I found the perfect book in my poetry archives to cover Earth Day and poetry month. From the unusual type font to the illustrations painted in watercolor on primed paper bags with collage, Douglas Florian (a poet and artist), created a strikingly gorgeous book of poetry. Pick an insect on the list, and I can … Continue reading insectlopedia – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
When Shannon Bramer began work as a lunchroom supervisor in a kindergarten classroom in Toronto, her job unexpectedly flowered into sharing her passion for writing poetry "during the tiny window of time they had before going outside." She introduced children to the work of many writers, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Emily Dickinson, Frederico García Lorca, Dennis … Continue reading Climbing Shadows – Perfect Picture Book Friday – #PPBF
What better book to feature for National Poetry Month and Perfect Picture Book Friday than this story about the first Black person to win a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry. An achievement made even more phenomenal given the year she won—1950. The thread that winds its way through this book is one of a flower … Continue reading A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks – #PPBF
The folks at Wordsong, an imprint of Highlights, remain at the forefront of picture book poetry. Take this fabulous bedtime book by Laura Purdie Salas, for example: What do toys, boring old kleenexes, clothing, overdue books, toothpaste, toilets, pencils, kitchen utensils, foods, and yard implements do while you're asleep? These poems provide answers: toys stage … Continue reading Middle of the Night – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
Some picture book biographies are meant to be read by older elementary school kids. For example: a story about the events that turned August Wilson into a poet and playwright who goes on to win two Pulitzer prizes. Bryant's language is suitably lyrical for the subject. They call it "Little Harlem"—the city within a city. … Continue reading Feed Your Mind – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
Is there a house, a house somewhere in your memory, that you recall as being haunted? One off a dirt road that wound through the woods? One where the windows may or may not have been broken by a stray stone? The roof sagging, but still intact? Did you find this house in the woods … Continue reading a house that once was – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
Lee Bennett Hopkins passed away earlier this year, but he left behind a massive body of work, both his own poems and ones of other poets collected for anthologies. Here we have a fine example, with a front cover that offers a glimpse of what we can expect inside. Then there's the playful back. For … Continue reading A Bunch of Punctuation – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
I never thought I'd be smitten by a counting book. And I'm still not smitten by a counting book, because FOUR OTTERS TOBOGGAN is so much more than that. It's an ode to nature, a prayer, a salute, a love letter, a bedtime lullaby—all in the guise of a counting book. First the love letter … Continue reading Four Otters Toboggan – Perfect Picture Book Friday
What comes to mind when you read this title? If you're a child, well, it's obvious, right? Ew! But if you're a poet like Michael Odom, it's secret code, a play on words, for ekphrastic. Odom explains that ekphrastic is "a very big, very cool word that will impress a teacher and probably … Continue reading Ick! Fran’s Tick!
It appears that novels in verse are now the rage (at least for me), and it's a good rage (as opposed to the other rage I've been feeling lately.) I just finished the dazzling debut YA novel: by Elizabeth Acevedo, longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. In another life, Ms. … Continue reading The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Jilanne Hoffmann 