Explore Poetry with SINCE THE BABY CAME by Kathleen Long Bostrom

  We are excited to have guest post by Kathleen Long Bostrom, author of Since the Baby Came: A Sibling’s Learning-to-Love Story in 16 Poems , talking about the process of writing the book and sharing some ideas for discussing and poetry writing! Read : Since the Baby Came: A Sibling’s Learning-to-Love Story in 16 Poems by Kathleen Long Bostrom, illustrated by Janet Samuel I love poetry and rhyme, and always have. I grew up with a mother who often recited poetry and I learned to read with Dr. Seuss books. It’s no wonder I turned to poetry when I began writing picture books for children.  At a children’s book conference one day about 12 years ago, I asked my friend, an editor for an educational publishing house, “What are the areas in early education where more good books are needed?”  Without hesitation, she replied, “Poetry.”  Many of my published books were written in poetry, but what could I write that was unique? Aha! I thought. What if I wrote a story using a variety of styles of

National Poetry Month Celebration: List Poems

 

Read, Discuss, Do! is celebrating list poems this week! List poems are exactly what they sound like -- poems written as lists! A list poem can be a list of anything real or imagined. They can be lists of people or places, ideas, things, actions, even emotions. Many list poems are silly. Many of them rhyme. But they can cover all sorts of topics and themes, and rhyming is completely optional. We hope that you will read some examples of list poems this week and try writing one or two of your own.

It's Raining Pigs and Noodles by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by James Stevenson, isn't specifically a book of list poems, but it's got some great examples of list poems in it. And the title poem is a silly, rhyming list poem that you'll be sure to enjoy.

Underneath My Bed: List Poems by Brian P. Cleary, illustrated by Richard Watson. This book is all about list poems! What they are, how to write them, and a lot of fun ones to read as examples. 

Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems, edited by Georgia Heard. This is a diverse mix of list poems of all sorts of topics by a bunch of different poets.

Example of a list poem:

"Sick" by Shel Silverstein

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.

Read the whole poem on poets.org. 

For more on writing list poems, see this post on poetry4kids.com








Comments

Julia said…
I love Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout by Shel Silverstein!