Books for Poetry Month

April is Poetry Month! You might be surprised at how great some of the poetry books published in the last few years are. Some people think of poetry as being old, but fresh poetry is being written every day!

 

Marilyn Singer / J 811.54 SINGER

Follow follow : a book of reverso poems

 

Lisa Wheeler / J 811.54 WHEELER

The pet project : cute and cuddly vicious verses

 

Dallas Clayton / J 811.6 CLAYTON

Make Magic! Do Good!

 

Hope Vestergaard / J 811.6 VESTERGA

Digger, Dozer, Dumper

Poems in Reverse

It's not every day that we can say we were around when a new form of poetry was invented! Author Marilyn Singer has done just that in her two poetry collections Mirror Mirror (2010) and Follow Follow (2013).

Singer calls her new poetry style the reverso. Read the poem one way, and you get one story. Read the poem backwards, changing only the punctuation, and you get another view entirely! For example:

Isn't	A fairy tale
this	this
a fairy tale?	isn't …

It's fascinating how the paired poems can convey two entirely different perspectives, sometimes from the same narrator, other times from a different narrator. Both Mirror Mirror and Follow Follow rely on fairy tales and folk tales such as The Emperor's Clothes and The Ugly Duckling as their starting point. From there, Singer weaves her free-verse magic, spinning personality, emotion and wit into their fabric.

Although poetry is a writing form that often produces a sense of dread in adults, children are naturally drawn to their rhythm and rhyme. Singer fills these poems with a rollicking energy. Josée Masse's clever, colorful illustrations only add to the fun.

These two books make for wonderful additions to the canon of children's poetry and that of poetry in general. Read them aloud for the best effect; each poem has a distinctive voice. They are short and easily understood while still packing a punch due to Singer's brilliant, carefully calibrated use of language. Kids will already know the stories; these poems will make them see those stories in a new light.

New book: I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail

A new book that caught our eye is I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail (J 821.92 URVETI). It is a wonderfully illustrated book with just one poem, "I Saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail," within it. The poem has been around since the 17th century and no one knows who the author was, adding to its mystery. The poem itself is a form of "trick verse," which means that depending on how each line of the poem is read, it can have very different meanings!  Beyond the imaginative poem's words, the book itself is illustrated in a very interesting way that complements the poem very well.  The video below, made by the book's publisher Tara Books, explains how the poem and illustrations work together to make such an unusual and awesome reading experience:

Have You Heard About Book Spine Poetry?

So, what is book spine poetry? It's a poem that is made by stacking a few or more books together and reading the titles from top to bottom. All the examples we've come across are excellent and so fun! A lot of them tend to be funny, but they can also be more serious in tone. Who says you need a pencil and blank paper to create a poem? The book spine poetry images below were all done by Candlewick Press and you can view them all and more at their Book Spine Poem Galley. The 100 Scope Notes blog also has other fabulous examples.

There are no cats in this book/Just ducks!/Quack!

Hooray for Fish!/Bluefish/33 snowfish/What do fish have to do with anything?

Here's a little poem/Lala salama/Tweedle dee dee/Caterpillar caterpillar/Dance with me

New Book: "Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It!"

There's a new and fabulous book in the Children’s Department: Forgive Me, I Meant To Do It: False Apology Poems by: Gail Carson Levine (J 811.54 LEVINE). The title sums it up well: it’s a collection of (made-up) hilarious and smart “apology” poems written by people, animals, and other characters that aren’t so sorry!  If you read this with your child, it’s a great opportunity to laugh and, on a serious note, to discuss why it’s important be sincere when you say sorry. As always with new books, if it is not checked out, it will either be on the shelf (J 811.54 LEVINE) or on the new books display.

How do you like your green eggs and ham?

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss! The beloved author and illustrator, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Mass. He gave us the Cat in the Hat, Horton the elephant, the Christmas-averse Grinch, the determined Sam-I-Am, with his green eggs and ham, and many more unforgettable characters.

According to his biography, available through the library's Gale Biography in Context database, his books have been translated into nearly every language in the world, with more than 100 million copies sold. Animated TV specials of his stories have won Emmys and Peabody awards.

In 1984, Geisel earned a Special Award and Citation from the Pulitzer Prize committee recognizing his contributions to children's literature. Until Geisel, books for children beginning to read had been dull affairs. The Cat in the Hat, with its humor, imagination and wordplay— changed all that.

Later, Geisel would talk about the process:

"Writing children's books is hard work, a lot harder than most people realize, and that includes most writers of children's books. And it never gets any easier. I remember thinking that I might be able to dash off The Cat in the Hat in two or three weeks. Actually, it took over a year. You try telling a pretty complicated story using less than two hundred and fifty words! No, don't, not unless you're willing to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite."

Geisel passed away at the age of 87 in 1991.

In honor of Dr. Seuss' achievements, the National Educational Association celebrates his birthday each year as Read Across America Day. Edcators, families, city officials and celebrities come together to read his works aloud to children to encourage literacy. The Houston Chronicle has posted a video of several local celebs — including former first lady Barbara Bush, Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, activist and minister Quanell X, Mayor Annise Parker and Lakewood Church's Victoria Osteen — reading Green Eggs and Ham:

Feel like picking up some Seuss yourself? You'll find many of them in our children's department under E SEUSS (children's picture books)and ER SEUSS (children's beginning readers). Please check with a librarian if you have any questions. Happy reading!