Hooray for All Kinds of Kids!
Once again Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have demonstrated their profound commitment to getting poetry into the hands of children with their latest anthology Great Morning! Poems for School Leaders to Read Aloud. Not only are Sylvia and Janet wonderful advocates for children’s poetry, they are also incredible strategic thinkers. “How can we get more poetry into schools?” they ask. This time the answer is: school leaders! The people who make morning announcements and who sometimes make decisions about how time and money are allocated. Let’s definitely make sure these people have poems to love and share!
The book includes 36 poems to share once a week. They generally follow the school calendar and include topics relevant to everyone—forms, safety drills, lunch, making friends, taking tests. They’ve also included 39 additional poems about the first day, the last day, and others that connect to the first 36. That’s 75 poems with suggestions for how to share poems and how to follow up. Brilliant, right?!
I am completely thrilled and honored to have three poems in the book—one about the school nurse, one about field day, and one celebrating student diversity. This one is especially dear to my heart, so I was deeply touched when Janet showed me the visual she had made to go with my poem.
Check out this pinterest page to see many more stunning visuals of poems from the book.
For more about the book and to read one of my favorite poems, “Look for the Helpers,” by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, see Sylvia and Janet’s wonderful blog post at the Nerdy Book Club.
A huge thank you to Sylvia and Janet for all you do for children, for poetry, and for poets!
Happy Poetry Friday!
Liz
Hooray for writing poems where all kinds of kids see themselves!
Liz, I just finished seeing your tweet about this poem and wanted to see what else you wrote about on PF. Congratulations on 3 poems being in Great Morning! I hope my principal friends on Twitter pick up this wonderful book to spread the power of poetry.
Congratulations! That is fantastic. Go, you! I love your poem. Thanks for sharing it here.
Congratulations! Your poem has such energy and love in that meter and rhyme. I love it. And, you can’t feel any prouder of being in an anthology as this one. Hooray for the kids, indeed!
Terrific, Liz!!
Congratulations! And yes, hooray for all kinds of kids! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Aw, what a joyous celebration of kids! Love this, and I have this anthology and need to read through it more. This one’s delightful:>)
Thank you all for stopping by and commenting. I’m so glad you enjoyed this one. It means a lot to me.
Hooray for your poem and HOORAY for Sylvia and Janet!!
Brava, Liz! Love your poem. =)
Congrats on your 3 poems–and hooray for this line,
“Hooray for kids who speak up for what’s fair!