Step happily…into a poem.“The Boulevard Montmartre on a Christmas Morning,” Christmas Is Coming!, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Abrams, 2019) “On the Fourth of July,” The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog, edited by Paul Janeczko (Candlewick, 2019) “Tumbleweed” and “Roadside Stand,” The Poetry of Us, edited by J. It will give you a crash course in the best work by America’s finest writers.” His sense of humor makes the study of enjambment and quaternary feet not only bearable, but fun.Īnd the poet master Lee Bennett Hopkins? His suggestion is that “if you want to write poetry for children, read poetry, particularly works of the NCTE Poetry Award recipients. You may remember him from A Fish Called Wanda. Fry is an actor as well as novelist and comedian. This has got to be the best book on unlocking your inner poet around. One of the best suggestions from a fellow Poet Garage member was to pick up a copy of Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Travelled. She adds people at the beginning of the month, so you’ll need to be patient and wait until October to receive your first “Jane poem.” If you want to be on Jane’s list to receive a poem a day, you may write her at and request to be added to her mailing list. Jane shares her daily poems with anyone who asks. So, tentatively, I joined the poets of Poet’s Garage, many of whom love poetry so much that I’m sure they write a poem a day, just as the amazing Jane Yolen does. But as you gently turn the pages, you meet other characters, including spiders, ants, and moths, up close and personal. Frost, like Cohn Livingston, gently encourages the reader to slow down and appreciate our natural world.īe still and watch a single blade of grass.įrost is speaking to you, the reader. Yes, the poems are driven by the character, earth itself.Ī more recent book that marries poetry and photography, nature and character, is Step Gently Out, by Helen Frost, photos by Rick Lieder. No reader could refuse such an invitation and so we follow the most majestic of characters – Earth.

“Little O, small earth, spinning in space, Much of Myra’s poetry feels similar to her Poem-Making book, as if she was taking your hand and saying sweetly, “Come along.” She made every word spring to life. I think it should be on every poet or would-be poet’s bookshelf. Making a poem is joyful and exciting.” The book is out-of-print, but copies are available online. Her writing feels as if she’s taking the reader gently by the hand, saying, “No need to be afraid. Myra wrote a wondrous book on how to write poetry, published in 1991, entitled Poem-Making - Ways to Begin Writing Poetry.

Nasty Bugs by Lee Bennett Hopkins