Nikki Grimes: Interview series with California poets for young people

I am honored to share today's interview with Nikki Grimes, one of my favorite authors. I am continuing my series interviewing California poets for young people--last week, I interviewed Jorge Argueta; in the works are interviews with Isabel Campoy and Lee Wardlaw. They each bring such wonderful gifts to our children.

Nikki Grimes has received many accolades for her writing, including the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, the NAACP Image Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and many more. I've seen time and again how she inspires my students, connecting with them on a very personal level. At Reading Rockets, this introduction shows how her personal experiences helped shape her connections to reading and writing:

Nikki Grimes was born in Harlem, but grew up in many different parts of New York. As a foster child from a broken home, she moved from place to place, always saying goodbye to new friends. Reading and writing became her survival tools. When she had no one else to talk to, Grimes wrote poems and stories about the things that were bothering her. As an avid reader, she checked out library books by day and read at night by flashlight.

1. How do you get into a place or mindset for writing your poetry? Do you have any habits you could share with young writers?
I pick up three or four books by favorite authors, written for the age group I'm writing that particular book for, and I'll lose myself in them for a day or so. This gets my pistons firing. I think something similar might work for any writer. After all, it's often the writing of authors that spur us to write ourselves.

2. I love sharing descriptive words with kids is there a word that's been on your mind lately that's particularly delicious?
No single word comes to mind, but a new phrase popped into my head recently, which I love and just used in a keynote speech I gave this week: the architecture of dreams! The phrase feels so good on my tongue.

3. What are three books of poetry you'd like to see in every child's home, for them to dip into whenever they want?
Three is an impossibly short list of books, but I'll give you three of my favorites:Water Music by Jane Yolen; Come With Me by Naomi Shihab Nye; and Neighborhood Odesby Gary Soto. But they also need to have books by Langston Hughes, Joyce Sidman, Janet Wong, Paul Janezcko, Jack Prelutsky, Lucille Clifton—like I said, impossible!

4. Is there a poem you have memorized that you can share a snippet with us? Maybe it's something you say to yourself when you need encouragement or just when you want to delight in the power of words.
Sorry. I don't memorize poems, not even my own.

Oh, I love that Nikki is giving us all permission NOT to memorize poems. I know that many people take great joy from reciting poetry, from having the words live permanently in their memory---but I have always struggled with this and felt very anxious about memorizing poems. How lovely to know that one of my favorite poets chooses to simply read and enjoy poetry without stressing about memorizing it.

I will hold the phrase architecture of dreams in my heart. I believe that the poetry, the books we share with our children help lay the foundations upon which they can build their own personal dreams. Nikki, I do hope you can share this speech (or a few parts of it) online.

If you want to read more interviews with Nikki Grimes, I highly recommend these:

• Lee & Low Books -- Nikki Grimes on Writing Poetry
• Reading Rockets -- Video Interview with Nikki Grimes
• NCTE Spotlight -- Lee Bennett Hopkins' Reflections on Nikki Grimes

Many thanks to Lee and Low Books for helping arrange this interview. And special thanks to Nikki for taking the time to answer these questions on a busy, celebratory weekend.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books

Poems in the Attic, by Nikki Grimes: memories glued with words (ages 6-9)

I have loved sharing Nikki Grimes' poetry and stories with students for years, and am delighted to share her most recent picture book today. Poems in the Attic shows how poetry can capture memories and connect generations together, as a young girl reads about her mother's childhood memories. Please join me later this week on Wednesday for an interview with Grimes.

Poems in the Attic
by Nikki Grimes
illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon
audiobook narrated by Sisi Aisha Johnson
Lee & Low Books, 2015
audiobook, Recorded Books, 2015
Your local library
Amazon
ages 6-9

While visiting her grandma, a seven-year-old girl discovers a cedar box filled with poems--written by her own mother when she was a girl. The girl today writes her own free verse, sharing her discoveries about her mother.

"Grandma's attic is stacked with secrets"

The story unfolds with alternating voices, between the young girl and her mother's poems. Her mother describes her childhood experiences traveling from California to Alaska, and Germany to Japan as a military child.

"Memories can be like sandcastles
the waves wash away.
My mama glued her memories with words
so they would last forever."

I especially love the way the alternating voices let the poems show both internal reflections and special memories. In the page above, the modern young girl contemplates on the way words can "glue her (mother's) memories," so they last and can be shared. The mother's poem brings to life the memory of a special night outing with her dad. These memories act like Wordsworth's "spot of time," helping us savor the moment.

I have enjoyed sharing the picture book, with Elizabeth Zunon's warm illustrations. I have just listened to the audiobook and it's a delightful way to share this story, as well. Sisi Aisha Johnson conveys both the light, young voice of the narrator as well as the gentle, joyous rhythm of the poetry. In my view, the audiobook will work best in companion with the picture book, letting children read and hear the story at the same time.

Please join me on Wednesday for an interview with Nikki Grimes, as part of my series interviewing California poets for young people. The review copies were kindly sent by the publisher, Lee & Low Books. 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: Naomi Shihab Nye and celebrating Arab American Month with my students (ages 8-12)

At Emerson this month, we are celebrating Arab American Heritage Month, to honor our Arab American students. We also want to provide a positive message to combat the persistent anti-Arab, anti-Muslim rhetoric we hear daily via our national media. I am so happy to be able to highlight the poet Naomi Shihab Nye.

Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye, the daughter of a Palestinian father and an American mother, has lived in Ramallah in Jordan, the Old City in Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas. She writes for both children and adults. I first came to know her work through the book she edited: This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World.

Each week this month, I will be sharing one of her poems with our 4th & 5th graders as we celebrate Arab American Heritage Month. We are starting by watching this video, with Naomi Shihab Nye reading aloud her poem "One Boy Told Me" from the PBS series Poetry Everywhere.

This was a perfect introduction for my students, because it combined humor, poetic language and relatable experiences. I love the way they connect to a little kid's perspective. Here are just a few of their favorite lines:

"Oatmeal cookies make my throat gallop."

"Grown-ups keep their feet on the ground
when they swing. I hate that."

"My tongue is the car wash
for the spoon."

"My toes are dictionaries.
Do you need any words?"

see the full text of "One Boy Told Me" at the Poetry Foundation

In her writing, Naomi Shihab Nye has been inspired by her experiences as an Arab-American, as well as by life's little details. This is part of what I want to impart to students -- that poetry combines memories, small details and bigger ideas.

I will be sharing three poetry books and one picture book by Naomi Shihab Nye this month with my 4th & 5th graders:

• Come With Me: Poems for a Journey
• Honeybee: Poems and Short Prose
• A Maze Me: Poems for Girls
• Sitti's Secrets

I have collected my video resources for poetry month on my YouTube Poetry Playlist. 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

Science + Poetry => Observation & Exploration #sciencefriday (ages 4-10)

Like science, poetry asks students to slow down, observe and record. Many students are drawn to the way poetry distills these observations into brief lines. I am thrilled that the NPR show Science Friday celebrated the union of poetry and science, creating two educational activities and recommending one of my favorite anthologies.

The Poetry of Science: The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science
edited by Sylvia Vardell & Janet Wong
illustrated by Frank Ramspott and Bug Wang
Pomelo Books, 2015
teacher's edition
Amazon
ages 4-10

Whether you want to take a moment to observe the way a hawk glides or predict what happens when you soak celery in food dye, these poems offer a short, focused crystallization of scientific observation and inquiry. Here's a great poem to start us off: "How to Be a Scientist" by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.

How to Be a Scientist
by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

This anthology offers over 200 poems written by 78 of today's most popular poets. Poems are organized by topics such as:

• What Do Scientists Do?
• Ask & Investigate
• Science Fair
• Kitchen Science
• Push & Pull
• Water, Water, Everywhere
• Earth & Sun
• Ecosystems
• Endangered & Extinct
• Think It, Build It, Make It

I love the "Take 5" approach that editors Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have developed to share poetry in the classroom. This concise approach advocates taking time for poetry every Friday to introduce and share a poem—in this case a science-centric poem. For every poem, they provide “Take 5” activities for each poem to help teachers, librarians, and parents share poems. They invite students to listen and read along, and provide questions, activities, and book suggestions for considering the science content of each poem.

Definitely check out the Poetry for Children Blog this month. Sylvia Vardell is sharing science and poetry resources all month long. Each day, she is sharing a poem, pairing it with a nonfiction picture book, and providing Take 5 activities.

Explore some of their resources on the Pomelo Books Pinterest page. Here is one of my favorite poems, Spiral Glide by Mary Lee Hahn, and the Take 5 activities that accompany it.

 

On Facebook, the folks at Science Friday shared this delightful poem movie to highlight the scientific inquiry. Notice how poet Susan Blackaby introduces students to academic, scientific words like hypothesis, observation, data and results -- but she does so with rhyme and rhythm.

The review copies were kindly sent by the publishers. 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

Jorge Argueta: Interview series with California poets for young people

Poetry holds a special place in my heart, for the way it helps me slow down and notice. As I share poetry with my students, it's very important to me to help them see that the poems we read have been created by real people. We need to help our children see that they, too, are poets.

I am thrilled to share interviews with California poets for young people. This month, I will share interviews with Jorge Argueta, Nikki Grimes, Isabel Campoy, and Lee Wardlaw. Please consider inviting these wonderful poets to your schools to connect in person with your students. In the meantime, let's welcome our first guest.

Jorge Argueta

Jorge Argueta is a prolific Salvadoran poet who lives in San Francisco. I love sharing his bilingual poems and stories with children. Argueta immigrated to the United States more than 30 years ago in the midst of his country’s civil war. He writes poetry and children’s books, runs Luna’s Press and Bookstore in San Francisco, and gives poetry presentations and workshops in the US and in El Salvador.

Argueta’s two most recent books are Salsa, a cooking poem illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh (see my review), and Olita y Manyula: The Big Birthday/El gran cumpleaños, a sweet story illustrated by El Aleph Sanchez (see a review at De Colores). I am so honored and happy to share this interview with you.

1. How do you get into a place or mindset for writing your poetry? Do you have any habits you could share with young writers?

When I write a poem, I normally visualize it. If it’s a place or a person, I visit with them. In my imagination, I talk to the people, trees and fruits and vegetables. I live with them. I have an office, but I like to do my writing in my kitchen because I feel it is a place where I can dream. My tea kettle is a steam train, it brings people, cows, mountains, rainbows, rivers, moons, suns, stars, they all come to keep me company when I’m writing.

three of Jorge Argueta's cooking poems

I love writing in my kitchen because it reminds me of my home in El Salvador. I have the sweet company of my family and friends, here I can bring the past to the present, to the future. In the kitchen I have chairs, tables, kitchen utensils and photos. I am surrounded by wonderful colorful vegetables and fruits, each with different shapes and scents. To me the kitchen is a place where I make connections with the whole world. Just as life, the kitchen is a poem.

2. I love sharing descriptive words with kids. What are some words that you have been thinking about lately, that might be particularly delicious?

Water    fire     colors   mango   sunrise

I believe words were given to us to talk about our happiness, our sadness, our joy, our perseverance, our justice. As an indigenous person, a Latino person, I need to talk about our endurance. I believe words were given to me to talk about the needs of people for justice, and to see the world in different ways.

from Jorge Argueta's website

3. What are three (classics) books you’d like to see in every child’s home?

The Popol-Vuh, 1001 Arabian Nights and Jungle Book.

There’s definitely classical literature that you can turn to, like The Popol–Vuh for children, a classical book by the great Mayan people, adopted for children by Ana Maria Dueñas, or The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling, or picture books by Dr. Seuss. But I also want to share other poets’ work with children.

The great Chilean writer, Gabriela Mistral, wrote for children’s and for social justice. She was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1945. Pablo Neruda’s mind, his writing touches children, young adults and adults. His words are child-like, yet also powerful enough to touch anybody. Also a Nobel prize winner. In El Salvador, Claudia Lars, wrote amazing poems for children.

Most recently, my good friend, Juan Felipe Herrera--current Poet Laureate of the United States-- conveys the power and the tenderness to share the experience of the farm workers and Latino immigrants, to talk about important issues today. Francisco Alarcón—another good friend who just passed away, wrote such fun poems for children, that make me laugh and smile and wonder.

A good message to convey to parents is the importance of the oral tradition. We are telling parents to make sure their children read, read, read -- but we also need to remind ourselves how important it is to keep the oral tradition alive. Tell children where they come from, who grandpa was, what he did as a young boy. We have beautiful family stories that we sometimes forget to tell our children.

4. Is there a poem you can share a snippet with us?

I’d like to share a little from my newest book, Olita y Manyula: The Big Birthday/El gran cumpleaños:

My name is Holly
but my friends in El Salvador call me Olita
Spanish for little wave
I love to be called Olita,
little wave…

This fall, Jorge Argueta's next book will be published: Somos como las nubes: We Are Like the Clouds (Groundwood Books, October 2016). Here is the description from the publisher:

Why are young people leaving their country to walk to the United States to seek a new, safe home? Over 100,000 such children have left Central America. This book of poetry helps us to understand why and what it is like to be them.

This powerful book by award-winning Salvadoran poet Jorge Argueta describes the terrible process that leads young people to undertake the extreme hardships and risks involved in the journey to what they hope will be a new life of safety and opportunity. A refugee from El Salvador’s war in the eighties, Argueta was born to explain the tragic choice confronting young Central Americans today who are saying goodbye to everything they know because they fear for their lives. This book brings home their situation and will help young people who are living in safety to understand those who are not.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us, Mr. Argueta. It was a true delight and pleasure.

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

Salsa: Un poema para cocinar / A Cooking Poem, by Jorge Argueta & Duncan Tonatiuh (ages 5-8)

I'm so happy to share Salsa, a delightful poem and picture book which is the latest in Jorge Argueta's cooking poems. Argueta and Duncan Tonatiuh bring together music, dancing and food to celebrate salsa as a brother and sister work together to make for their family. Please join me later this week on Wednesday for an interview with Argueta.

Salsa: Un poema para cocinar / A Cooking Poem
by Jorge Argueta
illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh
Groundwood Books, 2015
Google Books preview
Your local library
Amazon
ages 5-8

Argueta connects kids' enjoyment of salsa today to the cultural traditions of ancient Aztec, Mayan, and Nahua peoples in Central America. As we begin the story, we meet the molcajete, a type of stone bowl that ancient peoples made from volcanic rock and used to grind tomatoes, corn, chilies, vegetables and spices.

Please note, as you look at these samples, how the Spanish text comes before the English text. I especially appreciate the message this sends, showing the importance of Spanish language in conveying this poem.

My mother tells me

molcajetes were

our ancestors'

blenders.

Just like their ancestors, the brother and sister sing and dance as they make their salsa. I love how Argueta brings the ingredients to life, describing each one as part of the "salsa orchestra". He conveys the joy of cooking, and shows how each ingredient brings the salsa its own sound and feeling.

"I am ready with four tomatoes.
They are bongos and kettledrums.
My onion is a maraca.
Cloves of garlic are trumpets,
and the cilantro is the orchestra conductor
with his shaggy, green hair."

Duncan Tonatiuh uses his signature style to illustrate in ancient Mixtec style. Faces are shown in profile, with big, swiveling heads and oversized hands. Borders, reminiscent of those used in the ancient codices, show the ingredients and the musical instruments.

For the music to be really spicy,
it's important to use chilies.
My family loves hot peppers.

The extended musical metaphor is well played throughout, adding texture, humor and description to the cooking process. A true delight to share at home, at school, anywhere.

Illustrations copyright ©2015 Duncan Tonatiuh, used with permission of the publisher, Groundwood Books. 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.

©2016 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books