National Poetry Month 2018: 2nd-Graders discover poetry!

National Poetry Month is underway! To celebrate, I have quite a bit planned: an interview with Amy Losak about her late mother’s new children’s book H is for Haiku (Penny Candy Books, April 10, 2018); an interview with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids, April 17, 2018) illustrator Louie Chin; Irene Latham’s 2018 Progressive Poem; and details about the “Dinosaur Tour” blog tour!

Today, I wanted to share a few poems written by some of the students at a local elementary school I visited a few weeks ago. After I read some of my published poems and spoke a little bit about what poetry is and why I enjoy writing it, I had them do some brainstorming with three images (which you may recognize from past “Poetry…Cubed!” contests!).

We talked about “re-naming” the objects, and what else the images might be or might represent, and then I departed – to let them work on their poems on their own. Here are the three images we used:
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The kids really got into the brainstorming session – identifying images like the eye as “earth,” “marble,” and “curtains” (because of the lashes – how cool is that??) and the headlight as “glass,” “sparkle,” and “projector!” Here’s a sample of what these kids came up with…The Earth you know it
by your planet, the Sun
gives light. Our world
is a projector of life.

– Liam

 

Clouds cover the sky like a blanket.
The sky becomes gloomy and the wind blows
almost like it’s a bunch
of leaves flowing.

– Linnea

Sunset sunset, in the night,
sometimes you shine so, so bright.
A starry sky will come so soon,
I can’t wait for me tomorrow
to come up and bloom.

– Tucker

I am asleep, the sunset
down quiet and still in my tomb.
I will wake up, I know, I know.
So Much Z’s, we, we, we.
So much to dream at bedtime
for us. Good night.

– Walker

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Don’t you love the styles and voices these kids are displaying? We start out with a little prose poetry from Liam, move on to some pastoral free verse from Linnea, Tucker goes for the rhyming verse, and Walker wraps it up with some deep introspection, likening his bed to a tomb! (Come on, that’s brilliant!)

I love seeing young kids thinking like this, stretching their creative muscles, and having fun doing it! My thanks to the students’ teacher, Ms. Smith, and the second grade team for hosting me, and I look forward to visiting them again.

By the way, if you are interested in having me visit your school to chat with the students about writing, poetry, and getting them to use their brains (all while keeping my presentations  aligned with Common Core Anchor Standards for Writing 3, 4, or 5!), please let me know! Email me at matt (at) mattforrest (dot) com and we can discuss rates and dates and times, oh my.

As for the Progressive Poem I mentioned earlier, a seed has awoken! To follow along with the story, here’s a list of all the folks who are participating – including Yours Truly:

April 1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
2 Jane at Raincity Librarian
3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Jan at bookseedstudio
6 Irene at Live Your Poem
7 Linda at TeacherDance
8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
13 Linda at A Word Edgewise
14 Heidi at my juicy little universe
15 Donna at Mainely Write
16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town
18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
20 Linda at Write Time
21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
28 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
29 April at Teaching Authors
30 Doraine at Dori Reads

Be sure to join me THIS FRIDAY as I share the first of this month’s Poetry…Cubed! entries, and I’ll also be sharing the link to the FIRST STOP on our DINOSAUR TOUR blog tour! (It’s going to be fun – and there’s a Challenge that goes along with it!)

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SCHOOL PEOPLE are here…and the DINOSAURS are on their way!

DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR hits bookshelves April 17!

New dates continue to be added to the Dinosaur Tour! Here’s the most up-to-date schedule:

• Sat., April 14, 11am:  Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
• Sat., April 14, 2pm:  Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
• Tue., April 17, 7pm:  Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur Dual National Launch Party!! (with Holly Thompson, One Wave at a Time reading/signing/discussion)
• Thur., April 26, 10:30am:  Pillsbury Free Library, Warner, NH, Dinosaur Storytime with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People!
• Sat., April 28, 10:30am: Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
• Sat., April 28, 2pm: Barnes & Noble, Framingham, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing (with Sara Levine, Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones reading/signing)
• Sun., April 29, 2pm:  MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing and discussion
• Sat., May 5, 10am: Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
• Sat., May 5, 1pm:  Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
• Sat., May 12, 11am:  Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
• Wed., May 16, 12pm: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People signing
• Sat., May 19, 11:30am-3pm: Barnes & Noble, Salem, NH, National Storytime at 11am, followed by Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
• Sat., June 2, 1-3pm: Books-A-Million, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing

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Thank you so much to all the librarians, bloggers, and parents who are still discovering “Flashlight Night!” 

• NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
• KIRKUS Starred review!
• Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!
• “Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers

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Purchasing personalized signed copies ONLINE? Yes, it’s true!

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new way to purchase personalized signed copies of not only Flashlight Night, but ANY of my books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

I’ve teamed up with the good folks MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH to present an option for people who would love to have a signed copy of one of my books but don’t live anywhere near me. MainStreet BookEnds has ALL but one of my books available for ordering…and the best part is, you can get them personalized!

Just log onto my website and click the cover of whichever book you want, and they will get it to me to sign and send it off to you. Try doing that with those big online booksellers! (Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)

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