hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Marilyn Singer

April 19, 2016September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 6 Comments

Marilyn Singer is the author of more than 100 books in many genres, but poetry is her favorite thing to write. Winner of the 2015 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry, she co-hosts the ALA Poetry Blast at the annual conference. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY and Washington, CT with her husband and pets. (Photo by Steve Aronson)

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: Tea, tea, tea, especially Yunnan and various oolongs. I love the fact that I can take my time and drink a cup slowly, while chatting, watching TV, reading, writing, or just ruminating.

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: My most recent book is Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths (Dial, 2016), illustrated by Josee Masse. Coming this fall are several books that mention or deal with food: Miss Muffet, Or What Came After (Clarion, September 2016), illustrated by David Litchfield; and What’s an Apple? and What’s a Banana? (Abrams, August 2016), illustrated by Greg Pizzoli.

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: I adored Sydney Taylor’s All-of-A-Kind Family books, in part because of the yummy descriptions of Jewish food in them: pickles, sweet potatoes, hot chick peas, chicken soup, rye bread, etc. Here’s a blog that delves into the food in the series: http://www.suannelaqueur.com/great-food-great-books-all-kind-family/

☕ Visit Marilyn Singer’s Official Website.

☕☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: A poem from The Superheroes Employment Agency (Clarion, 2012), illustrated by Noah Z. Jones!

WEATHERGIRL (AKA CYCLONE)

From up in space to down in Hades,

there are villains who are ladies.

They wear white gloves and fancy hats.

They like to knit. They’re fond of cats.

They’re always planning something sinister

against a monarch or prime minister

over cake and cups of tea.

But then they have to deal with me,

a welcome guest, one of their ilk,

spooning sugar, pouring milk,

until my powers spoil their plot.

I raise a storm in their teapot.

Before they even utter, “Darn,”

I wrap them tightly in their yarn.

Then, whoosh, I blow each one away,

still sopping wet from their Earl Grey.

☕☕☕ CAN’T GET ENOUGH: Marilyn is the April Spotlight Author at Today’s Little Ditty. Read her wonderful interview with Michelle Barnes and then take this month’s challenge by writing your own poem(s).

☕☕☕☕ STILL THIRSTY: Marilyn is also Chicago Public Library’s Author of the Month. Enjoy this short video where she explains what a reverso is and reads a poem from Echo Echo. There’s also a written interview at the CPL site.

☕☕☕☕☕ JUST ONE LAST SIP FOR THE ROAD: Check out Marilyn’s post about writing reverso poetry at Brightly!

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hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Margarita Engle

April 14, 2016September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 15 Comments

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of the Newbery Honor verse novel, The Surrender Tree, Pura Belpré Award-winning verse memoir, Enchanted Air, and Charlotte Zolotow Award winning picture book, Drum Dream Girl. Other honors include multiple Pura Belpré Medals, Américas Awards, PEN USA Award, Jane Addams Award, Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor, and International Reading Association Award.

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: Café con leche (coffee with milk), made with a mixture of Cuban espresso (Café La Llave brand) and Italian roast (Starbucks brand). I love REALLY strong coffee, but I only drink it in the morning, so it doesn’t keep me awake at night. Maybe that’s why I do most of my writing early, before my brain runs out of caffeine.

* Cultural Note: many Latino children are introduced to café con leche at the age of two, so why aren’t there any children’s books about coffee? If I thought I could get it published, I would write one! My Abuelita (grandma) used to scold me for not serving my son coffee when he was little. She said, “¡Es un hombrecito, necesita su café!” (He’s a little man, he needs his coffee!)

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir (Atheneum, 2015); Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music, illustrated by Rafael Lopez (HMH, 2015); The Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes, Bird Artist, illustrated by Aliona Bereghici (Two Lions, 2015); Orangutanka: A Story in Poems, illustrated by Renee Kurilla (Henry Holt, 2015). Forthcoming: Lion Island: Cuba’s Warrior of Words (Atheneum, August 2016) — a verse novel about the nonviolent freedom struggle of indentured Chinese laborers; and Morning Star Horse/El Caballo Lucero (HBE Publishers, Autumn 2016) — a middle grade historical fantasy about Cuban children at San Diego’s Raja Yoga Academy.

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOKS: Three Golden Oranges by Alma Flor Ada, illustrated by Reg Cartwright (Atheneum, 2012); Apple Pie 4th of July by Janet Wong, illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine (Harcourt, 2012); Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Hayelin Choi (Readers to Eaters, 2014).

☕ Visit Margarita Engle’s Official Website

☕☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: Short poems related to the [above] photograph of myself drinking café con leche beside my father’s painting of my mother picking pomegranates. She was wearing sandals, but he left them out, and I have chosen to speculate about the reason.

Coffee Tanka

each hot sip
of café con leche
carries me
traveling back to childhood
watching as grownups savor time

Pomegranate Tanka

my father
paints her harvesting pomegranates—
barefoot
the reality of shoes
too modern for this lush garden

☕☕☕ CAN’T GET ENOUGH: Enjoy this book trailer for The Sky Painter!

☕☕☕☕ STILL THIRSTY: Speaking of Margarita’s parents, she explains the romantic story of how they met in the first of this series of videos:

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hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Kenn Nesbitt

April 11, 2016September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 10 Comments

Former Children’s Poet Laureate (2013-15) Kenn Nesbitt is the author of many books for kids, including “Kiss, Kiss Good Night,” “My Hippo Has the Hiccups,” “Revenge of the Lunch Ladies,” and many others. Kenn travels the country, visiting more than 60 schools each year, sharing his wacky brand of poetry with kids nationwide, and helping to create a new generation of poetry lovers. His website, poetry4kids.com, is the most visited children’s poetry website on the Internet. (pictured here with his favorite mug, given to him by the Guam Chapter of the International Reading Association)

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: I am a huge coffee fan. I love the taste of a nice dark roast, and I appreciate all of the good news lately about the health benefits of coffee. My go-to coffee is San Francisco Bay Organic Rainforest Blend. My wife and I make a pot of it every morning, and I like it with a couple of tablespoons of heavy whipping cream.

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: My most recent book is Believe it or Not, My Brother Has a Monster, illustrated by David Slonim, published by Scholastic in 2015. My next book is an anthology of over 140 poems entitled One Minute Till Bedtime, with brand new poems from more than 130 children’s poets from around the world. It will be published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in November 2016.

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: Easily my favorite food-related children’s book is William Cole’s hilarious anthology, Poem Stew. It’s a collection of humorous poems about food that is now, sadly, out of print, though used copies are easy to find online.

☕ Find Kenn Nesbitt online at Poetry4kids.com, on Twitter: @poetry4kids, and at his FB Page.

☕☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: Enjoy one of Ken’s poems!

Our Teacher’s Not a Zombie

Our teacher’s not a zombie.
He’s not the living dead,
although he’s looking ragged
and his eyes are rather red.

He shuffles to the classroom.
He slowly drags his feet.
He shambles to the whiteboard
looking broken-down and beat.

We listen to his plaintive moans.
We see the way he strains.
We hear him mumble mournfully
about the students’ brains.

But we know not to worry.
We never get upset.
He’s always like this when he
hasn’t had his coffee yet.

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hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Alan Katz

April 7, 2016September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 6 Comments

Alan Katz is the author of more than 35 books for kids, including nine Silly Dilly Songbooks (Take Me Out of the Bathtub), poetry collections (OOPS!), picture books, and more. He is also a six-time Emmy nominee (and loser) for his work on various animated series and The Rosie O’Donnell Show.

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: My favorite hot beverage is coffee (regular or decaf, no real preference) with milk (1%, 2%, whole, whatever). No sweetener! And…fun fact…I have never, never, truly never had a cup of tea. Simply can’t stand the smell! Really. Really, really.

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Day the Mustache Took Over, illustrated by Kris Easler (Bloomsbury, 2015) — My first middle grade book, all about the exploits of my real-life twins Nathan and David! Forthcoming: The Day the Mustache Came Back (Bloomsbury, July 2016), and That Stinks!: A Punny Show-and-Tell, illustrated by Stephen Gilpin (Simon & Schuster, July 2016).

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: Future Chefs: Recipes by Tomorrow’s Chefs Across the Nation and the World by Ramin Ganeshram (Rodale, 2014).

☕ Visit Alan Katz’s Official Website

☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: A funny poem by Alan 😀

CH-CH-CH-CHECK, PLEASE

I only eat foods that begin with “c-h”

Like chicken and churros and chili.

If you’re cooking dinner and there’s no “c-h”

then trying to feed me is silly.

Today I had chocolate and churros and chips,

chimichangas and chow mein and cheese.

Tonight, chunky chowder is the only choice–

(Mom is out of “c-h” recipes).

She ordered a cookbook,

that’s coming tomorrow;

Mom promised great foods she’ll be makin’

It will be a menu of new “c-h” treats–

Like chmeatloaf! Chomelets! Chbacon!

(From Poems I Wrote When No One Was Looking, S&S 2011)

☕☕ CAN’T GET ENOUGH:

☕☕☕ WHEN YOU’RE HOT, YOU’RE HOT!

☕☕☕☕ CAN’T STOP NOW! ONE LAST (I HOPE!) CUP OF SERIOUS SILLINESS: Alan recites a couple of silly dilly poems for KidLit TV:

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hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Joyce Sidman

April 5, 2016September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 12 Comments

Joyce Sidman, winner of a Newbery Honor and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Children’s Poetry, lives in Minnesota, where she greets the changing seasons every day with her irrepressible dog Watson. She loves poetry, chocolate, and using her macro lens to capture tiny moments of beauty. (Pictured here with her favorite thistle mug from Crail, Scotland)

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: I start out the day with a mug of organic fermented Pu-erh tea, which makes me feel like Popeye drinking his spinach: strong and healthy! Then I switch to my husband’s delicious coffee, which he makes before he leaves the house. It keeps me alert through my writing session.

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESS: My most recent book is Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold, illustrated by Rick Allen (HMH, 2014). Forthcoming: Before Morning, illustrated by Beth Krommes (HMH, October 2016).

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: My favorite food related book is Jam: A True Story, by Margaret Mahy. I discovered it when my kids were small, and still love it. Very funny. It’s about canning!

☕ Visit Joyce Sidman’s Official Website.

☕☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: Check out this marvelous interview by Mackin Educational Resources. Joyce talks about her books and shares some of her beautiful nature photography.

☕☕☕ CAN’T GET ENOUGH: Enjoy this video of Joyce reading “The Ants,” which is from her book Ubiquitous.

☕☕☕☕ STILL THIRSTY: You must watch this excellent video, “Winter Bees: Beyond the Book,” in which Joyce, illustrator Rick Allen, and editor Ann Rider discuss the process behind the creation of this beautiful multiple award-winning picture book. Love the winter walk with Joyce’s dog Watson, watching Joyce create a winter poem with a group of children, and seeing how Rick makes his wood engravings (masterful work!). And there’s cookies and cocoa. . . :).

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