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: Concrete Poetry

 

Read, Discuss, Do! continues its celebration of poetry this week with concrete poetry! Concrete poems, or shape poems, are a really fun type of poetry because the words form a shape. These types of poems can be rhythmic and rhyming, or read like free verse, or even simply be groupings or lists of descriptive words arranged to look like or represent the poem's subject. These types of poems can be a great way to impress young readers who claim they don't like poetry. So, read some concrete poems and have fun writing and designing some too!

Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems by Bob Raczka is a great place to start. It's a wonderful "mix" of concrete poems covering lots of topics.

Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poems by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Michelle Berg is a unique and clever story told completely in concrete poems!

A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Christ Raschka, is a colorful and playful assortment of poems aimed to please the reluctant poetry reader.

Some examples of concrete poems:


And here's one from our own Rebecca J. Gomez:


Learn more about writing concrete poetry from this lesson at Poetry4Kids. 

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