Departments : A Poetry Workshop in Print :
A Poetic Year Ahead
By Lee Bennett Hopkins
A preview of the poets we'll be featuring in 2006 – now is the time to start planning!
A"Where the Poets Are" bulletin board will get students interested in learning more about their favorite poets.
With 2006 fast approaching, this column cites the five poets whom I'll highlight in the January to May 2006 issues. You can use this data to begin a Poet's Fan Club in your classroom. Groups of students can select a poet in order to prepare for a forthcoming Poet of the Month display. Another idea would be to set up a permanent "Where the Poets Are" bulletin board and post a map of the United States with poets' names printed on construction paper. Strings of yarn can lead to the state where poets live and/or wrote. Interesting facts can be added as groups research additional biographic information. Let's get started!
January: Pat Mora
Born in El Paso, TX, Pat Mora now lives in Santa Fe, NM. Confetti: Poems for Children (Lee & Low, 1999), contains 13 verses reflecting Mexican-American culture. She is the founder of El día de los niños/El día de los libros, Children's Day/Children's Book Day, held annually on April 30 to celebrate childhood, books, language and cultures.
February: Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen lives in Hatfield, MA, and has penned a host of poetry volumes. Her forthcoming book, Count Me a Rhyme: Animal Poems by the Numbers (Wordsong, 2006) features full-color photographs by her son, Jason Stemple.
March: Lilian Moore
Lilian Moore, who died in 2004, lived in Seattle, WA. Mural on Second Avenue and Other City Poems (Candlewick, 2005) was published posthumously and features 17 works culled from previous books.
April: Gary Soto
Gary Soto was born and raised in Fresno, CA. Much of his writing reflects children living in Chicano neighborhoods. Among his treasured honors is one who came from a teacher in Georgia who named her dog "Soto."
May: J. Patrick Lewis
Pat, who lives in Chagrin Falls, OH, has written dozens of titles ranging from riddles to verses about famous people. His work appears in over 70 anthologies. He likes to boast that he is 20 minutes younger than his twin brother!
Lee Bennett Hopkins is a distinguished poet and anthologist. Recent collections include Halloween Howls: An I Can Read Book (HarperCollins, 2005).
