Bravo! Poetry Friday Roundup

Welcome to this week's Poetry Friday roundup!

Quick intro: My name is Katie, and I am a language arts and social studies teacher in Wisconsin. I teach seventh grade language arts and previous taught both third and fourth grades. I have been holding weekly Poetry Friday time with my students for several years now, and it is one of my favorite things about teaching.

Bravo!

Today I wanted to share about this fabulous new book of poetry: Bravo! Poems about Amazing Hispanics (2017) by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Rafael López. Each biographical poem gives insights into the life, desires, and dreams of a different person, paired with a full-page illustration. The backmatter includes a list of "more and more amazing Latinos" as well as short biographical sketches about the individuals featured. [You can hear a podcast about the book here, All the Wonders. Thanks Laura for the heads up!]

There are so many things to love about this book! To begin, it's a great way to introduce readers to a wide variety of Hispanic people, including both well-known and lesser-known names from the past 300 years. The poems themselves are powerful and insightful, as you would expect from Margarita Engle. Finally, this would be an excellent mentor text for having students research and write their own biographical (or autobiographical) poems.

Final Stanza from "The Magic of Words" about Cuban poet José Martí

I say that each day is a poem.
Some hours are green and peaceful.
Others are red, like festivals or storms.
I love teaching children how to tell
their own stories.

---

Please leave your link and a description in the comments, and I will continue to update the post throughout the day. (If you have any trouble, drop me a line at katie at thelogonauts.com.) I look forward to reading all your amazing poems and posts; happy Poetry Friday!

Poetry Friday Roundup

Original Poems

Laura Purdie Salas shares a new/old poem, How to Make a Dog Live Forever, in honor of her beagle, Jack.

Linda Mitchell shares an original poem about mid-summer stress, along with some new picture books in her TBR stack.

Linda at Teacher Dance shares an original poem (and photographs) inspired by the end of her summer beach vacation with family.

Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge shares an original poem inspired by the life of a dear friend, and she issues an invitation to all to use poetry as a way to soothe overwhelming emotions.

Author Kathryn Apel shares an original sollage and a collection of amazing family photographs. Great fodder for more poems!

Sharing, Reviewing, and Otherwise Celebrating Poems

Jan at the Book Seed Studio is hosting a Q&A with author / illustrator Lisa Desimini about her newest book, The Fleatastics. You can also win a copy (giveaway ends Mon. July 24th).

Linda Mitchell highlights an upcoming book by Pakistani-American poem Adeeba Shahid Talukder along with a link to one of her poems.

Laura Shovan shares about a new book, Into the Deep, Deep Brave, by three-year old poet Arthur. Laura's post also provides some background about Arthur's hyperlexia and the story behind his book's creation.

Brenda shares an original poem by Tabatha Yeatts that she received as part of the summer postcard swap. Part Narnia, part politics, pure pleasure.

Out of Wonder #PoetryFriday

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets (2017) by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, and Marjory Wentworth and illustrated by Ekua Holmes. (An advanced review copy of the book was provided by Candlewick. All thoughts are my own.)

I am SO excited to add this incredible new poetry book to my classroom library! The day it arrived I incorporated into my Poetry Friday lesson for that day. (We were just finishing reading House on Mango Street, so I shared "The Poet Inside Me: celebrating Sandra Cisneros.")

 

The book is organized into three sections: Got Style, which includes poems written in the style of a famous poet; In Your Shoes, which includes poems celebrating the lives of famous poets; and Thank You, which includes poems dedicated to the works and impacts of famous poets. (This is the section with the Sandra Cisneros poem.)

There is an amazing diversity of poets and poetry included too, from contemporary poets like Naomi Shihab Nye and Nikki Giovanni to older and even ancient poets like Robert Frost, Basho, and Rumi. These poems would make wonderful mentor texts to inspire your own (or your students' poetry) after an author study of a particular poet or poetry style. The three sections also give you three different options for response: stylistically, biographically, or thankfully.

This is an amazing resource that should be in every school and public library!

Irene Latham has the rest of the Poetry Friday roundup at Live Your Poem.

Poetry Friday: six words

Thank you for all the amazing posts and comments last week! I am still making my way through all of them, and you can expect belated comments soon. Exciting news - as a result of last week's post and review of Here We Go: a poetry Friday power book, I've been given the opportunity to giveaway five copies of the book! Please enter the drawing at the bottom of the post for your chance to win.

Six Word Stories

My students are in the middle of a unit on family history and our connections to immigration and immigration stories. We are exploring many different genres of researching and reporting on our findings and our thoughts, and, of course, poetry is one of those outlets.

Last week, I showed my students the promo (below) for the current Six Word Stories contest, Fresh Off the Boat: Stories of Immigration, Identity, and Coming to America. [We did not enter the contest, but if you are interested, it runs through this Monday. Details here.] We had done some work with six word memoirs a few months ago (kids created "meme" style images with text overlays). What I love about six word stories is that the tiny size makes them seem approachable, while the necessary economy of words really forces you to "think like a poet."

We created a shared Padlet for kids to write and share their six word memoirs. (Nothing motivates most middle schoolers faster than the chance to share and show off in front of others.) Kids had the option to put their name to their comments or to post anonymously.

One of my favorite things about this exercise was how much excitement and inspiration they got from each other! Once a few students started posted deeply personal posts, others immediately followed suit.

Check out this week's Poetry Friday linkup at Check It Out!

Happy Poetry Friday! Do you have a six-word family story? Consider sharing it in the comments below!

Poetry Friday Roundup: Here We Go

Welcome to this week's Poetry Friday roundup!

Quick introduction: My name is Katie, and I am a language arts and social studies teacher in Wisconsin. I am in my first year of teaching middle school after eight years in third and fourth grades. I have been holding weekly Poetry Friday time with my students for several years now, and it is one of my favorite things about teaching.

Poetry Friday: Here We Go

Here We Go: a Poetry Friday Power Book (2017) by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. 

I was beyond thrilled to receive a copy of Here We Go from a giveway on Irene Latham's blog as part of Multicultural Children's Book Day last month.

I love this new addition to the "Poetry Friday" family! I have used weekly "Poetry Friday" celebrations in my classroom for years, and my own thoughts on The Power of Poetry Friday can be found here. I own and have used both the original Poetry Friday Anthology and the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School. Unlike the anthologies, however, which are geared towards teachers, Here We Go has both kids and adults in mind.

The book is organized into 12 power packs, each of which includes a poetry mini lesson, an anchor poem, a response poem, and a mentor poem with a prompt. As a bonus, the response and mentor poems work together to tell the story of 4 friends who use their poetic inspiration to make a real difference.

Part story, part workbook, ALL poetry, this is a great resource for the young poet (or teacher or parent of young poets). Plus I love the focus on activism and making a difference in your local community.

(This book also dovetails well with my current blog series about teaching students about issues of diversity and inclusion: Teaching Family History and Immigration or Talking to Elementary Students about Stereotypes. You can find the rest of my Poetry Friday posts here.)

* This just in! Pomelo Books has kindly offered me the chance to giveaway FIVE copies of Here We Go.

Poetry Friday Linkup

Please check back during the day for more poetry goodness - or get started now by jumping into the links and comments! (Never participated in a linkup before? Please click here for a more detailed step-by-step.) I look forward to getting around and reading all your amazing poems and contributions. (If you are having problems leaving a link in the linkup, please leave it in the comments, and I will be sure it gets added.)

Happy Poetry Friday!

An InLinkz Link-up

Poetry Friday: Guidelines

This has been another tough week for teachers (and humanity in general). Coincidentally, it also happened to be the week when I launched a new unit of study into family history and immigration with my seventh grade students. (Thankfully I had notified parents about this unit before winter break, as I wanted kids to take advantage of seeing grandparents and relatives over the vacation and perhaps talk to them about family history and genealogy.)

The kids are eager to talk about the current issues as well as to learn about their own families and personal histories connect with questions of immigration and citizenship. (We have a large population of second generation students at our school, so many have direct access to stories about the US immigration and citizenship process.) I hope to write up more about our project soon, but I did write a post about Teaching Family History and Immigration at the Elementary Level, based on my years teaching third grade.

Poetry will be an important component of our study, both as a means of learning and discussing and as a means of personal response and reaction. Our eighth grade teacher shared the poem "Guidelines" by Lisa Suhair Majaj from Geographies of Light with her students this week as a way for them to better understand and talk about some of the issues.

At the bottom of the post, you can listen to acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye read the entire poem, "Guidelines." (Clicking here takes you to the full text of the poem.)

Excerpt from "Guidelines" by Lisa Suhair Majaj

If they wave newspapers in your face and shout,
stay calm. Remember everything they never learned.
Offer to take them to the library.

If they ask you if you're white, say it depends.
Say no. Say maybe. If appropriate, inquire,
Have you always been white, or is it recent?

(Click here to read the entire poem or click beliw to hear the audio.)

I am hopeful that our research and discussion around the history of US immigration and immigration laws will help my students reach a better understanding of themselves as well as their personal connections to immigration. Realizing the ways that their own ancestors may have been viewed and discriminated against (especially for students who have never thought of themselves as anything other than "white"), should be a powerful way to build a little bit of empathy and understanding for those caught up in the current immigrant crises.

And I think we all could use a little more empathy in the world right now.

(For the curious, my post on Teaching Family History and Immigration at the Elementary Level also has links to several lists of amazing books to use when teaching about immigration and family history.)

Penny has the Poetry Friday roundup at her site: A Penny and Her Jots.

Naomi Shihab Nye reads "Guidelines." 

(Audio embedded from the Library of Congress collection: the Poetry of American Identity.)

Poetry Friday: One Last Word

One Last Word: wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance (2017) by Nikki Grimes.

One Last Word was my first 2017 read, and boy, does it set the bar high for the rest of the year! There are so many incredible things going on with this book.

1. The Original Poems - the book includes, as the book flap puts it, the "evocative verse of legendary writers from the era" of the Harlem Renaissance. Back matter includes brief biographies of each of the poets as well.

2. The New Poems - I had never heard of the "Golden Shovel" poetic form before, but it's a doozy. You take a line (or more) from a published poem and those individual words become the last word in each line of your own, original poem. It's a tantalizing jigsaw of a poetry form, and it's incredible the depths and innovations Nikki Grimes has created with it.

3. The Artwork - each set of historic poem and new "Golden Shovel" poem is accompanied by an illustration from different illustrators, the list of which reads like a Who's Who of diverse kidlit illustrators: Christopher Myers, Sean Qualls (a Logonauts featured illustrator), James E. Ransome, and more.

I got this book from the library on Wednesday, finished it cover-to-cover that night, and designed my next Poetry Friday lesson around it for my students the next day. (I plan to update this post later in the day with details about how it went over with my students ... stay tuned!)

One student poem (more to follow):

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wadsworth

I

Called, he wandered

Alone in the dripping rain, lonely

He ran away as

Quick as a bear, and a

Wisp gone away, a wisp of a cloud.

Visit Keri Recommends for more Poetry Friday posts or click the Poetry Friday tag for more of my poetry posts.

Poetry Friday: Freedom in Congo Square

Freedom in Congo Square (2016) by Carole Boston Weatherford and R. Gregory Christie.

I love picture books that are truly poems. Freedom in Congo Square tells a rhythmic interpretation of the weekly countdown to the one half-day of free time granted to slaves in New Orleans. Each day of the week is represented through the grind of the work and abuse heaped on different slaves in different situations. This acknowledgement of the tough conditions helps emphasize the importance of Congo Square and the relative "freedom" it represented, as slaves were allowed time to themselves to freely sing, dance, and host markets.

The book opens with a full-page spread setting the historical context, and it ends with a lengthy author's note about the history and the actual location of Congo Square (now a part of Louis Armstrong Park). This one is a favorite of our school librarian and may make it into the running for our school's Mock Caldecott conversation as well.

Visit Friendly Fairy Tales for more Poetry Friday posts or click the Poetry Friday tag for more of my poetry posts.

Poetry Friday: Peace

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

--Wendell Berry

On Wednesday, our eighth grade English teacher shared and discusses this poem with her students. As she put it, "We talked about the importance of finding concrete ways to combat the ideas and behaviors that do not reflect what is good and true and decent."

With my seventh graders, we read Nicola Davies's The Promise with a focus on how small actions of good can have a broad impact on others and the world around us.

Looking for a small way to make a difference? Consider joining the Diverse Children's Book community to share and celebrate diverse books in all forms. Click here for our current linkup. Spread the message of the important power of books and stories and poetry.

Visit Jama's Alphabet Soup for more Poetry Friday posts.

Poetry Friday: The Odes of Pablo Neruda

My seventh graders are studying the geography of Latin America in Social Studies, so I knew that I wanted to feature Latin American poets in our poetry unit. This past week I introduced them to the odes of Pablo Neruda, and they created some incredible Neruda-inspired odes of their own!

Books on Pablo Neruda

2011 was the year of Neruda, as both of these books were published that year. I shared the picture book aloud with my students, and we discussed Neruda's life and influences. I also shared part of the Author's Note from The Dreamer, as it goes into more detail about Neruda's political issues and exile.

Pablo Neruda: poet of the people (2011) by Monica Brown and illustrated by Julie Paschkis. This biography of Pablo Neruda provides a look at his life and how they influenced his poems. The amazing illustrations complement and extend the text, as they are also overflowing with English and Spanish words. This book is also available in Spanish.

2011: The Dreamer (2010) by Pam Muñoz Ryan and illustrated by Peter Sís [Pura Belpré Award winner]. This fictionalized biography of celebrated Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (née Neftalí Reyes) focuses mainly on his childhood, interweaving chapters in an intimate third-person voice with illustrated poetry in the style of Pablo Neruda. Excerpts from actual poems are provided at the end, following an Author's Note about her research and inspirations. It is an interesting and emotional story that also draws attention to the focus on ordinary workers and social justice that defined his writing career.

Books by Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda published several books of poetry. I shared several poems with my students from his Odes to Common Things, which is probably the best-known of his books. Other books include Odes to Opposites and Twenty Love Songs and a Song of Despair. More recently, selected translations of his poems have appeared, including The Essential Neruda and All the Odes.

Ode to French Fries

Ode to French Fries

What sizzles
in boiling
oil
is the world's
pleasure:
French
fries
go
into the pan
like the morning swan's
snowy
feathers
and emerge
half-golden from the olive's
crackling amber.

Garlic
lends them
its earthy aroma,
its spice,
its pollen that braved the reefs.
Then,
dressed
anew
in ivory suits, they fill our plates
with repeated abundance
and the delicious simplicity of the soil.

How could you not be inspired? Have you ever written odes or had your students write them? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Visit Karen Edmisten for more great Poetry Friday posts!

Poetry Forms and Gone Fishing

Moving up to teaching seventh grade, I've been very excited about doing more with my students. For our poetry unit, one of those "mores" is being able to move into a deeper discussion about poetry forms. My secret weapon? Gone Fishing: a novel in verse by Tamara Will Wissinger and illustrated by Matthew Cordell.

This cute poetry novel-in-verse not only tells a full story but also tells that story through a wide range of poems in many different styles. Not only are those styles explained in a glossary section in the back, but they are also helpfully labeled in the book itself.

It's one thing to try and explain the idea of a dactyl, and it's another to be able to jump right to the poem and hear the (BUM da dum) pattern for yourself. This is a great resource for students and teachers, and I am looking forward to introducing these poems to my students and seeing how it inspires their own poetry explorations!

Visit Michelle at Today's Little Ditty for more great Poetry Friday posts!

New Book Alert: Moo by Sharon Creech

Moo (Aug. 30th, 2016) by Sharon Creech
(ARC begged & borrowed from a fellow blogger)

Full disclosure: I love Sharon Creech. She has written some of my favorite books of all-time. I wrote an entire poetry curriculum around reading aloud Love that Dog (click here for details). I bawled out loud while reading Walk Two Moons, and I am not a book crier. I also loved sharing Walk Two Moons as a small group discussion book with my fourth graders (click here for book club discussion questions and page breakdowns). I have a huge bin of Sharon Creech books in my classroom library.

So it is no surprise that I would be excited about any announcement of a new book by Sharon Creech. But a new novel in verse? Based around an ornery cow? (Even if it does happen to be set in Maine and not my native Wisconsin.) Featuring a main character named Reena so that I cannot wait to share it with a former student of mine named Reena? Love.

Twelve-year-old Reena may have been the one to suggest moving to Maine, but that doesn't mean she really knows what she's in for. Told in imaginative free verse, Moo is a story about changes: moving to a new home and a new state, leaving behind the big city for the oceanside countryside, and learning to get past first impressions. 

People Said ...

My parents' friends said
Are you crazy?
and
It gets cold in Maine, you know.
and
There are giant mosquitoes in Maine.
and
It gets cold in Maine, you know.
and
Why? Why? Why?

But some others said
They have lobsters there.
and
Great blueberries in Maine!
and
Beautiful ocean and mountains!
and
Great skiing!
and
Lots of lobsters!
Lots of blueberries!

Though ... it does get cold there
you know?

This is an amusing, enjoyable, and heartwarming story wrapped up in the memorable voice of the protagonist. Whether you like cows and countrysides or just want an excuse to visit for awhile by book, Moo is a story that will appeal to a wide range of readers and poetry-lovers. (I've already pre-ordered the copy for my classroom library.)

Hop on over to Dori Reads for more great Poetry Friday posts!

New Novel in Verse: Applesauce Weather

Last month I shared a lengthy list of novels in verse with the Poetry Friday community. Well, mark your calendars, because this Tuesday, August 9th marks the debut of another great addition to the list.

Applesauce Weather (2016) by Helen Frost and illustrated by Amy June Bates is a short middle grade novel in verse. The poems alternate between several voices: brother and sister pair Peter and Faith, their great-uncle Arthur, and chapter breaks labeled "Lucy's song" in the voice of their recently-deceased great-aunt Lucy. The action of the story happens over the course of the brief applesauce-making season with digressions into family stories (or perhaps tall tales) from the past.

A sample poem from early in the story:

Uncle Arthur

A vee of geese high overhead,
a sunflower high as a house.
A small in the air - if Lucy were here,
she'd breathe in deep. She'd smile wide.
That's all it would take - we'd be on our way:
Applesauce weather, she'd say.

This is a lovely, quick read that touches on several deep topics, including love, loss, and the power of family. The illustrations are also charming and help with the mood and quaint feel of the story. This might be a "quiet" book, but one that many kids will enjoy. (A review copy of the book was provided by the Candlewick Best in Class mailing. All thoughts are my own.)

Tara has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at A Teaching Life.

Join up for Poetry Friday! Novels in Verse

It's been exactly a year since I first hosted the Poetry Friday Roundup, and I am so thrilled to be a part of this great community! (For the curious, click here to see last year's linkup.)

Quick introduction: My name is Katie, and I am a language arts and social studies teacher in Wisconsin. I have taught third and fourth grade for many years and am making the big jump up to middle school this fall (yikes!). I have been holding weekly Poetry Friday time with my students for several years now, and it is one of my favorite things about teaching. I am very much looking forward to exploring weekly poetry with my middle schoolers as well. (Tips and leads much appreciated!) You can read more on my thoughts about The Power of Poetry Friday here.

The Novel as Poetry

The novel-as-poetry has a long, long history that predates written books, back when stories and tales were meant to be sung or whispered around the fire. Poetry, rhyme, and meter aided in the memorization of such stories, as they spread through repetition.

Nowadays there seems to be a renaissance of the idea of the poem as novel, but rather than the epic poems of great battles and heroes, many of today's novels in verse for children feature a range of free-verse expressions and imaginative use of words and imagery.

As part of my preparation for teaching middle school next year, I am working to familiarize myself with the literature of Latin America and East Asia (the Social Studies regions of focus for the year). One of my most recent reads along these lines is The Poet Slave of Cuba: a biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Sean Qualls [winner of the Pura Belpré and Américas Awards].

Poetry is the perfect vessel to convey the early life of Juan Francisco Marzano, born into slavery in Cuba, who overcame his lack of education and many hardships to become an admired poet.

Right from the beginning, this novel surrounds you with the power of poetry:

"Poetry cools me, syllables calm me
I read the verses of others
the free men
and know
that I'm never alone

Poetry sets me aflame
I grow furious
dangerous, a blaze
of soul and heart, a fiery tongue
a lantern at midnight" (page 4).

The story is told through poems in Juan's voice as well as those of other characters around him, providing addition insights and perspectives. There are many disturbing events related to slavery and the treatment of slaves in this story, making it suitable for older readers. The back matter includes more historical information about Juan, as well as selections of his actual poetry (both in the original Spanish and translated into English by the author).

Other Novels in Verse

• May B. a Novel by Caroline Starr Rose is a novel-in-verse set during pioneer times in the US featuring a character with struggles with dyslexia.

• Silver People: voices from the Panama Canal by Margarita Engle gives voice to the builders of the Panama Canal as well as the surrounding environment. 

• Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is set during the Dust Bowl in the southern/western US and portrays the hardships of the time period.

• Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton is a novel-in-verse set during all of 1969, following Mimi Yoshiko Oliver who had just moved to Vermont with her black father and Japanese -American mother.

• Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhhà Lại shares the story of a young girl who must leave her home in Vietnam during the war and emigrates to America [Newbery Honor Book, National Book Award Winner].

• Caminar by Skila Brown. This historical fiction novel in verse tells the story of young Carlos, living in 1981 in Guatemala. 

• Heartbeat by Sharon Creech is the story of a 12-year old girl named Annie who loves to run but does not understand the appeal of a track team and who is working through her feelings about her grandfather's growing dementia and her mother's impending pregnancy. 

• Love that Dog and Hate that Cat by Sharon Creech. These two charming novels each chronicle a year in the writer's notebook of a reluctant poet named Jack. Two of my all-time favorite books! (Read more about how I teach poetry using Love that Dog.)

• The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is a contemporary story that features the inside perspective of eighth grade Josh Bell. Josh and his twin brother are basketball stars and take after their father [Newbery Award Winner].

• Booked by Kwame Alexander is a contemporary story told from the perspective of twelve-year old Nick Hall, an up-and-coming soccer star, plagued by his wordsmith father's book, Weird and Wonderful Words.

• The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary by Laura Shovan is told through the collected poems of a class of students facing the imminent closure of their elementary school, as they learn about the power of the written and spoken word.

Memoirs in Verse

• Enchanted Air: two cultures, two wings: a memoir is Margarita Engle's memoir about her childhood growing up in the 1950s and 60s [Pura Belpré Award Winner and finalist for the YALSA-ALA award for excellence in Young Adult nonfiction].

• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson is an incredible memoir told in vivid poems that are rich with history and imagery [Newbery Honor, National Book Award Winner, Coretta Scott King Award Winner].

Do you have a favorite novels in verse?

Poetry Friday Linkup

Please keep checking back during the day for more poetry goodness - or get started now by jumping into the links and comments! (Never participated in a linkup before? Please click here for a more detailed step-by-step.)

I look forward to getting around and reading all your amazing poems and contributions. (Those sharing after Friday, it may take me some time, as I am off for #nErDcampMI shortly, whoo-hoo!)

Happy Poetry Friday!

** Apologies to participants from Australia: if you are having problems leaving a link in the linkup, please leave it in the comments, and I will be sure it gets added. **

An InLinkz Link-up

Poetry Mentor Text: The Desert is My Mother

The Desert is My Mother / El Desierto Es Mi Madre (1994) by Pat Mora and illustrated by Daniel Lechon. This poem-in-a-picture book would be a wonderful choice as a mentor text for writing poetry about places. Each two-page spread follows the same repeating pattern:

I say ...

She ...

For example, the opening line is "I say feed me. / She serves red prickly pear on a spiked cactus." (In Spanish, "Le digo, dame de comer. / Me sirve rojas tunas en nopal espinoso.")

This simple structure would be easily adaptable for a wide range of ages and purposes. Students could write about a favorite place or a researched region, for starters.

I also appreciate that the author chose to include the full text of the poem one a single page at the back of the book (in both English and Spanish).

Do you have favorite mentor texts for teaching poetry?

Margaret has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Reflections on the Teche.

Poetry Friday: Echo Echo

Echo Echo: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths (2016). Marilyn Singer has done it again! If you have not yet read either of her two previous poetry books: Mirror, Mirror and Follow, Follow, then you are in for a treat. These "reverso" poems will blow you away. Not only are they interesting an engaging poems in their own right, but they can be read in two ways: from top to bottom and from bottom to top. You have to see one to truly understand (click on the image to see it larger).

You can help but be both immediately amazed and inspired. Each poem is like a delicately-crafted jigsaw puzzle, with the pieces falling into place to create two contrasting points of view around a familiar story or myth.

I shared this poem with my students last week during our regular Poetry Friday time, and several of them decided to take up the challenge of writing their own reverso poems. I am delighted to share a few of their efforts here.

Cold Air, by: Gretta

Breathe breathe through the winter.
The smell of the cold smooth air.
Let it peacefully go through your nose.

Let it peacefully go through your nose.
The smell of the cold smooth air.
Breathe breathe through the winter.


Reverso, Yoda Translation, by: Nathaniel

Force you must learn
To become Jedi
When Jedi you are, awesome like a boss you will be

When Jedi you are, awesome like a boss you will be
To become Jedi
Force you must learn

Voldemort and Harry, by: Ava and Leila

Fear me
When I touch you
Pain you will feel
I shall kill you!

I shall kill you!
Pain you will feel
When I touch you
Fear me

Echo Echo proved so popular in our classroom that it made it to the championship round of our April Poetry Madness. Several students shared their thoughts about why it was their favorite:

• "Echo, Echo inspired me to write reverso poems, and I think that reverso poems are so cool, the way that they are different and the same and beautiful!"

• "Two voice poems are my favorite!"

Have you ever tried a reverso poem?

April Poetry Madness: Championship!

The votes have been counted, and the final round is here! After some ballot-stuffing in the previous rounds (gotta love the enthusiasm!) we did a paper ballot in class in addition to the online vote. But I am happy to announce that both votes agreed on our finalists. Good luck to both books!

Voting Schedule

• Final round of voting (Championship): Thurs. April 28th to Sat. April 29th
• Winner announced on Sun. May 1st!

Place Your Votes! (Or, scroll down to see details about the finalists.)

Classic Bracket

 

#1. Love that Dog (2001) by Sharon Creech. (Read a full review including how I use this book to teach poetry.)

Newbie Bracket

#1. Echo Echo: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths (2016) by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josee Masse.

Click here for the most recent April Poetry Madness posts!

What is Poetry?

I love starting off our poetry unit with a simple, open-ended question: what is poetry?

Students have a chance to free-write about their thoughts in their notebook, and everyone is encouraged to write at least a half page, whether that is a narrative, a list, or even a poem. (I have found that having that half-page minimum requirement often forces kids to go above-and-beyond their initial thoughts and to push their thinking into more descriptive territory.)

It is incredible the different ways that kids have to express what poetry is and what it means to them. These are just a few of my recent favorites.

What is Poetry?

Poetry: a poem to tell you about what poetry is by Nathaniel

Poetry is a way to express your feelings in a beautiful manner.
Poetry shows your love in the art of writing.
Poetry flows through the lines
and shows the reader your thoughts.
The answer to
life is
POETRY.

Response to What is Poetry?

By: Sadie

The way snowflakes fall

The starry night in which

I fell.

The poetic meaning of life

Returning feeling in your mind

A sad song

The silent words of the mountain

The whisper in your ear

A flutter

A gentle rhythm

A love song to words

The stripes of a cheetah

Neon's emotions

The return of the wind

And finally, straight out of the notebook, from Umber:

What is poetry for you?

This week's Poetry Roundup is being hosted by Tabatha at the Opposite of Indifference.