Flying Happily Here and There

Dear Friends,

Today I do not have one of my own poems to share, but instead, I would like to invite you to visit the book release party I just held for for EVERY DAY BIRDS.  

The birthday for this, my second book, was on Tuesday evening, February 23, and here is you can see some pictures from the event.  I wish that you could all have been there, but here's a window into our little celebration here in East Aurora, New York.   

If you would like to see more about the book, you can do so at my website or on Tuesday's Poem Farm post where I am also giving away three copies of the book to commenters.  Simply leave a comment (on that post, not this one) by tonight (Friday, February 26), and I will announce the three winners on Saturday.

Now, the best way to celebrate is to invite guests, right?

Well...

I am so pleased to welcome second grade teacher Juliette Awua-Kyeremanten and her students from Lincoln Community School in Accra, Ghana - West Africa. 

My new friends had sent me some of their Valentine's poems earlier this month, and last week, I asked them about the birds they see outside their windows in Accra, the capital city of Ghana.

Click to Enlarge & Find Accra, Ghana on this Map

Google Maps

To my happy surprise, this class generously responded with a congratulations note about EVERY DAY BIRDS, two photos of pigeons on wires that Ms. Awua-Kyeremanten had taken for her own writing inspiration, and a group poem about birds that live so very far away from where I live.  Some are the same, but some are quite different.

I am now thinking about what fun it would be to connect this class of young writers with another class of young writers - perhaps on a joint bird research project? Hmmm....I am getting some ideas.

Pigeons Together in Accra, Ghana

Photo by Juliette Awua-Kyeremanten

Pigeons Resting on Wires in Accra, Ghana

Photo by Juliette Awua-Kyeremanten

Thank you very much to these students and their teacher for sharing their daily birds with us! 

What birds do you see outside your window?

Today I am tickled to visit my dear friend Irene's blog for her birthday!  Visit Live Your Poem to have a piece of cheesecake with Irene, to hear a little bit more about EVERY DAY BIRDS, and to read a beautiful poem by the birthday girl.

This month I am grateful to host Jenna Kersten over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks.  If you have not done so, don't miss reading about how Jenna keeps her notebooks.  And there's a giveaway over there too, for a great book about writing.

Liz is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Elizabeth Steinglass.  All are welcome to come on by to check out this week's poetry offerings.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

EVERY DAY BIRDS Takes Flight!

Today is the book birthday of my second book, EVERY DAY BIRDS, illustrated by Dylan Metrano and published by Orchard/Scholastic.  The text of this book is one poem that teaches facts about twenty common North American Birds, and it sounds like this, all the way through...

Chickadee wears a wee black cap.

Jay is loud and bold.

Nuthatch perches upside down.

Finch is clothed in gold.

So far, folks have been generous to EVERY DAY BIRDS.  The book is a Junior Library Guild selection, and reviews have said the following:

"Beginning birding at its best..." 

- Kirkus

"A great way to expose children to the wonders of nature, many of which are in their own backyards."

- School Library Journal

"[A] striking tribute to avian diversity..."

- Publishers Weekly

You can find out more information about the book HERE at my website.  And here are three short movies that give a peek into the book's pages.

Scholastic's Official Book Trailer:

Book Movie Made by Sawyer Oubre:

Illustrator Dylan Metrano's Papercutting Process (Time Lapse):

You can read about Dylan's process HERE.

I am very grateful to many people for all they did to make this book so beautiful, and it is a thrill to see it out in the world.  Much gratitude to Editor Ken Geist, Editor Michael Croland, Illustrator Dylan Metrano, Book Designer Marijka Kostiw, Publicity Coordinator Brooke Shearhouse, Events Consultant Michael Strouse, and every single person who worked on this book.  I am very thankful to my agent, Elizabeth Harding at Curtis Brown Ltd., and I am lucky to have learned so much about birds from my husband Mark.  Now I hope to pass a bit of this good fortune on to little ones who love birds...

If you are interested in the family tree for this book, you can learn about this at Kirby Larson's blog HERE.

If you would like to order a signed copy of EVERY DAY BIRDS, please send an e-mail to Jen Reisdorf, Manager of The Bookworm in East Aurora, NY.  For a small shipping charge, she will ship your copy of EVERY DAY BIRDS (or FOREST HAS A SONG) after I come in and sign it to whomever you wish.  You can reach Jen at jen at eabookworm dot com.

In celebration of today's launch, I would like to give away three copies of EVERY DAY BIRDS to commenters on this post.  Please just comment with the name of one of your favorite birds (and why it's your favorite) to be entered into this drawing...winners will be selected this Friday!  Too, please indicate a way to contact you should you win for if I cannot find winners easily, I will draw new names.

Tonight we have a book party with live educational ambassador birds from Messinger Woods Wildlife Care and Education Center.  I can't wait to see them!

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Humble is Beautiful - Looking Closely to Write

Georgia and Chickadee

Photo by Amy LV

Chickadee Close Up

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Yesterday the chickadee that you see above flew into our window. Georgia heard the window-hit and ran outside to find the bird stunned in a snow pile.  Learning that could not survive the cold stunned for long, she brought it inside and kept it warm in a box until it regained strength.  When Georgia opened the box, little chickadee flew around my study for a moment!  She and Mark caught and sent it back to the wild.

Georgia volunteers at Messinger Wildlife Care and Education Center, a special place here in Holland, NY.  She knows a lot about birds, and she was ready to bring this chickadee to a rehabilitator if it did not fly away within a couple of hours. I am very grateful to Messinger Woods for their work.  And too, they will be bringing a few educational ambassador birds, birds who cannot live in the wild, to my book release party for EVERY DAY BIRDS next Tuesday.  Take a peek at this video about Jimini Crowket. He will be with us for the book party, and I look forward to meeting him.

Sometimes things happen in your daily life, and you just KNOW, "This is a poem idea."  So it was with this little one.  I am so glad wee chickadee is well again, and grateful to have seen its beautiful feathers up close.  This poem pretty much wrote itself as I remembered just looking and looking at these humble and perfect colors on this humble and perfect bird. 

I believe that the small, humble objects and encounters we live each day hold great meaning, if only we look.  So look.  Put down a game or a phone or even a book sometimes...and just look.

When you look at today's poem in terms of writing, you'll notice that it does not have a regular meter at all.  And I planned to write it completely without rhyme.  But can you tell where the rhyme crept in on its own?

Last summer I also wrote a poem about (to) a bird who had flown into one of our windows.  You can read it HERE.  It is a poem of address, written right to the thrush.

Today you can find me visiting Kirby Larson's blog with a post about the family tree for EVERY DAY BIRDS.  Since the book flies into the world on Tuesday, I am very excited to begin sharing its stories.  Thank you, Kirby!

It is a privilege to host writer and nursing student Jenna Kersten over at Sharing Our Notebooks this month.  Please check out her post and comment to be entered to win a copy of Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD.  I am still looking for a few missing winners from earlier drawings, so please check HERE to see if you have won a book

Donna is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Mainely Write...enjoy every last morsel.

This weekend, our daughter Hope and I will be at The Dublin Literacy Conference in Dublin, Ohio with many Poetry Friday friends.  I can't wait.  Happy Poetry Friday to one and all!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

New Teacher New Year - A First Day of School Poem

Oak Leaves and Watercolors

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I have been very lucky to meet many many teachers this summer.  My work takes me to different places where I have the good fortune to learn about different people and different classrooms and different ideas from teachers of all different grades.  Lots of times, I find myself wishing that I could be in school again, to have the chance to have this teacher or that one.  And one of the things that always strikes me the most is how a teacher can make a student feel, and how these feelings help or hurt our learning.  

This poem dedicated to teachers, teachers who are all also beginning or almost-beginning school, just like you.  Teachers who stay in our hearts, teachers who whisper in our ears even when we are all grown up.

And this poem is also dedicated to you, to students.  May your first day of school - and the days that follow - fill your minds and hearts and souls with goodness.

Like you, I have had many teachers in my life, and each one has made me a little bit of who I am.  This summer, one of my teachers (one I have never met) is award-winning author and our Children's Poet Laureate Jacqueline Woodson.  I am reading every single one of her books to help me learn both about life and about writing.  And what a teacher she is!  Two of her books that I am thinking about today, LOCOMOTION and PEACE, LOCOMOTION exquisitely explore, among other things, the power of teachers.

I cannot recommend highly enough all Jacqueline Woodson's books.  They are making me a better person, and I hope, a better writer too.

Available at Your Local Bookshop

Available through Your Local Bookshop

I am happy to share that my forthcoming EVERY DAY BIRDS, with beautiful cut paper illustrations by Dylan Metrano and published by Scholastic in both English and bilingual editions, is available (English only) for pre-order on Amazon.  The publication date is February 23, 2016.  

Available for Pre-Order through Amazon

Tabatha is hosting today's grand Poetry Friday roundup over at The Opposite of Indifference.  Visit her place to check out the poetry happenings all around the Kidlitosphere this week.  We're a warm and welcoming community, and everyone is invited!

Please share a comment below if you wish.