2017, Candlewick Press
I owned - but have donated it to Bosler, who does not
I owned - but have donated it to Bosler, who does not
$16.99
56 pgs.
Goodreads rating: 4.37 - 920 ratings
My rating: 5!!!
Endpapers: Mottled purple
Illustrations are mixed media collage in GLORIOUS colors!
My comments: Oh my goodness, what a SPLENDID book of poetry! Three poets: Alexander, Colderley, and Wentworth chose famous poets that young people would recognize and wrote poems in their styles AND celebrating them. They are glorious, as are the incredible illustrations. What a gorgeous book! A few of my favorite poems follow:
How Billy Collins Writes a Poem
celebrating Billy Collins
how your mother's voice, calling
you to breakfast, sound like a fire alarm.
Watch the steam rising off your oatmeal
like tiny clouds and guess where it goes.
Pay attention to the smallest things:
a fly buzzing near the kitchen window,
bright rocks in the driveway,
the handful of marbles in your pocket --
the sound they make when you walk.
Imagine that the leaves spinning in the wind
on the walk to school are alien ships
and that barking dogs belong to a prince.
At night, when the stars seem close
reach up and grab some.
Our lives are made from these things,
and when you describe them,
you discover magic. It's the way
your pen becomes a wand in your hand,
and this may be the only thing you need to know.
-Marjory Wentworth
(Loving) The World and Everything In It
celebrating Mary Oliver
Each day I walk out
onto the damp grass
before the sun has spoken,
because I love the world
and the miracle of morning.
I love to stand beside
the old oak trees
beneath a symphony
of birdsong and listen
to every perfect note
while the wind passes
around me like a warm sea.
Sometimes a feather
drifts down into my hands;
I hold it and imagine flying.
-Marjory Wentworth
No Idle Days
celebrating William Carlos Williams
the hurried days
of two lives
crammed into one
a modest man
in Rutherford
New Jersey
a doctor poet
making house calls
and noticing
the stuff
of ordinary moments
scribbling on prescription blanks
typing
in spare minutes
between patients
a trendsetter
and a rule breaker
crafting
a new American voice
for people who carry their plums
in brown
paper bags
--Chris Colderley
How to Write a Poem
celebrating Naomi Shihab Nye
Hush.
Grab a pencil
some paper
spunk.
Let loose your heart --
raise your voice.
What if I have many voices?
Let them dance together
twist and turn
like best friends
in a maze
till you find
your way
to that one true word
(or two).
--Kwame Alexander
Goodreads: Out of gratitude for the poet's art form, Newbery Award winning author and poet Kwame Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors' hearts sing and their minds wonder.
Sierra, Judy
