Video Sunday: National Student Poet Program

"Poetry matters. Poetry, like all art, gives shape and texture and depth of meaning to our lives." -- President Obama, celebrating the National Student Poet Program

Poetry has the ability to speak to us, to give us courage to speak out, to feel heard. It is crucial that we give our children the opportunity to discover poetry that speaks to them, that helps them see themselves or to see others. I was delighted to discover the National Student Poet Program, especially the videos celebrating the 2015 winners.

The National Student Poets Program is the country’s highest honor for young poets (grades 10–11) presenting original work.

Annually, five students are selected for one year of service as literary ambassadors, each representing a different geographic region of the country. By elevating and showcasing their work for a national audience, the program strives to inspire other young people to achieve excellence in their own creative endeavors and promote the essential role of writing and the arts in academic and personal success.

I have enjoyed exploring the YouTube channel for the National Student Poets Program. It is incredibly inspiring to hear the different young poets share their poetry and talk about their year of service. I am looking forward to sharing with my students Chastity Hale's video:

"Poetry is significant to me because it is a lens where I can view the world and see things through different perspectives. I've always used poetry to further my understanding of other people and spread messages." -- Chastity Hale

You can watch the entire ceremony, in which First Lady Michelle Obama honors this year's five National Student Poets. I especially want to share this section as Jacqueline Woodson, one of my all-time favorite poets, honors the poets.

Enjoy sharing these videos with young people in your life.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Booked--Kwame Alexander scores again with this novel in verse (ages 10-14)

I am ridiculously excited to share Booked with kids, friends and librarians. Kwame Alexander hits the sweet spot again, this time scoring a goal with his mix of soccer, family, first crushes, friendship and poetry.

Booked
by Kwame Alexander
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016
Your local library
Amazon
ages 10-14
*best new book*

Nick loves soccer, whether it's playing futsol with his best friend, dreaming of playing professionally, or staying up late playing FIFA online. What Nick hates are books. More specifically, he hates that his dad makes him read his own dictionary of unusual words.

Kwame Alexander has crafted a novel that is fast to read, full of wordplay and humor, and leaves you thinking. I love the way he captures the bantering between Nick and his mom, as well as between Nick and his best friend Coby. Right from the beginning, he shows how kids play with words in smart, sophisticated ways. My students love telling jokes, and will love seeing if their friends get this. Just see if they see why this is such a funny way for Nick to introduce his dad, the linguistics professor:

"In the elementary school spelling bee
when you intentionally
misspelled heifer,
he almost had a cow."

As Nick struggles with his parents' impending divorce, bullying at school and figuring out how to talk to the girl of his dreams, he discovers that words and poetry can actually be cool. A great follow up to The Crossover!

Want to read more? Check out this terrific NPR interview with Kwame from this weekend:

How To Get Kids Hooked On Books? 'Use Poetry. It Is A Surefire Way'
-- NPR radio interview, April 3, 2016

I'm so jazzed to share this that I've already placed an order for 15 books (!!) with my favorite local bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway's, and I will be sharing these with friends tomorrow. I hope to share soon how kids respond to Booked. My sense is that Booked will resonate more with middle school students than elementary students, but I do think many 5th graders will enjoy and relate to Nick's struggles.

The review copy was kindly sent by the publishers, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Poetry for the Birds: Woodpecker Wham and Every Day Birds (ages 3-8)

Poetry can be a terrific way to explore different topics kids might want to learn more about. In particular, poetry and science make a great pair. Above all else, poets and scientists ask us to stop and notice the world around us.  I love these two picture books that celebrate our fine feathered friends, and do it with terrific word play and illustrations.

Woodpecker Wham
by April Pulley Sayre
illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Henry Holt / Macmillan, 2015
Your local library
Amazon
ages 4-8

Sayre’s dynamic verse brings alive the sound and movement of six different woodpecker species as they chop, bonk, tap, and slam, doing serious work.

"Swoop and land.
Hitch and hop.
Shred a tree stump.
Chop, chip, chop!"

The bouncing, rhythmic verse and the bold illustrations make this a great read-aloud. As you read, ask kids which words they think have real pizzaz--notice Sayre's word choices. Whether she's showing how the birds fly or how their tapping sounds, Sayre chooses dramatic words. Encourage your kids to try using words like this on your next walk outside.

Every Day Birds
by  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
illustrated by Dylan Metrano
Orchard/Scholastic, 2016
Your local library
Amazon
ages 3-6

Short simple verses and cut-paper collage illustrations introduce young readers to common North American birds. Choosing birds that preschoolers like to notice, VanDerwater displays one bird on each page, highlighting a memorable characteristic for each.

"Chickadee wears a wee black cap."

"Owl swoops soundlessly late at night."

The bold illustrations focus young readers on each bird, setting each bird against a simple background helps highlight the species and the poetry. I especially like how VanDerwater focuses on one key feature of each bird, highlighting it with strong language. The endnotes provide more detail on each species for adults to share, as kids as more quesitons.

Together, the cumulative effect leads to a rhythm and rhyming scheme that makes for a lovely read-aloud for preschoolers. "Heron fishes with his bill./ Sparrow hops in brown./ Mockingbird has many voices./ Pigeon lives in town." Perfect for budding naturalists.

Illustrations from Woodpecker Wham copyright ©2015 Steve Jenkins, used with permission of the publisher. Text from Every Day Birds written by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater. Illustrations copyright 2016 by Dylan Metrano. Used with permission from Orchard Books/Scholastic. The review copies were kindly sent by the publishers, Macmillan and Scholastic. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Video Sunday: Favorite Poem Project (ages 10 and up)

The Favorite Poem Project is dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in Americans’ lives. Founded by Robert Pinsky shortly after he was appointed the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States in 1997, this project has become a wonderful resource and inspiration.

Favorite Poem Project

It began as an initiative to create an audio and visual archive of 1,000 Americans reading aloud their favorite poems. Americans from every state and from all ages have submitted their favorite poems. I have loved exploring the resources available online, both video and audio recordings of Americans young and old sharing their favorite poems. Today, I'd like to share two favorite videos that particularly spoke to me.

Pov Chin, a student from Stockton, California, shares Langston Hughes' "Minstrel Man". I love how she connects to this poem, how it helps her express her own experience as a teen.

You can find the full text of the poem at PBS NewsHour, along with a transcript of Pov's reflections.

"I like it (Langston Hughes' poem) because it describes me. Like, I walk around with a smile on my face all the time at school and with friends and stuff, but I still have different thoughts running through my head. It’s never stable. It’s always going."

"We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a poem that's often shared in middle school--I think that kids will respond to the way John Ulrich, a student in South Boston, Massachusetts, reads it and talks about it.

John speaks about the "cluster of death" that has surrounded his neighborhood, from young people's deaths due to drug overdoses and depression. He also shares the program he started "South Boston Survivors", to help young people find creative sparks to redirect them from depression.

"When I first heard 'We Real Cool', ...it just made sense to me, how things started out so innocent and got so drastic so quick."

Yina Liang, a student in Decatur, Georgia, shows how she connects to Emily Dickinson's poem "I'm nobody! Who are you?" I particularly like the way that Yina shows how she has to juggle all of the expectations she feels, all of the demands--and how sometimes, she just wants to escape and be nobody.

"I think I discovered this poem in 7th grade... Every year, as life gets busier, the poem keeps coming back to me and it connects so much better every time that I think, in time, it discovered me instead."

There are many more Favorite Poem Project videos that spoke to me as an adult, but today I wanted to share the ones that I think will particularly resonate with kids. I hope you enjoy exploring these resources as much as I have.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Daniel Finds a Poem, by Micha Archer -- exploring nature, finding wonder everywhere (ages 5-9)

As we launch into National Poetry Month, I want to start by sharing Daniel Finds a Poem--an absolutely beautiful new picture book that celebrates finding poetry all around us. I adore watching spring burst forth--and this book inspires me to stop, pause and take note of all the wonder around me.

Daniel Finds a Poem
by Micha Archer
Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin, 2016
Preview on Google Books
Your local library
Amazon
ages 5-9

"What is poetry?" Daniel wonders as he sees a sign announcing a poetry performance in his local park. In this picture book, Micha Archer helps children see that poetry can be a moment of stopping to notice what's around you--just catching that moment in time, that spot in a place you know.

"On Monday morning, Daniel sees something new on the park gate: POETRY IN THE PARK...
'What is poetry?' Daniel says."

As he wanders through his local park and neighborhood, Daniel watches and asks different animals for their views on what poetry is. With his dark curly hair and eyes full of wonder, Daniel soaks each detail. Notice how Archer keeps the child part of each moment, even though the story is really about poetry and nature. This helps keep the child reader part of the story each step of the way.

"He looks up in surprise when he hears Spider say,
'To me, poetry is when morning dew glistens.'"

"'Poetry is when crisp leaves crunch,' Squirrel tells him."

Archer's illustrations are so lush, pulling readers into each scene, inviting them to linger and soak up the beauty just as Daniel does. I especially like the ending, as Daniel takes the small details each of the animals shares and creates his own found poem--and then performs it for a small audience in the park.

Share this delightful story and stop to notice the small details all around us. A wonderful introduction for poetry in the classroom or at home--best suited for kindergarten through 3rd graders as they start writing their own poems.

Illustrations ©2016 Micha Archer, used with permission of the publisher. The review copies were kindly sent by the publisher, Nancy Paulsen Books, and we have also purchased additional copies for our school library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It, by Gail Carson Levine: poetry with snarky humor perfect for tweens (ages 8 - 10)

It seems utterly perfect to start our celebration of National Poetry Month on April Fools Day with a collection of poems that will get kids laughing and sharing: Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It. It isn't politically correct. It isn't always nice. But it will get kids snickering and reading and wanting more. Share this snarky book with 4th and 5th graders, hand them a set of post-its, and ask them to mark their favorites.

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poemsby Gail Carson Levineillustrated by Matthew CordellHarperCollins, 2012
your local libraryAmazonages 8-10

This is just to say, open this book at your own risk. You'll find sarcastic takes on classic fairy tales. You'll find brothers being mean to sisters. You'll find authors sneering at their editors. But share it with the right kids, and you'll see them marking pages, showing friends and reading them again and again.

Each poem starts with a simple statement. There's no denying the wrong-doing.

I have eaten
your hot fudge
sundae
and the cherry on top

Then describe the effects. Show your point of view. Be blunt. But try to see what someone else's perspective might be.

which
I thoughtfully
replaced
with anchovies

End the last stanza with "Forgive me" but know that this is a false apology. You're really not sorry at all. And your reader knows it.

Forgive me
I gave three spoonfuls
of ice cream
to the cat

Add in Matthew Cordell's line drawings, and kids will be laughing and sharing.

I have to be honest. The first time I read this book, I didn't really get it. But when I shared it with kids, that's when I realized the true value of it. They had to read it with friends. They started debating which poem was best. They immediately got point of view, connected it to their experiences, and wanted more.

Snow White gets tired of the dwarves ("you snore/ pick your noses/ never take a bath") and runs off with the evil witch. Kids call up a genie and put parents behind bars ("Forgive me/ time-out and grounded / and other unpleasant phrases/ can no longer be uttered").

Pure magic, in my view. And especially best shared on April Fools Day. Don't you think? For other reviews, check out Franki's at A Year of Reading, Betsy's at Fuse #8.

Poetry ©2012 by Gail Carson Levine, illustrations ©2012 by Matthew Cordell; used with permission from the publisher. The review copy came from our school library. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2015 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books