SELF-PORTRAIT WITH SEVEN FINGERS by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen

A look at the cover of this book pretty much captures it's essence.

1. SELF-PORTRAIT is a biography of artist Marc Chagall.

3. SELF-PORTRAIT is written in verse, but each page also contains a block of text detailing biographical information from that period of Chagall's life.

4. SELF-PORTRAIT is written by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, two of the foremost authors in children's literature/poetry.

2. SELF-PORTRAIT is illustrated with Chagall's paintings, as well as an occasional photograph.

Need I say more? Probably not, but I will, a little anyway. SELF-PORTRAIT IN SEVEN FINGERS is one of those books where poetry, nonfiction, art, and photography are pretty much perfectly melded. Lewis and Yolen have taken a series of Chagall's paintings, and crafted 14 poems, each about a different period in the artist's life. Each two page spread includes the painting, a poem, and a block of text with biographical information about that chunk of Chagall's life. Many of the pages also include a glossary type definition of an unfamiliar Yiddish word. The finished product is rich and multi-textured and really fascinating. And yes, it would be perfect for an art class for any age student, from very young (ok, you would probably have to paraphrase a little with very young kids, but I really think they could get it). I'm also considering using it as the main mentor text for a multi-genre biography project with my fourth graders.

On a completely different note, and maybe just because I'm really nosy, I'm fascinated by the collaboration between J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen. I would love to know how this project came about. What inspired the topic? Format? How did they decide on who what would write what? What was the actual process of writing the book like? Did they email back and forth every day? Or…??????? And I wonder if they have any more collaborations planned…

POETRY FRIDAY

I'm a first round judge for the CYBILS poetry category. For the past six weeks, I've been reading and rereading about thirty poetry books that have been published in the last year. One of those books is REQUIEM: POEMS OF THE TEREZIN GHETTO by Paul Janezcko. In an afterword, Janezcko gives readers background about Terezin, a concentration camp, located on the banks of the Ohre River.

(Terezin) became home for the Jewish intellectuals and artists of Prague. As a result, it became a prison in which the arts were tolerated, then encouraged, as a Nazi propaganda tool. Classical music and opera were commonplace, despite the horrors and cruelty of captivity. Lectures were delivered in attics and basements of the barracks. Most of these activities were allowed by the Nazis, who saw these artistic events as proof that they were treating the Jews humanely and allowing their culture to flourish. The reality of the situation was, of course, quite the opposite. Musicians who performed beautifully one night were packed into cattle cars the next, transported to the gas chambers.

Each of the 35 poems in the book is told by different fictional character, either a prisoner or German guard. The poems, sparse and haunting, illustrated by actual pencil sketches and watercolors from inmates, help me to remember and care. They would be perfect for a middle or high school social studies unit on the Holocaust.

"Wilfred Becker/34507"

When Otto's number was called,

Eva wept.

She would go with him.

Insisted.

They would have one more night

together.

She traded half a loaf of bread

for two hours

in a kumbal with a curtain.

Otto asked if I would play

my violin.

"I would be honored, my friend."

"Can you play Johann Strauss?"

I smiled. "I am German, am I not?"

So it was on that frigid night

I played waltzes for them.

"The Blue Danube"

"Where the Lemons Bloom"

"Youthful Dreams"

All played softly

notes like stars.

When they pulled back the curtain

and nodded to me,

I bowed

and played a final waltz.

- Paul Janezcko

Poetry Friday is at Dori Reads

COUSINS OF CLOUDS by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

This fall, I've talked a lot about how poetry can make you see the world in entirely different ways. That definitely happened for me yesterday. I will never again look at an elephant without thinking about Tracy Vaughn Zimmer's, COUSINS OF CLOUDS: ELEPHANT POEMS. The title poem, "Cousins of Clouds," explains that elephants used to be able to fly, but long ago, after a fight erupted, a great prophet took away their powers.

"Furious,

the prophet invoked a dreadful curse,

shriveling the elephants' prized wings

into pitiful ears,

chaining the elephant

to gravity and man's will

for all eternity.

To this very day

you can see the poor elephants

flapping their ears,

dreaming of flight,

but now only

cousins of clouds.

This poem is followed by twenty more elephant related poems. Naturally, there are poems about the elephant's body parts. The first of these is a series of six haiku loosely based on "The Blind Men and the Elephant." Other body parts' poems include "Ivory" and "Trunk" about the animal's tusks and trunk. "Mud Spa" and "Fortress" describe the elephant habits. Several poems, such as "This is Just to Say," and "Memory" detail the species' extraordinary memory.

Still more poems, like "Beggars of Bangkok" provide snapshots of elephants' treatment in various countries. In Bangkok, elephants were once used for logging. Sadly, the areas have been deforested, and now the elephants and their mahouts (handlers) are forced to panhandle on the streets. "Orphan" is a snapshot of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya, while "Sonnet for Sanctuary" is a gorgeous poem about an animal sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. Poems like "White Elephant" and "A Riddle" describe historical traditions related to elephants.

I especially loved the design of this book. Many poetry books about animals contained fact pages or additional information in authors' notes. In COUSINS OF CLOUDS, however, this information is included in a text box right on the page with the poem. I loved being able to read the poem and the background information without having to flip back and forth.

I'm looking forward to using COUSINS OF CLOUDS with my students. A terrific mentor text, or multi genre study, or just a plain fun read!

Bookspeak! Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas

As anyone who knows me at all already knows, I am a lover of books. And I am a lover of poetry. And I am a teacher. What then, could be better, than a book that combines books, and poetry, and could also be used in a classroom?

BOOKSPEAK by Laura Purdie Salas is a book about reading. Some poems- Calling All Readers, The Sky is Falling, Hydrophobiac, Vacation Time

On the Shelf and Under the Bed captures the joys of reading, owning, and caring (or not caring) for books.

Several of the poems, I've Got This Covered, A Character Pleads for His Life, Picture This, I'm Conflicted, and The Middle's Lament: A Poem for Three Voices and The End will be terrific to use in the fiction unit I am currently completing with my fourth graders. And then there's Index to share when we are working on nonfiction. (Do anyone else's students have trouble remembering the difference between an index and a table of contents?)

There are several poems that simply create beautiful images around books and words: Paper Sky, Written in Snow, and my dear friend MaryLee's favorite, Skywriting. Please be sure for read Mary Lee's beautiful review, complete with video of "bird blobs."

The illustrations, by Canadian Josee Bisaillon, are a combination of paint (I think), cut paper, and collage, mostly done in shades of orange, blue, golds, greens. Hard to describe, but gorgeous!

The End is one of my favorites, because it so captures me as a reader:

THE END

You race,

toward me,

checking pages numbers

and calculating their distance.

You

sprint skip skim

to win

the reader's race

to cross me--

the book's finish line.

But then

you

smile, cry, sigh

flip to chapter one

and start again.

I am not so much

The End

as I am an

invitation back

to the beginning.

- Laura Purdie Salas

POETRY FRIDAY

One more day and then winter break. Like many schools, we no longer have holiday parties. Today we are having a read-a-thon. I'm bringing in all my holiday books and we'll spend the morning sharing poetry and books and snacks and friendship.

I hope that we will have a blast. My students don't have much in the way of material things. Yesterday one of my little gals told me Santa is coming to her house on January 15th because he has to buy her mom a "new" car this month. Most of my kids get stuff like shoes and coats. Some won't have Christmas at all.

More than anything, I want my students to know the power of books. I want them to understand, in a deep and life changing way, that books are a place of deep joy, a way of understanding your own life and the lives of others, a ticket to unknown worlds, and maybe a ticket to college. I want them to know that books and poems and words bring a richness that money can't buy.

This week, as I was reading and rereading some of the CYBILS poetry nominees, I found a poem that captures what I want for my students. "Who's Rich?" by Naomi Shihab Nye is one of thirteen poems in Lee Bennett Hopkins, I AM THE BOOK. Lots of terrific reading-related poems in this book-- couldn't decide today, whether to use "Poem" by Jane Yolen, or "When I Read" by Beverly McLoughland. Also thought about "I Am the Book" by Tom Robert Shields, or "What Was That?" by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Karla Kuskin's "Wonder Through the Pages," or "Book" by Poem Farm (and Poetry Friday's) Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. All of the poems in this book are just plain lovely.

"Who's Rich?"

Naomi Shihab Nye

Who's rich?
The boy with a book he hasn't read yet
The girl with a tower of books by her bed.
She opens and opens and opens.
Her life starts everywhere.

Who's rich?
Anyone befriended again and again
by a well-loved book.

This is a wealth
we never lose.

Poetry Friday is at Kate Coombs' BOOK AUNT.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER-JANE YOLEN

Don Graves, my all-time favorite most important teacher ever, always said that poets and scientists have a lot in common, because both force us look at the world so closely, and through whole different eyes. I think of Don's comments often, and I was definitely thinking about them this week as I was reading Jane Yolen's book, BIRDS OF A FEATHER.

The book opens with a foreword by Dr. Donald Kroodsma, who says, "As an ornithologist obsessed with the details in the daily lives of birds, I know these eagles and chickadees and kingfishers…But after absorbing the poems and photographs here, I'll never see these birds again in the same way…"

BIRDS OF A FEATHER is a collection of 14 different two-page spreads, each about a different kind of bird, written by Jane and illustrated with Jason Stemple's gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, nature photography. Some of the poems, like "Haiku for a Cool Kingfisher" are playful. Listen:

Hey, girl, fish lover,

Sitting on the dead gray tree,

Love the blue mohawk.

Or how about Yolen's play on words in "Terns Galore"

"At the seaside, terns galore,

One tern, one tern, one tern more.

I tern. You tern…"

In each poem, Yolen captures the spirit of that particular bird. I love this description of from"Rufous-Sided Towhee."

"As if the painter had run out

Of ordinary brown,

Mixing what little was left

With a bit of orange…"

Each two-page spread also contains an inset box with interesting facts about that bird. Did you know, for instance, that "a black-capped chickadee is a hoarder that hides sides and other foods, each in a different place, and that days and weeks later the chickadee can remember all of these hiding places? Or that a "kingfisher kills or stuns a larger fish by thwacking it against a tree branch or perch?"

And did I mention that each two-page spread has an absolutely magnificent closeup photograph of that bird. The light and shadows and details and lines had me looking and looking and looking again. I'd love to hang the photos on this book in my living room!

Can't wait to share this one with my fourth graders- First, they will flove Yolen's poetry. Secondly, BIRDS will teach kids not only about the different species, but also about how to observe like scientists. Also, they will learn much about the writing of poetry. And then there is the whole realm of art and photography…

POETRY FRIDAY today is at Heidi Mordhort's my juicy little universe

The foreword

THE HOUND DOG'S HAIKU- Michael J. Rosen

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for a dog book. I have a couple I think kids are going to love in my CYBILS stack.

In THE HOUND DOG'S HAIKU, Michael J. Rosen, captures the "essence" of twenty different breeds. Listen to this one about one of my favorites…

"Golden Retriever"

stick like a wide grin

panting, chest-deep, in the lake

eye of each ripple

And while I much prefer big dogs to little ones, the poem about Parson Russell Terriers (I'm thinking those might be about the same as Jack Russells) is probably my favorite in the entire book.

"Parson Russell Terrier"

elbow-deep in dirt

nothing to bury but hours

holes are the treasures

The haiku are followed by two pages of doggy facts, some specific to the breeds, but more just general information. Did you know, for instance, that humans have 6 million olfactory receptors in their noses, but blood hounds have 230 million? Or that schnauzers are named for the German word for muzzle? Rosen's haiku are illustrated by Mary Azarian’s gorgeously detailed woodcuts.

We are two weeks into a study of poetry right now, I'm thinking that my fourth graders are going to love comparing HOUND DOG HAIKU to Andrew Clement’s very different DOGKU.

POETRY FRIDAY: SPINSTER GOOSE:TWISTED RHYMES FOR NAUGHTY CHILDREN by Lisa Wheeler and Sophie Blackall

I read poetry to my fourth graders on an almost daily basis. So far this year, they have heard/read poets like Douglas Florian, J. Patrick Lewis, Anna Grossnickle Hines, Langston Hughes and Robert Frost. While they enjoy lots of different kinds of poetry, if I'm really honest, their favorite poems are the funny ones. I've just found a book, then, that I think my kids are going to love.

SPINSTER GOOSE is a series of 27 poems about badly behaved children. The first poem, "An Introduction from Mother Goose," lays the groundwork for the book:

" There are many naughty children

far beyond my expertise.

I tried my best to help them

but the problems would not cease…"

Mother Goose decides to send these naughty children to her sister, Spinster Goose. Old Spinster Goose has the perfect consequences:

The pinchers get pinched

And the pokers get poked.

The biters get bit,

And the smokers get smoked.

The takers get taken.

The sordid get sore.

The shakers get shaken

right down to their core.

Each poem is adapted from or based on a well-known (ok, maybe some are not so well known, at least not to some kids) nursery rhyme. "The Gum Chewer," for example, comes from "See Saw Marjory Daw." "The Swearer," which I know my kids will love, is a take off on "Baa Baa Black Sheep:"

Baa Baa Black Sheep

loves to curse and swear

Here a BLEAT. There a BLEAT.

BLEAT BLEAT everywhere…"

There are poems about bullies, dirty kids, substandard subs, cheaters, nose pickers, interrupters, fibbers, and even one for the custodian. I know my kids are going to love every one!

I checked this book out of the library, but it's definitely one I have to own!

POETRY FRIDAY is hosted by April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors.

NEVER FORGOTTEN- Patricia McKissack, Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon

I have been a CYBILS judge for the past four years. In 2008, I judged YA nonfiction, then moved to Elementary Nonfiction for 2009 and 2010. This year, I'm judging poetry, and to be really honest, I'm more than a little overwhelmed/intimidated. How in the world can I ever begin to capture the magnificence of books like Patricia McKissack's NEVER FORGOTTEN?

In an author's note, McKissack says that NEVER FORGOTTEN began when she wondered how African parents grieved and remembered the children who had been captured by slave traders. She turned to African history and folktales. From those roots came NEVER FORGOTTEN, the story of Dinga, a blacksmith from the Mende tribe. Dinga's wife dies in childbirth, and Dinga goes against tribal customs and decides he will raise his son, Mustafa. He calls on the four elements-- Earth, Fire, Water and Wind-- to help him raise his son. When Mustafa is twelve, he is kidnapped by slave traders. Dinga searches for his son, grieves for him, and then calls on the Elements to discover his son's fate…

I guess I will just start by saying that NEVER FORGOTTEN is magnificent in every way imaginable. McKissack tells Dinga and Mustafa's story through a series of approximately 20 poems. The poems are a cross between history and folklore, with African drum sound effects. Listen for a minute…

Water Maiden sang to the boy child

An old, old lullaby:

A baby has come.

He has come,

And happiness has come.

A boy has come.

He has come.

And laughter has come.

A son has come.

He has come,

And beauty has come.

When the child gurgled in reply,

She tickled his toes and said,

"Even now I can hear music in his voice.

Shum Da Da We Da Shum Da Da We Da."

Then, as if all of this glorious language was not enough, the book is illustrated by Caldecott winners Leo and Diane Dillon. Their woodcut illustrations are absolutely gorgeous- incredible detail, rich color, varied page design- possibly even worthy of another Caldecott consideration?

I will definitely be reading this to my fourth graders. I could also see using it in a high school or college history class. It's just about perfect…

CYBILS 2011

It's that time of year again!

Time to nominate the best books published since October 2010 for a CYBILS AWARD.

There are lots of different categories- fiction picture books, nonfiction picture books, early readers, middle grade novels, YA novels, YA nonfiction, science fiction/fantasy, graphic novels, and this year, a brand new category for book aps.

Nominations are open from now until October 15th.

Eligibility rules are here.

The nomination form is here.

I have been a CYBILS judge for the last four years.

I started out as in middle grade nonfiction,

then did two years of nonfiction picture books,

and this year, I'm a first round judge in POETRY!

Each year, I have totally loved being a judge.

I love reading all the great new books.

I love working with the other judges-

getting to know a whole new group of readers and the books they love

I love trying to predict which books are going to win.

I can't wait to get started!