2024 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup

March 29, 2024April 7, 2024 ~ jama ~ 49 Comments

Happy April and Happy National Poetry Month!

It’s time once again to read, write, share, and simply indulge your love for poetry in every way. I’m happy to be back rounding everyone up this year and look forward to checking in with all of you throughout April.

New to National Poetry Month and wondering about ways to celebrate? Visit the NPM webpage at The Academy of American Poets (poets.org) for a cool list of activities, initiatives and resources. You can learn about Poem in Your Pocket Day (April 18), sign up for Poem-a-Day to receive poems in your inbox, and review 30 Ways to Celebrate NPM online, at home, in the classroom, or at readings/events near you. Do as much, or as little, as you please. Just enjoy!

The 2024 poster features artwork by award-winning children’s author and illustrator Jack Wong, and lines from “blessing the boats” by beloved poet Lucille Clifton. Wong was selected by Scholastic—the global children’s publishing, education, and media company—to create the artwork for this year’s poster as part of a new National Poetry Month initiative between the publisher and the Academy of American Poets. You can download a free PDF of this poster here, and check out the Teach This Poem lesson featuring the poem and the poster here.

Now, here’s a list of what some kidlit bloggers are doing. If you’re also celebrating National Poetry Month with a special project or blog event, or know of anyone else who is, please email me at: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com, so I can add the information to this Roundup. Thanks, and have a beautiful, inspiring, uplifting, productive, and memorable April!

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hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Guadalupe Garcia McCall

April 28, 2016September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 10 Comments

I am a wife and mother of three grown men who will always be my boys! I love to read anything and everything! I have three books out, UNDER THE MESQUITE (Lee & Low Books, 2011) is a contemporary novel-in-verse, SUMMER OF THE MARIPOSAS (Tu Books, 2012), is a fantasy featuring creatures from Mexican mythology, and the upcoming SHAME THE STARS (Tu Books, 2016) is a historical set in 1915 Texas during the Mexican Revolution.

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: A good cup of instant Mexican coffee, not too strong, not too mild. With sprinkle of sweetener and a bit of cream. It will wake me up and give me the fortitude to sit down and write!

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Summer of the Mariposas (Tu Books, 2012); Under the Mesquite (Lee & Low Books, 2011); The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (Pomelo Books, 2014). Forthcoming: My new book, SHAME THE STARS, is due for publication in September 2016 from Tu Books and I couldn’t be more excited!

☕ FAVE FOODIE CHILDREN’S BOOK: Sip, Slurp, Soup, Soup, Caldo, Caldo, Caldo! by Diane Gonzalez Bertrand and Alex Pardo Delange (Piñata Books, 2008) is my favorite food related book because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE a good bowl of caldo. Caldo has the power to warm even the coldest heart!

☕ Visit Guadalupe Garcia McCall’s Official Website.

☕☕ JUST ONE MORE SIP: Check out this student video of Guadalupe’s poem “Cicada” from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science:

☕☕☕ CAN’T GET ENOUGH: Book Trailer for Summer of the Mariposas!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOroVTgQ1eY

☕☕☕☕ STILL THIRSTY: Wonderful video of Guadalupe discussing the genesis and development of Summer of the Mariposas, which was selected for the 2015 Spirit of Texas Reading Program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70TfDMLZ-0

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hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Matt Forrest Esenwine and Greg Pincus

April 30, 2015September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 21 Comments

Coffee, tea, or . . .

Wait a minute!

Is there a rebel in our midst?

Still, there’s nothing hotter than a grown man drinking a steamy beverage from a cute mug.

Gives new meaning to the term “mug shot” doesn’t it? 🙂

Matt Forrest Esenwine is a New Hampshire-based poet, voiceover artist and commercial copywriter who’s written radio commercials and done audio production for companies around the country. In 2012, his poem “Apple-Stealing” was nominated by the Young Adult Review Network (YARN) for a Puschcart Prize. At various times throughout his life, he’s also been an actor, DJ, country dance instructor, cook, and photography sales dude. He’s pictured here holding his favorite SNOOPY MUG, which he’s had since age 6 (photo by Matt’s wife Jen).

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: “Earl Grey, preferably Twinings of London or Bigelow, with no sugar, no milk, no lemon. However, now that it’s springtime, I’m looking forward to firing up my iced tea brewing machine – and Stash makes some awesome teas perfect for ice, like their Red, White, and Blueberry tea!”

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESS: Poems in Dear Tomato: An International Crop of Food and Agriculture Poems edited by Carol-Ann Hoyte (CreateSpace, 2015), The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations: Holiday Poems for the Whole Year in English and Spanish, selected by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (Pomelo Books, 2015), and Lullaby and Kisses Sweet: Poems to Love with Your Baby, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Abrams, 2015).

☕ Visit Matt’s blog Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme and his Official Website, Matt Forrest VoiceWorks

☕☕ Enjoy Matt’s tea poem (can you guess what kind of tea he’s referring to?):

Black Dragon

Steam-breathed beast
touches light the ginger flower;
savors third steeping

– © 2015, Matt Forrest Esenwine. All rights reserved.

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Greg Pincus is a Los Angeles-based poet, novelist, screenwriter, volunteer elementary school librarian, and social media consultant. He’s also a blogger, writing about children’s literature and poetry at GottaBook and the social web at The Happy Accident. Through the wonders of social media, he’s sold poetry, helped himself land a book deal, ended up in the New York Times, the Washington Post, School Library Journal (multiple times), and many other interesting places… and also made friends and gotten free cookies on more than one occasion! Wonder what’s in his SEUSS THING 1 mug?

☕ CUPPA OF CHOICE: Coffee. Coffee???!!! 😳 (There’s one of them at every party.)

☕ HOT OFF THE PRESS: The 14 Fibs of Gregory K. (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013)

☕ Visit Greg’s Official Website and GottaBook blog.

☕☕ Take a sip of Greg’s, um . . . er, coffee poem (java lava?):

DAD HAS A BAD CUP OF COFFEE AT A ROADSIDE DINER….

“This tastes like mud!” my father said.
“There should have been a warning!”
I thought there was. The menu said,
“Our coffee’s ground each morning.”

~ © 2007 Greg Pincus. All rights reserved.

We are, if nothing else, an equal opportunity hot beverage blog. 🙂

When you’re hot, you’re hot.

Thanks for steeping with us this month, and thanks to all the HotTEAs of Children’s Poetry for packing the heat!

See them all here. 🙂

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hotTEAS of Children’s Poetry: David L. Harrison and Charles Waters

April 23, 2015September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 31 Comments

Is it just me, or is it hotter than blue blazes around here?

David L. Harrison is the Christopher Award winning author of more than 70 books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry that have sold over 15 million copies and earned numerous honors. David’s work has been presented on national television and radio, produced on cassette and CD-ROM, widely anthologized in books, and published in many magazines and professional journals. (photo taken by David’s wife Sandy at their home in Springfield, MO)

☕ Cuppa of Choice: “I’m strictly a Lipton’s man.”

☕ Hot Off the Press: Cowboys: Voices in the Western Wind (Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2012), illustrated by Dan Burr.

☕ Visit David L. Harrison’s Official Website

☕☕ Sip this poem David wrote just for us:

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS

I took my Folgers
To my chair
In hopes my muse
Would meet me there.

Alas the date
Was not to be,
My muse preferred
Her Lipton’s tea.

I’m brilliant now,
Don’t wish to brag,
The secret was in
The Lipton’s bag.

~ Copyright © 2015 David L. Harrison. All rights reserved.

Charles Waters is a NYC-based poet, actor and educator whose work has been featured in several anthologies. Charles conducts his one man show POETRY TIME, as well as poetry performance workshops for elementary and middle school audiences all over the nation, while seamlessly incorporating the Common Core Curriculum. He has performed in more than 30 states from Alaska to Louisiana to New York. He has also worked with several theatre touring companies and has appeared in television commercials.

*(photos by Carlos Vizcaino/GustOrganics)*

☕ Cuppa of Choice: “One of my favorite kinds of tea is Green Tea. Power packed and good for you. Sometimes I may put almond milk in it as well as agave. The restaurant where I bought the tea is GustOrganics, which is located in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. They serve organic vegan cuisines. I don’t go there often, but when I do, it’s happy time. Don’t get me started on their Tiramisu! Happy Tea Drinking, Everyone!”

☕ Hot Off the Press: Poems in Dear Tomato: An International Crop of Food and Agriculture Poems, edited by Carol-Ann Hoyte (CreateSpace, 2015), and The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations: Holiday Poems for the Whole Year in English and Spanish, compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (Pomelo Books, 2015).

☕ Visit Charles Waters’s Official Website and Blog. You can also find him at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

☕☕ Lap up this poem Charles wrote just for us:

HONEYMOON

Sipping tea, you and me,

Gazing at the sparkling sea

We are now a family,

Holding hands, breath to breath,

There’s no place I’d rather be.

Be still my heart. I need to go lie down and cool off.

Cabana boys, fan me with palm fronds.

♥ More hotTEAs of Children’s Poetry here.

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HotTEAs of Children’s Poetry: Charles Ghigna and Lee Bennett Hopkins

April 9, 2015September 25, 2017 ~ jama ~ 14 Comments

Double your oven mitts, double your fun! (A natty flame-proof suit wouldn’t hurt either.)

*Charles Ghigna (“Father Goose”) is an award winning poet, author, speaker and nationally syndicated feature writer.*

*Tea time in his Alabama tree-house (photos by Debra Ghigna).*

☕ Cuppa of Choice: “I love tea! I drink a cup of hot green tea nearly every day. One of my favorites is Uncle Lee’s 100% Organic Green Tea. I brew two tea bags in a cup of hot water and sometimes add a squeeze of lemon. I also love to play Tea Party on the porch with our four-year-old granddaughter, Charlotte Rose. She always makes sure I hold up my pinkie just right.” 😉

☕ Hot Off the Press: Springtime Weather Wonders Series (Hail to Spring!, Raindrops Fall All Around, Sunshine Brightens Springtime, A Windy Day in Spring (Picture Window Books, 2015).

☕ Visit Charles Ghigna’s Official Website

☕ ☕ ☕ Lovely poem Charles wrote for his wife (his favorite HotTEA):

TEA TIME

for Debra

Like tea bag paper,
gauzy and thin,
we steep in the dark
letting love in.

The longer we steep,
the stronger the brew;
tea party perfect,
in love with you.

~ copyright © Charles Ghigna. All rights reserved.

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