Poetry Friday, Connecting Poems, and YOU JUST WAIT

Happy Poetry Friday!  
I am hosting today, and I welcome you!

Soccer Stuff

Photo by Amy LV

from YOU JUST WAIT

and 

THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL

Both Books Created and Edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong

Students - Many of us have been new before: to a school, to a neighborhood or family or team or friend group.  And while being new is exciting, it can also be a little bit scary.  Today's poem is from a brand new book I'm celebrating for Poetry Friday today. The title of the book is YOU JUST WAIT, and it was created by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell.  I was honored that they chose this poem of mine (from THE POETRY ANTHOLOGY FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL) to be part of the story.

YOU JUST WAIT is different from most other books as it threads together poems by many poets to make one complete story. And interspersed between the poems are various writing exercises to try out yourself.

This is a neat idea, this taking poems by many people, writing some new ones, and stitching them together to make a new and complete whole.  Poems that never knew each other before are now woven together into a book, telling a story.  You could try this too - tie connections between others' poems that have never been connected before, and write some of your own new poems to fill in between the cracks.  It's like a verse novel marrying an anthology marrying a book of writing ideas!

Many of you may know about the Poetry Friday Anthology Series, published by Pomelo Books, and today I am happy to welcome creators and editors Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell to The Poem Farm.

Sylvia and Janet Hugging some Poetry Friday Anthologies

Photo by Emily Vardell

While YOU JUST WAIT - Pomelo's latest book - is for reading...it is also for writing.  Janet joins us today to share thoughts about this newest book.  And she is also offering five copies to one winner who comments on today's post. Welcome, Janet...take it away!

Find More Information at Pomelo Books

Available through Amazon

We wanted to try something really different with YOU JUST WAIT: A POETRY FRIDAY POWER BOOK. Last spring I revisited a great post on Lee Bennett Hopkins by Renée M. LaTulippe at her No Water River blog and was reminded by how Lee has always pushed for something new and original with each book. 

For instance, his HarperCollins I Can Read Books were groundbreaking in the way they used quality literature as instructional text. Lee was also one of the first to combine nonfiction informational text with poetry—now a standard element in poetry books with a social studies or science connection. 

With YOU JUST WAIT and hopefully with forthcoming books in a Poetry Friday Power Book series, we’re also happy to defy categorization. YOU JUST WAIT is a verse novel made for tweens and teens, yes. But it is also a journal for young writers. And a creativity book that encourages kids to doodle and explore their thoughts on life. And a book on poetry instruction, with mentor texts for teachers. All that, rolled into one.

(from page 7 of YOU JUST WAIT):  This book offers you several choices for reading, thinking, writing, and responding. Overall, it’s a story in poems, but all of this is also organized in PowerPack groups that help you get a “behind the scenes” look at how poems work and how poets write and think. In each of these PowerPack groups, you’ll find five things:
• PowerPlay activity
• Outside poem (from another poetry book)
• Response poem 
• Mentor text 
• Power2You poem writing prompt


Below, you can take a look at Powerpack10 from the book.  Each Powerpack is organized in the same way, with these same five sections.

(Please click to enlarge any images that are too small for you to read.)

From YOU JUST WAIT

Created and Edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

From YOU JUST WAIT

Created and Edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

From YOU JUST WAIT

Created and Edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

From YOU JUST WAIT

Created and Edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

From YOU JUST WAIT

Created and Edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

From YOU JUST WAIT

Created and Edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

What do I want kids to do with the book? I say: “You can write in your book, draw in it, follow the writing prompts to write poems, whatever you want. The book is YOURS.  My hope is that kids will really enjoy taking ownership of their books. I want the books to look ragged and well-worn 12 weeks after students receive them. (There are 12 PowerPacks in the book.) 

It is a treat to offer not one or two or three or four, but five copies of YOU JUST WAIT to one commenter on this post, enough for a little group to have a lot of fun with this latest addition to the Poetry Friday Anthology Series.  Please simply leave a comment on this post by next Thursday, September 15, to be entered into the drawing.  I will announce the winner next Poetry Friday, September 16.  Thank you to Janet and Sylvia for such generosity.  If you win, you'll have five of the first copies...hot off the press.

If you would like to read more about YOU JUST WAIT, Sylvia Vardell is celebrating this book birthday over at Poetry for Children!

If you have a link you'd like to share for this week's Poetry Friday roundup, please do so below!  I will be out and about commenting through the early part of next week as I'm off on a road trip to Vermont.  It's my sweet nephew Luke's first birthday!  xo

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

I Am the New Kid - and a New Book Too!

New Kid

by Amy LV

Students - I have been the new kid, each of our children has been the new kid, my friend Rosie is the new kid this year, and well...here at the start of school, I am just thinking about that feeling of being new.

When I was the new kid (a few times as I went to three elementary schools and then studied as an exchange student after high school), I especially remember not knowing where to look.  Other people were laughing and talking, but not me.  Where should I look?  Each time, that new-kid-feeling went away in time, but during that new-kid-time, I was uncomfortable.

This poem is to honor all of the new kids in new classrooms this year.  And it is also to remind all of us not-new-kids to reach out, say hello, be a welcoming force in this world.

When you sit down to write today, you might try to remember a feeling you once had.  It may be a feeling you have not had in a while, but you remember it clearly.  You might even think of someone you know who has been having a big feeling lately, try to imagine how that person feels.  Close your eyes and feel a feeling.  Then, maybe, try writing in that feeling-voice.  See if you can call it back with your words.

Did you notice how I repeated the line:

Will someone say hi?

at the beginning and the ending of the poem.  Sometimes using such a circular structure, or ending where you began, can be a great way to help a poem hold together.

And now...a new book on the scene!

  Available through

your Independent Bookseller

or through Amazon

I am so happy to announce a book birthday, this September 1, of MANGER, the latest stunner of a poetry anthology by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Helen Cann and starred by Kirkus.  The poems in the book are described as follows:

There is a legend that describes how, at midnight on Christmas Eve, all creatures are granted the power of speech for one hour. In this rich collection, Lee Bennett Hopkins and a dozen other poets imagine what responses they might offer. The poems represent a diverse group of animals, but all come together with one singular purpose: celebrating the joy of the miraculous event.

This collection of graceful poems provides readers with a Nativity story unlike any other -- at times gently humorous, at times profound, but always inviting readers to appreciate the wonder of Christmas. This book is a perfect gift for the holiday season.

I am honored to have written the sheep poem for this book.  When Lee asked me to do so, it felt completely right as we then had a flock of sheep living in our yard.  Here is the poem I wrote from a sheep's point of view.

from MANGER by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Art by Helen Cann, Sheep Poem by Amy LV

Image from Helen Cann's Website - Click to Enlarge

Much later, when Lee shared the gorgeous and tender illustrations by Helen Cann, I was astounded by how the sheep Helen imagined for Lee's book looked exactly like our oldest and most loving ram, ReRa, the first ram of our flock, now gone after a long life.  Of course Helen and I never communicated about this sheep, yet perhaps - magically - we did.

Mark Trims ReRa's Hooves, 2011

Photo by Amy LV

from January 18, 2011 Post

MANGER is on my Christmas list as a book to give this year, and I highly recommend it for all who love books about Christmas, animals, poetry, and love.

Laura Shovan is hosting this week's Poetry Friday party over at Author Amok.  There you will find a delicious buffet of blogs to visit...all celebrating poetry!

Please share a comment below if you wish.