Explore Poetry with SINCE THE BABY CAME by Kathleen Long Bostrom

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  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
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Parent and Child Poetry Challenge: Diamante Poems

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Week two of the Poetry Challenge is exploring the diamante, a poetry form that was invented specifically for students!

The poem gets its name from its shape -- a diamond. This type of poem is a descriptive poem with seven lines, and they do not rhyme. There are some very specific rules to this form of poetry. The most common type of diamante is a synonym diamante. The first line introduces the subject, the next five lines describe the subject, and the last line is a synonym of the word in line one. Here are the basic diamante rules:

Line one is a noun.

Line two is two adjectives.

Line three is three verbs.

Line four is four nouns.

Line five is three verbs.

Line six is two adjectives.

Line seven is one noun (a synonym of the word used in line one). 

Here is an example of a diamante about a baby:

Baby

Cute, sweet

Sleeping, crying, drooling

Blanket, binkie, diaper, crib

Cooing, wiggling, eating

Fussy, chubby

Infant

Another form of diamante is an antonym diamante. In this type of poem, the first and last lines are opposites, or can be thought of as opposites. This form is a little trickier to write because it switches subjects half way through. Here is an example of an antonym diamante:

Lake

Wavy, cool

Swimming, diving, wading

Boat, ripples, shoreline, sand

Walking, digging, stomping

Solid, warm

Beach

Diamantes are a great form of poetry for kids to try because the process gets them thinking about parts of speech and challenges them to think creatively about their subjects. But they are low pressure because they are basically simple lists! They are also pretty cool visually once they're finished. I encourage you to have your kids write out their finished poems on colorful, diamond-shaped paper and place them somewhere prominent to show them off. 

I hope you and your kids write diamantes this week! If you do, please share them with us using the hashtag #RDDPoetryChallenge. You can also email them to readdiscussdo@gmail.com.

Happy writing!


Comments

Mindy Baker said…
Love this! Can’t wait to write some!
April 10, 2023 at 7:04 PM
Rebecca Gomez said…
I look forward to seeing your diamantes, Mindy!
April 11, 2023 at 12:28 PM
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