Tag: giggle poetry

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“The Groovy Granny” is “a winner”

Review by Nate Hendley, author of ‘Motivation’ and 9 other books, http://www.natehendley.com/

This hardcover book features a delightful collaboration between mother and daughter (one Kayla Mae Stewart, five-years-old at the time of publication). Mom provides the poetry while Kayla’s vivid drawings illustrate the text. Don’t let the earnestly colourful pictures fool you; while the book exudes youthful exuberance, the poems are anything but childish. Poetess Heather Grace Stewart is a combination wit, raconteur and off-beat sage with a sharp eye for the kind of details that kids and adults alike can love (a “Groovy Granny” demands a 15-scoop ice cream cone; the contents of a lunch-box have a dance party; a messy sibling is accidentally washed at a laundromat, etc). A strong combination of humour and poignancy makes this tome a winner.

The Groovy Granny -poems for kids 4 to 104
by Heather Grace Stewart
ISBN 978-0-9869458-0-9
hardcover ISBN 978-0-9869458-1-6
Available online here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2156713
Copies signed by the author and illustrator: contact writer@hgrace.com

Kayla Stewart, illustrator, signing books- copyright HGS 2011
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The Groovy Granny Has Arrived! (or: What I Didn’t See Coming)

Some of you wonderful regular readers have also been reading my children’s poetry blog, A Children’s Poetry Place. A few months ago, I told you I’ve been working on a new children’s book this year.

In actual fact, I’ve been working on this collection of poems for a decade. Two of them were in my first ebook, Bubble Mud and Other Poems (Electric Ebook Publishing, 2001) and the rights have since reverted to me, so I’m republishing them. The others -including a few limericks, haiku and cinquain – are my absolute favorites among the many children’s poems  I’ve written and polished since the birth of our daughter, Kayla.

What I didn’t see coming was that one day, our daughter would ask to illustrate the poems, and that her illustrations would be really, really good —and funny. What I didn’t see coming was that she’d be the illustrator I’ve been searching and searching for all these years for The Groovy Granny —and that I’d be the publisher! (through my registered business, Graceful Publications).

We’ve created our first children’s poetry book together. It’s perfect for reading to preschoolers and beginner readers, and middle graders will love reading it aloud.  You can preview the entire book and have the option of buying it in softcover, image wrap hardcover, or hardcover with dust jacket (the hardcovers are totally worth the extra dollars, they are gorgeous, bookstore quality) HERE:

Thanks so much for taking a look at our ‘baby.’

Best wishes,

Heather and Kayla

Heather and Kayla reading The Groovy Granny for the first time (April 12, 2011)
Reading her favorite poem, 'On Bad Days,' photos by Bill Stewart.
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Giggle Poems by HGS, with Art by Kayla Stewart,5

Giggle Poems by HGS, with Art by Kayla Stewart,5.

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…

Giggle Poems by HGS, with Art by Kayla Stewart,5.

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Messy Nat and Neat Nina

I like to dust;
I like to clean.
I love to make things
shimmer and glean.

My sister Nat is different;
she likes a good mess.
So sometimes I clean for her,
I confess.

Once I took her to the cleaners,
not her old coin Laundromat,
but they made a mistake,
and laundered Nat!

I came back the next day.
There she hung, with the clothes:
Spotless and pressed,
from her head to her toes.

Now we share the housework,
But Nat gets the clothes cleaned.
For we’ll never forget
that day she was steamed.

from the manuscript The Party In Your Lunchbox copyright Heather Grace Stewart, Art by Kayla Stewart, age 5. I’m trying to get a bit of traffic and knowledge about my new blog, “A Children’s Poetry Place,” could you please visit there, and tell others about it too? Thanks so much. Here’s the link:

Messy Nat and Neat Nina, with Art by Kayla Stewart, 5.

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A Few Kids Poems: Introducing Artist Kayla Stewart, 5

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… 😉

A Few Cat Poems by Heather Grace Stewart & Introducing Artist Kayla Stewart, 5.

'Cat Wants In From the Rain' copyright Kayla Stewart 2011, don't steal my kids picture or I'll beat you up.