The Joy of Children's Literature

Below are announcements for two online events that might be of interest.   Ink Link's first Computerside Chat May 10, 2011 at 7 PM EDT Passionate Voices: Science, Math, and 21st Century Skills with Vicki Cobb, the "Julia Child of Kids' Hands-on Science" David M. Schwarz, of How Much Is a Million Angela Maiers,  the passionate expert on 21st century literacy skills We are trying something new.  Come experiment with us. This is not a webinar, it's much more personal.  We want to share our stories to put the joy of learning back in your classroom and set your mind at ease about those !@#$%*() assessment tests! You'll be able to see us live via streaming video and ask questions with Twitter #authorsoncall. Space is limited to forty endpoints so please make your reservations by clicking here .  In the registration form, we want to know something about you.  So have fun filling out the textbox! _____________________________________________________

From NPR I just want you to know first that I wrote that headline just so that you would come here to tell me how terrible, how agonizing, how truly depressingly abhorrent it is, and then when you got here, I could remind you that it's Poem In Your Pocket Day! No, it really is. It's Poem In Your Pocket Day , from the Academy Of American Poets, co-sponsored by the National Council Of Teachers Of English and some other folks. I have decided to stretch the premise to its absolute limit by declaring that since this is my pocket (of the world), I will mention a couple of poems here, and then ask you to mention one that you like, and then we'll all have poems in our pockets, and that will make poets happy, and ... wait, I'm not sure poets are supposed to be happy. But anyway. I once read a gigantic e.e. cummings biography for work (!!), so it's not only the ubiquity that makes me say I have a fondness for some of his stuff — I like "my father moved

From the Reading Rockets Website:  A video interview with... Marilyn Singer Marilyn Singer has written all kinds of great books for children and young adults — picture books, fairy tales, mysteries, non-fiction, and novels — but poetry is her favorite. Singer is on a mission to "knock poetry off its pedestal" and to introduce kids to the pleasing rhythms and powerful emotion of poems, but also to encourage kids to express themselves through verse. You can watch the interview below, view the interview transcript , read a short biography on Marilyn Singer, or see a selected list of her children's books .

 (From Child_lit listserv ) A new poetry e-book for kids, PoetryTagTime , compiled by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell, is out just in time for National Poetry Month. It is the first ever electronic-only poetry anthology of new poems by top poets for children (ages 0-8), and available for only .99 cents at the Kindle Store at Amazon . This collection of 30 new, unpublished connected poems range from the humorous to serious, about tongues, turtles and toenails, in acrostics, quatrains, and free verse written by 30 of our best children's poets. And the "connections" between poems as the poets voice how their poems are interconnected in this game of poetry tag adds another layer of fun and meaning. You'll be able to share brand-new poems and poetry tips with children all month long for pennies a day! Even if you don't own a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle app for a number of devices, including your Windows or Apple computer, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or A

2010 Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature Picture Book Winner Malaspina, Ann. Yasmin’s Hammer . Illustrated by Doug Ghayka.  New York: Lee and Low, 2010. Picture Book Honor Thong, Roseanne. Fly Free! Illustrated by Eujin Kim Neilan.   Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2010 Children’s Literature Winner Preus, Margi. Heart of a Samurai . New York: Amulet Books (Abrams), 2010. Children’s Literature Honor Perkins, Mitali. Bamboo People . Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2010. Young Adult Literature Winner Senzai, N. H. Shooting Kabul . New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010.   Young Adult Literature Honor Bazaldua, Barbara. A Boy of Heart Mountain . Illustrated by Willie Ito.  Camarillo, CA: Yabitoon Books, 2010.  

All this month, visit Greg Pincus’ blog GottaBook for the first annual 30 Poets/30 Days project , a celebration of children's poetry. Every day in April, he will update his blog with a previously unpublished poem by a different poet. You can also follow the project on Twitter. Participating poets (in alphabetical order): Arnold Adoff , Jaime Adoff , Francisco X. Alarcón , Kathi Appelt , Jorge Argueta , Brod Bagert , Carmen Bernier-Grand , Calef Brown , Joseph Bruchac , James Carter , Kurt Cyrus , Graham Denton , Rebecca Kai Dotlich , Douglas Florian , Kristine O'Connell George , Charles Ghigna , Joan Bransfield Graham , Nikki Grimes , Avis Harley , David L. Harrison , Alan Katz , Bobbi Katz , Julie Larios , J. Patrick Lewis , George Ella Lyon , Elaine Magliaro , Heidi Mordhorst , Kenn Nesbitt , Linda Sue Park , Ann Whitford Paul , Greg Pincus , Laura Purdie Salas , Liz Garton Scanlon , Joyce Sidman , Marilyn Singer , Susan Marie Swanson , Charles Waters , April Halprin Wayland

You may know that April is National Poetry month, but do you know why? National Poetry Month was started in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets . The following information is from their website: What is National Poetry Month? National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets as a month-long, national celebration of poetry. The concept was to increase the attention paid-by individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our poetic heritage, and to poetry books and magazines. In the end, we hoped to achieve an increase in the visibility, presence, and accessibility of poetry in our culture. National Poetry Month has been successful beyond all anticipation and has grown over the years into the largest literary celebration in the world. Why was April chosen for National Poetry Month? With input from booksellers, librarians, poets, and teachers, the Academy chose a month during the school year so that schools and students could participate