National Poetry Month at Wild Rose Reader



During National Poetry Month, I'll be giving away poetry books.  

I have two copies of Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong's You Just Wait: A Poetry Friday Power Book.

YOU JUST WAIT: A Poetry Friday Power Book for tweens and teens, features 12 PowerPack sets that contain five elements: 1) a PowerPlay prewriting activity; 2) a previously-published Outside Poem (in this case, from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School); 3) a new original Response Poem; 4) a new original Mentor Text poem; and 5) a Power2You writing prompt. PowerPacks = a fun and inspiring approach for a wide variety of readers and writers. Curious? Take a look!

The twelve Outside Poems from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School (an NCTE Poetry Notable) were written by Robyn Hood Black, Joseph Bruchac, Jen Bryant, Margarita Engle, Julie Larios, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Charles Ghigna, Avis Harley, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Charles Waters, and Virginia Euwer Wolff. The way they are joined together here with twenty-four new poems by Janet Wong, they form a story featuring Paz, an Asian-Latina soccer player with dreams of stardom in college, the Olympics, and ultimately the World Cup; Lucesita, her feisty movie-loving cousin; and Joe, an older brother with dreams of the NBA. Sylvia Vardell’s inventive PowerPlay activities make it easy for writers to get inspired, while her Power2You writing prompts extend learning. Vardell also created extensive back matter resources for readers and writers.

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I have one copy of Sylvia and Janet's Great Morning: Poems for School Leaders to Read Aloud that's signed by Janet.

GREAT MORNING! Poems for School Leaders to Read Aloud is an anthology of 75 poems by 50+ poets—with intros and intriguing facts for each week of the school year. Topics include:

School Forms  ✼  Safety  ✼  Inclusion  ✼  Picture Day  ✼  Health + Wellness  ✼  Community  ✼  Leadership  ✼  Diversity  ✼  Transportation  ✼  Volunteers  ✼  Compassion  ✼  A Fresh Start  ✼  Birthdays  ✼  Recess  ✼  Teachers  ✼  Reading  ✼  Art  ✼  Music  ✼  Technology  ✼  Science  ✼  Willpower  ✼  JustJoking  ✼  Literacy Everywhere  ✼  Clean Up  ✼  Mindfulness  ✼  Surprise!  ✼  Reaching Out  ✼  Fun + Games

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 I have a signed copy of Janet Wong's new edition of A Suitcase of Seaweed.





A Suitcase of Seaweed was originally published in 1996 by Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, as thirty-six poems plus three prose pieces. It received many accolades and was named an NYPL Book for the Teen Age and also an NCSS Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies.

While the entire text of the original book is presented here in A Suitcase of Seaweed & MORE, more than half of this book is brand new. You’ll find snippets of story about the inspiration behind the poems, extensions of the themes, and general musings, as well as writing prompts to get young readers thinking, talking, and also writing about their own identities. Wong’s “Advice for Writers” will inspire them to write their own books, too!

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I'll also give away a signed copy of my book Things to Do, which won the 2018 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children's Literature and a 2018 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Honor Award. It was also named a best children's book of 2017 by the New York Public Library and the Cooperative Children's Book Center.

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I had hoped to have more information and details for you today--but we had to put our family cat to sleep yesterday. He had not been doing well for over a week. He was a dear little fellow--so friendly and gentle. We will miss him.

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You'll find the Poetry Friday Roundup at Carol's Corner.

How to Be a Snowflake from The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog

I was so excited last Friday when a package arrived in the mail. In the package was Paul Janeczko's recently published poetry anthology--The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How To Poems. I was thrilled when Paul selected two of my poems (How to be a Mole and How to Be a Snowflake) for inclusion in this book that is beautifully illustrated by Richard Jones.

The book has received three starred reviews to date from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. Here is an excerpt from the Booklist review:

In this charmingly illustrated collection, poets classic (Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson) and modern (Kwame Alexander, Margarita Engle) offer a variety of how-to poems, providing young readers with instructions both jocular and sincere. The poems vary widely in tone: Elaine Magliaro is thoughtful and austere in “How to Be a Mole,” as she advises readers to “Listen for the soft music / of seeds sprouting, / worms wiggling / rain pattering on your grassy roof.” By contrast, Douglas Florian is playful in “Tired Hair,” as he says, “If you’re tired of your hair, / Rope it to a rocking chair . . . / Tie it into fifty knots; / Dye it green with purple spots.”

You can read some of the poems included in the book at the following links:

Google and Amazon

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Heidi Mordhorst has the Poetry Friday Roundup at my juicy little universe.