FYI: A Note about National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month

Last year, I compiled a list of resources for National Poetry Month. I have a link to the post with the resources in the sidebar at the right. A number of the links are no longer valid. I have been working on updating and adding to the list of resources. The new list will be much more extensive. I'll post the new resource list before the beginning of April so people can check out the links and, I hope, find some resources that they will want to use in celebrating National Poetry Month at school--and at home. For the time being, I will keep the old list available to my blog readers.

Edited to Add: My list of resources for National Poetry Month has now been updated.

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Women's History Month

Tomorrow is the first day of March. Here is a link to a previous post with book lists and resources for Women's History Month: Book Lists & Resources for Women's History Month.

Original Poem: The Exterminator's List of Things to Do

My husband and I were watching MSNBC one night this week. I began to feel ill when I saw Tom DeLay's face on the TV screen. (Shouldn’t he be locked up in prison somewhere in Texas?) Just looking at the man’s face brings on a feeling of malaise. The needle on my barfometer went haywire!

I decided to let Tom, the ex pest exterminator, be the subject of an original poem for Poetry Friday this week. I wrote this poem for Tricia's Monday Poetry Stretch - Macaronic Verse. Here’s my macaronic verse in which the second language consists of words I made up.

The Exterminator’s List of Things to Do
or
A Typical Workday for Tom Delay
by Elaine Magliaro

Snurl the snails
And slimy slugs.
Sonk the sow
And doodlebugs.

Flurk the flies,
Gnink nasty gnats,
Wurf the wasps
With baseball bats.

Smoot and smash
The millipedes.
Erk the earwigs,
Centipedes.

Burb the beetles
Munching roses…
Mothy larvae
Chewing clotheses.

Murch the mantis
When she’s preying
On her mate…and
Then start spraying

Bugs wrapped up
In balls of spittle.
Grunch the grubs
Now while they’re little.

Arf the aphids
Sucking sap…
Then borp ’em
With my baseball cap.

Tumb the termites
Gnawing lumber,
Ant queens reigning
In the umber.

Derch those dung-heap
Democrats
Who’ll raise your taxes.
Rotten rats!

(Best I’m able
To determine
They’re just a pack
Of human vermin.)

Quell MY head lice
With shampoo.
Lord, I’ve so much
Work to do!!!

A tidbit of wisdom from Tom DeLay on the causes of the Columbine High School massacre:
"Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare, the teaching of evolution in the schools, and working mothers who take birth control pills."

Yuh…right!!!

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have one of my favorite poems—Pot Roast by Mark Strand.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Mommy’s Favorite Children’s Books.

Out & About: February 25, 2009

From Read Write Think (IRA & NCTE): Read Across America Day Celebrates Dr. Seuss (March 2, 2009)—This site includes links to lesson plans and other websites.


From the National Education Association: NEA’s Read Across America—You can download free digital read-along versions of Dr. Seuss books, resources, and other materials at this site.


NCTE’s National Day on Writing—Interested in taking part in NCTE’s National Day of Writing on October 20, 2009? Then check out this site that has the information you need—as well as links to writing resources. (You can also read more about this day at this Wild Rose Reader post: NCTE's National Day on Writing.)


From Jen Robisnon’s Book Page: Announcing the Share a Story - Shape a Future Literacy Blog Tour


At Under the Covers: The January 2009 Carnival of Children’s Literature

Book Lists & Resources for Women's History Month

Books Lists

• From The Amelia Bloomer Project: 2009 Amelia Bloomer Book List (Includes links to past lists from 2002-2008)
• From Scholastic: Recommended Books for Women’s History Month
• From Scholastic: Great Stories for Women’s History Month
• From Scholastic: Books and Resources for Women’s History
• From Reading Rockets: Books by Theme—Women’s History Month
• From KidsReads: You Go, Girls!
• From the Arlington (VA) Public Library: Celebrate Women’s History Month—Books for Young Readers
• Abby (the) Librarian: Booktalks for Women’s History Month
• From Childrenslit.com: Women’s History Month: Women Inspiring Hope & Possibility
• From Through the Looking Glass Children’s Book Review: March Is Women in History Month
• From Reading Is Fundamental: Stories of Famous Women Booklist
• From Embracing the Child: Women in History
• Books for Women’s History Month: Non-Fiction and Research Titles about Ladies Who Have Made History (Adrienne Wilson)
  

Other Resources

• From Scholastic: Women Who Changed History
• From Scholastic: Important Dates in U. S. Women’s History
• National Women’s History Project Biography CenterFrom Smithsonian Education: Women’s History Teaching Resources
• From the National Women’s History Museum: Women’s History Links
• From Reading is Fundamental: Women’s History Month Links
• From Education World: March into Women’s History Month
• From whitehouse.gov: Our First Ladies
• From TeacherVision: Women’s History—Teacher Resources
• Songs of the Suffragettes (Lyrics)
• From Middle Tennessee State University: Discovering Women’s History Online
  This database provides access to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States. These diverse collections range from Ancestral Pueblo pottery to Katrina Thomas's photographs of ethnic weddings from the late 20th century.
  

Recommended Books from Wild Rose Reader

• Poetry for Women's History Month
• More Poetry for Women's History Month
• What To Do About Alice?
• Patience Wright: America's First Sculptor and Revolutionary Spy
• Julia Morgan Built a Castle

Shadow: An Original Rhyming Acrostic

Here’s a rhyming acrostic poem from an unpublished poetry collection I wrote quite some time ago. The collection has been sitting around gathering metaphorical dust.


Silent sidekick, shape shifter who

Hides in the darkness…

A copycat mimicking everything you

Do. Sunny day playmate frolics in the light.

Oh, where, oh,

Where does it go at night?

You can read Chameleon, another of my rhyming acrostics, here.

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by Robert Burns in honor of my daughter’s recent engagement.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at The Holly and the Ivy.

More Children's Books about Abraham Lincoln

From The Horn Book: The Best Abe Lincolns, a list of recommended books about Abraham Lincoln

From Through the Looking Glass Children’s Book Reviews: Abraham Lincoln

From KHS: The Kentucky Lincoln Bicentennial Book List

From Scholastic: Lincoln Books

From The Plain Dealer: A new batch of books on Abraham Lincoln lets kids take a fresh look at his legacy

From the Kansas City Star: For Young Readers—Books about Abraham Lincoln

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For more suggested books and resources about Abraham Lincoln, check out this earlier Wild Rose Reader post—The Lincoln Bicentennial: Book Lists & Resources

Here’s a link to my review of a fine picture book about the Lincoln funeral train written by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Wendell Minor—Picture Book Review: Abraham Lincoln Comes Home

More Book Lists & Resources for Black History Month

From East Central Georgia Regional Library: Black History Month Sites

From TeacherVision: Black History Month—Teacher Resources

From National Geographic: The Underground Railroad

From Scholastic: Culture & Change—Black History in America

From Scholastic: The Underground Railroad—Escape from Slavery

From Scholastic: Books About Great African Americans for Grades PreK-4 and Up

From Scholastic: The Top Ten African-American Inventors

The Black Inventor On-Line Museum

From Reading Rockets: Black History Month

From Time for Kids: Black History Month

From The History Channel: Black History

PBS Kids GO!: Jazz Greats

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Check out this previous post at Wild Rose Reader: Black History Month: Book Lists, Books Reviews, & Resources

Jarrett Krosoczka Exhibit

There is an exhibit of original art work by children’s author and illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts. The exhibit runs through February 26, 2009. You can read Jarrett’s post about it here.

For full info on the show, follow this link.

Seymour Simon Gorilla Contest

Seymour Simon, the award-winning author of science books for children, is running a video contest called Go Gorilla! You can read about the contest here at Simon’s blog Seymour Science.

The winner of the contest will receive an autographed copy of Seymour Simon's new Gorillas book! The winning video will also be posted on the SeymourScience Web site! In case of ties, more than one prize will be given.

I won! I won! I won!

Lucky me! I was the fortunate person who placed the winning bid in the Small Graces February auction. I am so happy--and not just because I am now the proud owner of a second original painting by my good friend Grace Lin. I am thrilled because all the auction proceeds will go to The Foundation for Children's Books to help underwrite the visits of children's authors and illustrators in underserved schools in the Greater Boston area.

Here's the painting I won!

I love it!!!!!

You can read more about the Small Graces auctions at the following Wild Rose Reader post:

Small Graces: A Painting a Month for the Foundation for Children's Books


My other Grace Lin original is the first double-page spread that appears in the picture book One Is a Drummer. It's a colorful and beautiful painting that I can look at every day when I'm at work on my computer.

You can see the painting hanging on the wall above the bookcase in my library/office.

The Cybils Award Winners

The Cybils Award Winners have been announced!

Check out the winning books here.

Poetry Friday: The Owl and the Pussycat

Here is my selection of a “love” poem for the Friday before Valentine’s Day. I used to recite The Owl and the Pussycat for my elementary students often in class. I enjoyed the rhythm and the flow of the poem and Lear’s “runcible” spoon and Bong-tree.



The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
by Edward Lear

I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

II
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

III
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.




If you are looking for a terrific picture book edition of The Owl and the Pussycat, find yourself a copy of Edward Lear’s popular poem illustrated by Stephane Jorisch and published by Kids Can Press (2007). It’s a title in the publisher’s Visions in Poetry series.

Check out Fuse #8’s review of The Owl and the Pussycat.

Alison Morris of Shelftalker selected Jorisch’s illustrated version of Lear’s poem as one of her favorite children’s poetry books of 2007. Read her post about the poetry books here.

Read an interview with Stephane Jorisch about his art for his illustrated version of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky at Embracing the Child.

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have Anne Bradstreet’s To My Dear and Loving Husband and links to other children's and adult poems perfect for sharing on Valentine’s Day.

Kelly Herold has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Big A, little a.

Picture Book Review: Abraham Lincoln Comes Home

ABRAHAM LINCOLN COMES HOME
Written by Robert Burleigh
Illustrated by Wendell Minor
Henry Holt, 2008

Abraham Lincoln Comes Home is a fine picture book to share with young children during the Lincoln Bicentennial Year. It does not focus on Lincoln’s life or his presidency. It’s a book that relates the story of a young boy named Luke and his father who ride off one night in a horse and buggy in order to pay their respects to our country’s 16th president as his funeral train passes through their community. This is a story of a father and son sharing an emotional experience during a tragic time in our country’s history.

The Lincoln funeral train traveled over 1,600 miles on its route from Washington, D. C., to Springfield, Illinois. The journey took thirteen days. Funeral services were held in different northern cities through which the train passed. At night, people lit bonfires along the train tracks.


As the book begins, Luke and his father are headed off into the night in their buggy:

The buggy rumbled past the barn and through the rusty gate. A single lantern dangled from the near side of the horse’s harness. The lantern cast shadows that rose and fell with each bounce.

Along the way, Luke thinks about trains and the train carrying the dead president and about how he knew he would have liked Lincoln if he could have talked to Abe.

Luke and his father arrive at the train tracks—and thoughts turn to the funeral train and everything it had passed along the way.

How far it had come! Day after day, night after night into morning. Past cities and towns with tolling bells. Past speeches and silence. Past black drapes, heaped roses, archways of green leaves, and the sound of muffled drums.

Finally, Luke sees the funeral train approaching with the picture of Abraham Lincoln above the cowcatcher. He feels the “ground shiver under his feet.” Then he glances up at his father and sees tears streaming down his cheeks. This is the first time the young boy has ever seen his father cry. The train rumbles on and then…

The noise faded. The prairie swallowed the clack-clack-click, all the way to nothing.

No one speaks. People are quiet for a while. Then, it’s time to go. On the ride back home, Luke snuggles “against his father’s warm shoulder” and falls asleep as the sound of the buggy wheels make “him think of the train wheels, still turning.”

Wendell Minor wanted to capture the closeness of a warm father/son relationship for this book so he used a real father and son as models for his paintings. Meticulous in his research for his train illustrations, Minor also had photographs taken of a scale model of the steam engine Nashville and Lincoln’s funeral car made by Professor Wayne Wesolowski. The train is in the permanent collection of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.

Wendell Minor's illustrations beautifully capture this historical event and convey the emotions and sorrow felt by Luke and his father. His paintings draw a reader “into” the story…and into this fictional boy’s experience of this solemn episode in our country’s past—especially the paintings of the buggy driving off into the distance under a star-strewn sky, Luke looking up at his father as tears stream down his father’s face, the funeral train rolling through the prairie just as pale light begins to spread across the horizon, and the image of Lincoln's face superimposed on the sky as Luke and his father head home.


Abraham Lincoln Comes Homes is a quiet, spare, and, at times, poetically told tale. Wendell Minor’s paintings take us “there”—to the prairie in 1865 as Lincoln’s funeral train passed through our country and into the pages of history.


In the back matter of the book, Robert Burleigh includes an Afterword and Interesting Facts about the Lincoln Funeral Train that contain a wealth of information about the journey of train and other "truly interesting" facts related to Lincoln’s death and the train’s journey.


Click here for a flipbook preview of Abraham Lincoln Comes Home at Wendell Minor’s website.


NOTE: I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to Wendell and Florence Minor for always responding promptly to my emails and telephone calls and to Wendell for giving me permission to post images of his illustrations from Abraham Lincoln Comes Home.

Of Books, Writing, & Reading Aloud

Following are links to some interesting newspaper articles and blog posts:

• Here’s an article from The Vancouver Sun written by Chris Lackner: Coraline author Neil Gaiman an explorer of strange, new worlds (February 5, 2009)
  
  


• Here’s an article from The Orlando Sentinel written by Leslie Postal: Orlando-area students learn to escape the FCAT writing 'cage' (February 9, 2009)
  
  


• And from The Seattle Times, here’s an interesting article by Isolde Raftery: Infants learn earlier than thought (February 3, 2009)

• From Millie Davis at the NCTE Inbox blog: To Read Aloud or Not to Read Aloud (Note: Davis includes a link to Franki Sibberson’s post of February 9th at A Year of Reading—Reading Aloud Conversation.

• Reading Aloud Conversation includes a link to How Can We Encourage Reading Aloud? At Jen Robinson’s Book page.
  
  
  
  
  
  

The Lincoln Bicentennial: Book Lists & Resources

From the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (1809-2009)

• Lincoln Bicentennial Main Page
• Suggested Reading for Children & Young Adults
• For Teachers
• For Kids & Young Adults
  

From the Lincoln Home National Historic Site

• Life of Lincoln
• Lincoln Home Tour
• The Lincoln Home through the Years
• Lincoln History & Culture Page

From The Lincoln Bicentennial Teacher Network

• Lincoln Bicentennial Resources
• Suggested Readings for Primary Grades (Book List provided by ALSC)
• Suggested Readings for Intermediate Grades (Book List provided by ALSC)
• Suggested Readings for Middle School & High School (This list was prepared by YALSA’s 2006 Booklist Taskforce.)
• Websites
  

From C-SPAN

• Lincoln 200 Years (Main Page)
• Lincoln Picture Gallery
• Lincoln Timeline
• Lincoln Bio Vignette (Video)
  

From Reading Rockets: Celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s 200th Year (Suggested Children’s Books)

From Scholastic: Celebrate Lincoln’s Bicentennial

Lincoln and Poetry

• Abraham Lincoln and Poetry (Library of Congress)
• Lincoln as Poet (Library of Congress)
• Poems Written by Abraham Lincoln
• Poems Written about Abraham Lincoln
• Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight by Vachel Lindsay
• Lincoln, a Poem, by Nancy Byrd Turner
  
  
  
  

Small Graces February Auction Begins Today!

Painting by Grace Lin

This painting is on auction NOW!

Ebay listing HERE!

URL: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220358614934

Happy bidding!


You can read more about the Small Graces auctions here.


Help spread the word!!!

The Poetry Friday Roundup Is Here!

I'm doing the roundup this week. Please leave a note and the URL of your poetry post in the comments.

NOTE: I'll be out for some time today at the wake of a relative. I will continue adding links throughout the day.

Early Bird Edition

At Wild Rose Reader, I have reviews of a Valentine Hearts: Holiday Poetry and a picture book in verse entitled The Ballad of Valentine.

At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by the late John Updike entitled Burning Trash.


Julie Larios has a poem entitled Design by Billy Collins, one of my favorite poets, over at The Drift Record.

At Janet joins us with some children’s poetry about astronomy in her post Twinkle On at her blog Across the Page.

Cloudscome has a post featuring the great Langston Hughes at A Wrung Sponge—just perfect for Black History Month.

You can count on Tanita S. Davis for some oldies but goodies—some traditional “Counting Out” Rhymes—on Poetry Friday.

Like me, Sara Lewis Holmes is getting a head start on Valentine’s Day with A Love Song by William Carlos Williams at Read Write Believe.

Monica Edinger has a post about the talented Ashley Bryan, recipient of the 2009 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, at Educating Alice.

Laura Salas presents the poem Jaguar by Francisco X. Alarcon—and all the Fifteen Words or Less poems of the week.

Lisa Chellman of Under the Covers decided to take up a couple of poetry challenges this week. She gives us the results in her Poetry Friday post Promptalicious.

Jet informs me that she’ll be featuring poems of love and lust every Friday for the month of February at The Incredible Thinking Woman.

Laura Shovan says she’s got her hand in the candy jar with Rita Dove's Chocolate today at Author Amok.

At Mommy’s Favorite Children’s Books, Karen shares Robert Frost’s Nothing Gold Can Stay.

Head on over to Shelf Elf for Famous, a poem by the great Naomi Shihab Nye.

Tricia’s sharing Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Spring Song with us at The Miss Rumphius Effect. I don’t know what the weather’s like in Virginia—but our poor old Massachusetts groundhog won’t be coming up for fresh spring air for a loooong time!

Diane of The Write Sisters reviews the book Wabi Sabi, one of my favorite picture books of 2008, and shares an original haiku.

Kurious Kity is exploring poetry about Abraham Lincoln today.

Our blogging epicurean, Jama Rattigan is sharing Say I Am You, by Rumi, with us today.

Sarah N. has Thomas Merton’s Zero Weather for us at In Need of Chocolate.

Do check out Linda Kulp’s lovely original poem Singing Lessons at Write Time.

This week's poem on the Stenhouse Blog is an original by Lucy Tobin: English Lessons with a Tibetan Refugee Ex-Monk.

At Black-Eyed Susan, you’ll find a poem by Nikki Giovanni entitled Quilts.

Jennifer Knoblock joins us poetry posters with a Scrabblepoem at Ink for Lit.

Lorie Ann Grover shares Garden, an original poem written by her daughter for the collection they are writing for a resort in Cancun. She’s also got her original poem Playful at Readertotz.

At Check It Out, Jone has posted some of her students’ poems.

John Mutford says he’s in with a poem by Italian-Canadian poet, Domenico Capilongo at The Book Mine Set.

Sylvia Vardell has posted a list of more children's poetry to come in 09 and a poem-slide show on what's poetry at Poetry for Children.


More Friday Morning Poetry Posts

Our fellow blogger and popular children’s poet Douglas Florian gives us another sneak peek at his soon-to-be-published poetry collection about prehistoric animals entitled Dinothesaurus. Today he presents a poem about Pterrifying Pterosaurs at the Florian Café. (P.S. The poem’s pterrific!)

Barbara H. of Stray Thoughts has two winter poems today, The Snow Folks by an unknown author and The Winter Evening by William Copwer.

Susan Thomsen joins us in the roundup with a link to John Updike's Saying Goodbye to Very Young Children at Chicken Spaghetti.

Today, at A Habit of Reading, Fiddler gives us a poem about music. This poem is by Elizabeth Bishop, a 20th Century, New England-born writer.

Karen Edmisten is in with a poem by e. e. cummings entitled i carry your heart with me.

Nandini was up half the night with a sick child. Inspired by the experience, she presents, for our Poetry Friday reading pleasure an original poem entitled Sick Kid at Notes from New England.

At Page after Page, Kim has a lovely little poem by Sara Teasdale and a Vincent van Gogh painting.

Tracie Zimmer has an untitled poem by Izumi Shikibu from THE INK DARK MOON.

Little Willow has posted The Picture-Show over at Bildungsroman.

Yat-Yee Chong contributes to the Poetry Friday Roundup this week with Adding it Up by Phillip Booth.


The Literary Lunch Bunch

At Knocking from the Inside, Tiel Aisha Ansari gives us an original AI Sonnet that she wrote without(?) the help of computers or anything else. Honest!

Head on over to Scrub-a-Dub-Tub for a review of Kenn Nesbitt’s book My Hippo Has the Hiccups and Other Poems I Totally Made Up.

Annie says that she’s been thinking a lot about possibilities this week and that brought Emily Dickinson to mind. Check out her Poetry Friday post at Crazy for Kids Books.

Over at A Patchwork of Books, Amanda is featuring the book The Negro Speaks of Rivers, with a poem by Langston Hughes.

Becky has a review of Jazz ABZ by Wynton Marsalis at Becky’s Book Reviews.

At Liz in Ink, Liz shares some musings on space and The Aged Sun, a poem by J. Patrick Lewis.

Anastasia Suen says she’s got a jazzy picture book for us today: Cool Daddy Rat.

Jill presents Immersed, her final poem for the “unofficial” Jill Corcoran's Original Poem Poetry Week.

This week, Kelly Fineman gives us a Poetry Friday post about Epigrams at Writing and Ruminating. Kelly also has a short original poem entitled Tides for us today.


Poetry Friday: Evening Edition

Kelly Polark has some Eloise Greenfield for us today—as well as a remembrance of a children’s literature course she took in college and the teacher who taught it.

Meredith has some Emily Dickinson for us today at Happy Hearts Mom.

Mary Lee of A Year of Reading says she joining the poetry posters with metaphors -- Billy Collins', hers, and her students'.

Martha Calderaro has thoughts about music today, so she’s linked to lyrics of a David Byrne/Brian Eno song. Martha is curious what Poetry Friday bloggers might be listening to these days for inspiration. She welcomes all to join the conversation at her blog.

At Brand New Ending, Schelle shares a little of her VERY hot summer with us in her original ballade Eucalyptus trees.

Debbie Diesen of Jumping the Candlestick shares an original poem about February—which she claims is NOT her favorite month.


Late Night Edition

Becky at Farm School has midnight snack of poems about (and by) Abraham Lincoln for us.

Stacey from Two Writing Teachers shares an original poem inspired by Collins and Friot at 365 Memories, Poems, and Slices of Life.


Saturday Morning Music

Mike Thomson of Dominant Reality gives us the lyrics of The Trapeze Swinger, a song written by Sam Beam—and a video of the song performed by Beam and the band Iron & Wine.

Valentine Hearts: Poetry & A Picture Book in Verse

VALENTINE HEARTS: HOLIDAY POETRY
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Pictures by JoAnn Adinolfi
HarperCollins, 2005

This anthology contains twelve poems for the very “young at heart.” Poems in this slim volume were written by such well-known children’s poets as Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Marilyn Singer, Lee Bennett Hopkins, and Ann Whitford Paul. The book also includes a poem by fellow kidlit blogger Linda Kulp—and two by the widely published author who goes by the pen name of Anonymous.

Valentine Hearts is An I Can Read Book. Its poems are short, lighthearted, and they rhyme. The poems contain few difficult words, are easy to read, and would appeal to most young children. Topics of the poems include a sandwich cut in the shape of a heart that a child finds in his lunchbox, a child getting all covered with glitter and glue when creating a special valentine, a young girl writing a love note to her dog Leo, a chickadee singing a “valentine melody”—and a poem by Maria Fleming about candy conversation hearts that are…

Telling secrets
Spelled in sugared ink:
“Be Mine.”
“For Keeps.”
“It’s True.”
“How Sweet.”
Tiny love notes
Good enough to eat.

Here’s a poem from the book written by the famous Anonymous:

Golden Heart

Golden heart
Be on your way.
Go, speed along
To sweetly say
That on this good
St. Valentine’s Day
A heart is meant
To give away.

Valentine Hearts ($3.99 in paperback) would make a good addition to a library collection in an early elementary classroom.

THE BALLAD OF VALENTINE
Written by Alison Jackson
Illustrated by Tricia Tusa
Dutton, 2002

In a cabin, in a canyon,
Near a mountain laced with pine,
Lived a girl who was my sweetheart,
And her name was Valentine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling Valentine,
I have written forty letters,
But you’ve never read a line.


So begins this lighthearted adaptation of the folksong “My Darling, Clementine.” In this tale, a man attempts to send dozens of love notes to his sweetheart Valentine. Unfortunately, the notes never reach their intended destination—for various reasons. The mailman can’t find Valentine’s address. The homing pigeon flies off to Madagascar. The suitor’s smoky love signal gets blown away by a cyclone. The message tapped out in Morse code hits a blizzard as it crosses the county line.

It matters not that the plucky Valentine hasn’t received any of the amorous correspondence from her beloved. While her frustrated suitor has been trying and trying over and over again to send his notes of love, Valentine’s been busy hanging laundry, feeding chickens, toting well water…and baking an apple pie for her honey—which she delivers to him at story’s end.

It is Valentine’s side of the story that we “read” about only in the illustrations. It’s not written about in the text. The Ballad of Valentine provides a perfect example of how a talented illustrator can extend and enhance a picture book text. With a deft and droll artistic hand, Tusa adds humor and detail to Jackson’s rhythmic and rhyming tale of love. This is a fine and “fun” book to read aloud to young children—make that sing aloud to young children—on Valentine’s Day!


Valentine Poems, Books, & More

• Valentine Poems for Children by David McCord, Valerie Worth, Jane Yolen, Barbara Juster Esbensen, Jane Yolen, and Shakespeare


• Valentine’s Poems from the Poetry Foundation's Online Journal


• Looking for a good picture book to read aloud on Valentine’s Day? Here’s a link to my review of Sara Pennypacker’s picture book Pierre in Love that I posted at Blue Rose Girls some time ago.


• From Scholastic: Books of Love (From first crushes to very best friends, these picture books are perfect companions to Valentine's Day.)


• Monthly Special: Love Stories (From The Horn Book)


• From Through The Looking Glass Children’s Book Review: Valentine’s Day


• Make your own candy conversation heart!

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by the late John Updike entitles Burning Trash.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Wild Rose Reader today. Leave a comment and the URL of your poetry post at the roundup post.

Small Graces: February Auction News

It's almost auction time again! "Small Graces: A Painting a Month to Benefit the Foundation for Children's Books" features another charming painting by the talented and generous author/illustrator Grace Lin. This is the 2nd painting to be auctioned on eBay as a benefit for the foundation's programs in under-served schools.

Here's how it works: Every month a small (5x5 inch), unpublished, original painting will be auctioned on eBay with 100% of the proceeds to support the FCB's author/illustrator visits and residencies in urban schools in the Greater Boston area. Each painting will illustrate a bit of wisdom, a proverb, a "small Grace."

This month's painting (seen above), painted in gouache on watercolor paper, will be auctioned beginning Monday, February 9 to Friday, February 13. The estimated value is $450. I'll post a reminder with the eBay item number on Monday—or you can search by Grace Lin's name.

Grace Lin is the author and illustrator of more than a dozen picture books, including The Ugly Vegetables and Dim Sum for Everyone! Grace's critically acclaimed children's novels include The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat.

You can read more about the Small Graces auctions and The Foundation for Children’s Books at this Wild Rose Reader post: Small Graces: A Painting a Month for the Foundation for Children's Books

Black History Month: Book Lists, Books Reviews, & Resources

Book Lists

• From NYPL: Celebrate African-American History Month
• From PBS Parents: Books that Bring the Black Experience to Life
• 2009 Black History Month Recommended Reading List from the Florida Department of Education. Divided into sub-lists for different grade levels: PreK-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12
• Celebrate Black History Month: Spotlight On…February 2008 from the Metropolitan System of Oklahoma County
• Black History Month 2005 Picture Books from metrolibrary.org
• Picture Books to Celebrate Black History Month from the International Reading Association
• From Through The Looking Glass Children’s Book Review: Black History Month. Click on book titles to read the reviews.
• African American Books from The Horn Book
• From BookPage: Understanding the Past (Reviews by Deborah Hopkinson)
• February Is Black History Month from Henrico (VA) County Library
• From the Kids’ Corner of the Henrietta Public Library of Monroe County in New York: 2008 Black History Month
• From Reading Rockets: Favorite Books for Black History Month
• From KidsReads. Celebrating Black History Month (2009)
• From KidsReads: Celebrating Black History Month (2007)
• From KidsReads: Celebrating Black History Month (2006)
  

Books & Other Resources

• MotherReader has two great posts at ForeWord, Black History Month Picture Books and More Black History Month Picture Books, in which she provides recommendations for picture books to read during Black History Month
• Read Jules’ reviews of some great new books at 7-Imp in her post Good picture book biographies start here. She’s included images of some fabulous illustrations along with her reviews, too!
• Check out Tricia’s post Teaching Resources—African History Month at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
• Here’s a link to Andrea Davis Pinkney’s Celebration Time: Black History Month is here and there's a party goin' on, which appeared in the February 2008 issue of School Library Journal.
• From Time for Kids: A Then to Now timeline of Black History
• Here’s a link to a post at the ESSL Children’s Literature Blog that presents selected books by notable African American authors: African American Children’s Writers.
• From East Central Georgia Regional Library: Black History Month Sites
• From Arlington, Virginia, Libraries: Black History Month Guide for Kids

From Wild Rose Reader
Following are links to some of my previous posts at Wild Rose Reader that include recommendations and reviews of poetry books and picture book biographies for Black History Month and an original poem about Harriet Tubman:

• Poetry Books for Black History Month
• More Poetry Books for Black History Month
• Poetry & Picture Book Biographies for Black History Month
• Just Jazzin' with Dizzy Gillespie & Ella Fitzgerald
• Book Bunch: Looking at Langston Hughes
• A Poem for Harriet Tubman