YA Poetry Contest

Author, Mitali Perkins is calling for entries for the Seventh Annual Fire Escape Contest

for teen-authored poetry and short stories. Entries are due by June 1, 2009, and cash prizes are awarded for first, second, and third place...

This is a timely announcement for a local high school which is running a poetry contest of its own right now!

This a trailer for her new book Secret Keeper.

Poetry Month in the Kidlitosphere

The Kidlitosphere is celebrating during National Poetry Month.

GottaBook announces, 30 Poets/30 Days! http://gottabook.blogspot.com/2009/03/announcing-30-poets30-days.html
Gregory K. Pincus is the originator of Fib poetry.
Every day in April,he will be posting a previously unpublished poem by a different poet. Here's the alphabetical list of who's participating:

Arnold Adoff, Jaime Adoff, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Douglas Florian, Betsy Franco, Kristine O'Connell George, Charles Ghigna, Nikki Giovanni, Joan Bransfield Graham, Nikki Grimes, Avis Harley, Mary Ann Hoberman, Lee Bennett Hopkins, X. J. Kennedy, Bruce Lansky, Julie Larios, J. Patrick Lewis, Pat Mora, Kenn Nesbitt, Linda Sue Park, Ann Whitford Paul, Gregory K. Pincus, Jack Prelutsky, Adam Rex, Jon Scieszka, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, April Halprin Wayland, Janet Wong, and Jane Yolen.

It will launch on Tuesday, April 1, with former Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky's new “A Little Poem For Poetry Month.” We’ll end April 30th with “Books & Me” by Pat Mora to help celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day). And every day in between will bring something new. You can follow along here and via 30poets30days on Twitter."



Also, at Miss Rumphius Effect, http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/, Tricia Stohr-Hunt will be featuring Poetry Makers, interviews with a spectacular group of children's poets.

April 1. Kenn Nesbitt
April 2. Rebecca Kai Dotlich
April 3. Avis Harley / Ann Whitford Paul
April 4. Joyce Carol Thomas
April 5. J. Patrick Lewis
April 6. Janet Wong
April 7. Joseph Bruchac
April 8. Ralph Fletcher / Steven Schnur
April 9. Jane Yolen
April 10. Linda Ashman / Julie Larios
April 11. Adam Rex
April 12. Marilyn Singer
April 13. Lee Bennett Hopkins
April 14. Georgia Heard
April 15. Joyce Sidman
April 16. Paul Janeczko
April 17. Arnold Adoff / Jaime Adoff
April 18. Joan Bransfield Graham
April 19. Bobbi Katz
April 20. Kristine O’Connell George
April 21. Jorge Argueta
April 22. Carole Boston Weatherford
April 23. Betsy Franco
April 24. Lisa Westberg Peters / Laura Purdie Salas
April 25. Calef Brown
April 26. Marilyn Nelson
April 27. Helen Frost / Sara Holbrook
April 28. Douglas Florian
April 29. Mary Ann Hoberman
April 30. Pat Mora



Also, Sylvia Vardell at Poetry For Children, http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/, will be reviewing a new children's poetry book every day;



Anastasia Suen at her new Pencil Talk blog, http://penciltalk.wordpress.com/, invites K-12 students to write their own school poems and send them in to be posted.



Elaine Magliaro will be giving away children's poetry books as prizes during National Poetry Month again this year at Wild Rose Reader. She will also be giving away books of light verse during April at her new blog Political Verses (http://politicalverses.blogspot.com)

Douglas Florian

Oh my giddy aunt! (Learned that expression from Michele at Scholar's Blog.)

Douglas Florian has a blog, Florian Cafe. I know this because Gregory K. at GottaBook reported it last week.

Thank you, thank you Greg for sharing this news.

Scrub your hands!

For all librarians, aides and volunteers...

School children love their library books,
They tote them everywhere.
They read them during d.e.a.r time
Absorbed and unaware.

They just can't help the dirt and germs
They transfer to the covers.
They sneeze, they hack, they drool on them,
They are library book lovers.

So if you work in a library,
It is important to think about
The nasty, filthy, library books
You are checking in and out.

Don't touch your face, don't scratch your nose,
You can't wash your hands too often,
The back-to-school virus will get you
If your guard begins to soften.

I thought I was being careful,
I was not sick at all last year,
Alas, the virus got me.
My immune system is in low gear.

No "pleasant land of counterpane"
This is Shel Silverstein "Sick"
So until my breathing is restored,
No computer mouse will I click.

It is time to take some medicine,
So, I will take a bow,
And I will leave you with these words of advice,
GO WASH YOUR HANDS, RIGHT NOW!

AR Tanka (not a love poem)

Tanka
5-7-5-7-7

Accelerated Reader for Parents
AR is a tool
to make children want to read
not a measure of
a parent’s value or worth...
It is your child’s reading life

AR is a means
to help struggling readers
Points do not belong
in a parent’s bank account...
You cannot spend them yourself.

AR is a way
for some children to compete
in reading as sport
They may not understand math...
They remember Redwall books