.
I was not a huge, huge reader as a kid, but Leroy Brown, Sally Kimball and Bugs Meany were definitely a big part of what I did read. I still remember the solutions/clues to so many mysteries (the baby gurgled happily (and he wouldn't have if the bad guy truly had just driven his car, cuz then his hood would be hot); squirrels don't back down trees; a blind man wouldn't turn on the light to read a newspaper), and it's been decades since I've read them.
Since we just moved, I had packed up all my old books again. This time around, I purged a lot (all to happy homes, so no worries), but I didn't get rid of the Encyclopedia Brown books. And that's simply because the child read happily... and over and over and over again!
So thanks, Donald J. Sobol. I never knew you, but I am part of the legacy you left behind. And now, I look forward to Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Afterlife!
I'm about to go silent here for a handful of days. Why? MOVING! And no internet at the new place for a spell! Mind you, I still can check in, but posting? No. (By the way, as a moving present, feel free to get The Late Bird back to number one on the Kindle children's poetry charts. Thank you :-). Nook purchases of The Late Bird are always encouraged, too.).
Moving, even though we're still in Los Angeles, is a big stressful thang. Lotta changes coming, but some things don't change. Such as what, Greg? How about...
the fib review! This is issue twelve that the fine folks at Muse-Pie Press have put together, and the contributing poets this time around once again demonstrate that constraints of form don't have to mean constraints on poetics. Great stuff, as always. I hope you'll check it out. It's great (and amazingly free) reading.
I'm a screenwriter, volunteer librarian, dad, and SCBWI member with a love of poetry and picture books.
I'm currently working on a middle grade novel for Arthur A. Levine Books as well as writing Fibs, other poetry, and, over at The Happy Accident, all about social media, too.
If you haven't read Sonya Sones' novels in verse... well... just go and do so. Oh, I suppose you can
wait for her upcoming box set but you're only postponing what you know you should do. Her books are so vibrant and full of the type of detail that makes everything come alive for me... and yet she does it all with such economy. I read and enjoy. Then I read and try to learn. (But don't tell her!)
It's a good time to be a Sonya Sones fan, by the way. She's got a novel out in August with the fantastic title of To Be Perfectly Honest (A Novel Based on an Untrue Story). And she's got a picture book for high school grads coming out soon co-written with her daughter, Ava. Perhaps that will lead me to a future 30 Poets/30 Days participant... but for now, I'm thrilled to have Sonya Sones here at GottaBook. Achooooo!
