Kayla has been drawing up a storm every day after school. “Mommy, can I illustrate another one of your kids poems?” she’ll say, the minute she’s in the door. We’re having a lot of fun with this project. I swear I don’t do any of the drawing (except in one case, with ‘The Groovy Granny,’ I helped her draw Granny’s ipod).
This is how it works: I read her one of my children’s poems out loud, and when it’s done, she’ll excitedly toss out ideas about what she wants to draw. I’ll encourage her and remind her of certain important elements in the poem. That’s the extent of my hand in this! So far, all I’ve written on her masterpieces is the words “chair pose,” which she asked me to write. You don’t mess with talent like this!
I’ve posted a few over at A Children’s Poetry Place–please go take a look and share this with anyone you think would be interested in it…
Did you guys know I write childrens’ poems? I love it. In fact, my first published book was a children’s e-book, Bubble Mud and Other Poems (available as a PDF file for anyone interested). The publisher no longer exists, and the rights to those poems have reverted to me. I’ve included some of the best of these poems in my children’s poetry manuscript, The Party In Your Lunchbox, and am in search of a publisher for this anthology of poems for preschoolers to 10 year olds.
In the mean time, I’d really like to share some of the poems from “The Party In Your Lunchbox” with you readers, and with my daughter, who asked me about the book the other day.
“Can I draw pictures for your book? I could do it! Let me do it!”
We spent this Saturday reading my poems out loud, with her brainstorming about how she could interpret them with her own illustrations. I thought she might create one drawing. She whipped off five.
I love it when stuff like that happens. Please visit A Children’s Poetry Place to see the first of the results, and leave a comment there if you do.
I may just have to hire my own kid to illustrate my book of kids poems… 😉
I fell in love with a lot of poems when I was given the chance to look at them critically with my own eyes, perhaps even to disagree with the teacher or critics’ opinions, and to debate that point in class with my peers.
Oxford University Press has a new textbook for grade 10 English students, ‘Interface,’ by Oxford Next, which allows students the chance to do just that—on topics as diverse as Careers, Consumerism, Film and War. I’m thrilled that one of my poems, ‘Social Networking’ is featured in the Social Networking section of this modern, intelligent, and engaging textbook.
I got my copy of the texbook on Friday, and–I can’t really say it any other way–I completely flipped out when I saw that my poem is featured alongside poems by Michael Ondaatje and Margaret Atwood, an excerpt from an Amy Tan book, a Hamlet speech by Shakespeare, and part of Barack Obama’s inauguration speech.
I’ve looked over this textbook and am so impressed with how it engages the reader with its modern, web-page-like design; how it asks open-ended questions in the margins, and offers a choice of 3-5 creative projects to help students explore themes further. To have my work featured in a textbook of this quality just blows me away. I hope my poems will ignite young readers’ minds, and stir their souls, or at least give them a chuckle, for many more years.
Interface will soon have an “online interface,” so students can listen to poets read their works, use a personal e-notebook and self assessments, and much more. If you are a Canadian principal or teacher, please check out these incredible textbooks for 21st century students at Oxford Next My poem appears in Interface v2.2, Grade 10 English.
If you’re an educator and you’re interested in this series for your school, here’s a two minute digital video about the Interface series.
I’m a member of the League of Canadian Poets and participate in their ‘Poets in the Schools’ Program for Ontario elementary and high schools (I can visit any locale across Canada as part of Canada Poetry tours). I love reading my poems about computer technology /social networking/ cyber-bullying as part of my school workshops. Please contact the League to make arrangements.
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I started A Children’s Poetry Place a few months back, but haven’t been able to devote as much time to it as Where the Butterflies Go. Watch for more children’s poetry there in 2011. You can subscribe to the feed, or even follow the blog on Networked Blogs.
To end the year in style there, here are some Haiku. Don’t miss the delightful Murkles either. Thanks for reading! If you can, please let others know about this new blog, and of course, spend some time there with your children.
Thanks so much for visiting from all over the world, for your comments, and for your friendships. Let’s keep our love of poetry alive & well in 2011 and beyond.
Happy Holidays,
Heather
'Santa, Please Stop Here' by Heather Grace Stewart
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I have found a second home here in the blogosphere, with too many benefits to mention.
I started my blog a little over two years ago, but I didn’t get really involved with the blogging community until my book Leap came out in February 2010. I had posted a few of the poems from my 2008 collection Where the Butterflies Go, but I hadn’t tried a poetry rally yet, or done an interview with any other blogger. I hadn’t hung out with you guys yet. Now I have, and I’m hooked. Plus, I’ve had people from 84 different countries visit me in the last three weeks (actual page-view visits of more than five minutes)–how cool is that?
Getting feedback on my work, reading your lovely comments about my poems and photos, checking out your posts–that would be enough for me to keep doing this forever, but wait, there’s more.
Publishers have found me through my blog and bought the rights to my photographs and poems. Young writers have found me through my blog and asked for some advice. It’s very rewarding to be able to help them out as best I can, and I’m looking forward to watching their careers unfold.
I’ve sold more books thanks to my blogging than I have at any public reading (a lot of swapping, not buying, goes on at readings) and best of all, through sales of both books, I’ve been able to donate to Unicef’s Gift of Education project three times. That’s three children who have received an education they may not have otherwise received, thanks to you readers!
Today, as a Christmas gift to thank you for visiting, commenting, giving me special awards, buying my books, and for your friendship, I’ve donated to Unicef (Canada) again. The $18 just bought 900 pencils for an entire school. Can you believe how much just $18 can do? Please do look at the Unicef link if you still have hard-to-shop-for people on your list.
My hopes for my 2011 blogging year? New friends, new projects, and more book sales so I have can get a fourth ($75) education for a child in need–or, perhaps–and this is a big reach but it’s a dream–a $500 water pump for an entire community.
I said it in 2009 to some most excellent friends (who later got me a t shirt saying I can’t rap), and I’ll say it again: I’ll be the very model of a modern networked blogger, yo!
My blogging "Mews" Sam
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Heather Grace Stewart 