PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHY - Papa is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost by Natalie S. Bober

Illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon

2013 Henry Holt & Company

OP/ only available in Kindle

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.21 - 313 ratings

My rating:  4
Endpapers:  deep solid orange

My comments:  Text rich biography of Frost, perfect for middle elementary grades, especially as a read aloud to include with the study of some of Frost's poetry. The story, told by Frost's daughter as a child, give some wonderful insight into Robert Frost as a boy and father, not just as the older poet we see in photos.  The story is followed by two pages of Author's Notes, which give a little more information, as well as eleven of Frost's poems in their entirety:  The Road Not Taken, The Las Word of a Bluebird, Flower Gathering, The Pasture, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, A Hillside Thaw, Dust of Snow, Nothing Gold Can Stay, Birches, October, The Runaway, and Mending Wall.

Goodreads:  When Robert Frost was a child, his family thought he would grow up to be a baseball player. Instead, he became a poet. His life on a farm in New Hampshire inspired him to write “poetry that talked,” and today he is famous for his vivid descriptions of the rural life he loved so much. There was a time, though, when Frost had to struggle to get his poetry published. Told from the point of view of Lesley, Robert Frost’s oldest daughter, this is the story of how a lover of language found his voice.

POETRY - Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth

Illustrated by Ekua Holmes

2017, Candlewick Press
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

When you first wake up, notice

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.