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Alice Schertle
By Lee Bennett Hopkins
This vibrant poet's work is perfect for your celebration of Young People's Poetry Week
April is a wondrous month for poetry. Alice Schertle was born in April and Young People's Poetry Week is celebrated from the 11th through the 17th this year.
Read and read and read
Alice was born April 4, 1941 in California, and having lived there most of her life, she now resides in a small Massachusetts town.
"Writing poetry is difficult, absorbing, frustrating, satisfying, maddening, intriguing – and I love all of it!"
After graduating from the University of Southern California, she became an elementary school teacher. Still passionate about visiting schools, Alice enjoys talking to students of all ages and loves getting girls and boys excited about reading and writing – especially the reading and writing of poetry.
"One of the best things about being an author is that it gives me that opportunity to discuss books and writing with large numbers of students," she said. "One message I always convey is that the best way to learn to write is to read and read and read. This is the same advice I take myself."
A good day
In 1994, her first collection of poetry, entitled How Now, Brown Cow (Harcourt) was published and was followed by a host of titles.
Wearing a different hat, she recently adapted 29 nursery rhymes from Spanish to English in the beautifully-produced volume Pio Peep!: Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes, selected by Alma Flor Ada and Isabel Campoy (HarperCollins, 2003).
"Writing poetry is difficult, absorbing, frustrating, satisfying, maddening, intriguing – and I love all of it!" she said. "If at the end of the day when I sit pondering, discarding and writing line after line, I can read my poetry and say to myself, 'This one works,' it has been a good day. There are things a poem can say that cannot be expressed as effectively in any other way."
Recommended books
- All You Need for a Beach (Harcourt, 2004); All You Need for a Snowman (Harcourt, 2002). Surprises galore are in store in these wonderful read-aloud rhyme treats.
- 1, 2, I Love You (Chronicle Books, 2004). This delightful counting rhyme, perfect for beginning readers, goes from 1-10 and back again.
Lee Bennett Hopkins is a distinguished poet and anthologist. Recent collections include Halloween Howls: An I Can Read Book (HarperCollins, 2005).
