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In improv comedy there is a hard and fast rule: whatever your scene partner asks you to do, no matter how ridiculous or outrageous, you always answer, “Yes, and…” Saying no ends the scene and cuts off all possibilities. Saying yes continues the scene and provides infinite opportunities. It’s a...
The Horn Book is 100! Hoorah and Hooray! To celebrate I’ll poe out a poem! If I can think what to say… After my uninspiring, hum-drummish day. I woke feeling “blah,” For the sky, it was gray. And I tread the same boring path, In the same boring way. Is...
It’s not just for nurseries. It’s not just for rhymes. It’s stories. It’s feelings. It’s wonders and crimes. Poetry’s for you. You read it. You hear it. You rap or you slam. So be into meter (as iamb, iamb!)— jump into the bounce that a pattern contains— or throw out...
“Why,” I am asked, “is it so important for children to have poetry in their lives?” Not just “Important,” but “so important,” emphasis on that “so.” As if I knew. Is it? Is it really important for children to have poetry in their lives? In their lives how? Where would...
In Black Girl You Are Atlas (Kokila/Penguin, 12–17), Renée Watson insightfully explores Black girlhood and womanhood through poetry encompassing a variety of experiences and influences, with an emphasis on support from other Black women, all accompanied by Ekua Holmes’s stunning collages. National Poetry Month is in April; see also “At...
In our Book Reviews section, between Fiction and Nonfiction, you can often find reviews of Folklore and/or Poetry. This is an “and/or” because we don’t always have both, and sometimes we have neither. Our coverage tends to ebb and flow, as do the trends in books being published. In our...
Growing up Was like fighting my way out of a ball of yarn Warm yarn. Loving yarn. Intelligent but myopic yarn. Lutheran yarn. German Lutheran yarn. Eventually, bits of German Lutheran fuzz all over me, In my eyes, in my brain, I got out: Stranger in a strange land. I...
In the remarkable Voices of the People (Reycraft, 12 years and up), Joseph Bruchac writes thirty-four biographical poems about notable Native people, spanning approximately 1000 C.E. through the twentieth century. A reproduction of a piece of contemporary fine artwork by various artists, which resonates with the person or the theme,...
In Enter the Body (Dutton, 14 years and up), Joy McCullough creatively re-envisions the stories of several of William Shakespeare’s heroines. Sections formatted as playscripts bring Juliet, Ophelia, and Cordelia together to compare experiences while other female Shakespeare characters (most notably the silenced Lavinia from Titus Andronicus) look on. These...
Poetry has so much to offer young readers: beautiful language, musical rhythms, creative formats, powerful emotions, and so much more. Yet, when it comes to award recognition, poetry has rarely had a place at the Newbery table. Just sixteen books of poetry have been recognized with Newbery Medals or Honors...