Many thanks to our good friend (and
2006 Caldecott winner!)
Chris
Raschka, for his excellent
illustration of Maria, Queen of the 'Page by Page' Blog (right).
April is filled with lots of special days – including
D.E.A.R. Day in honor
of Beverly Cleary's
birthday.
It's also
National Poetry Month . And poetry is great grist for reading, especially
for regular Drop
Everything And Read activities.
But the very mention of poetry – at least in my
experience – can cause apoplexy in adults (notice
I said adults; younger children respond especially warmly to poetry). I think
that's because adults
are insecure about identifying quality poetry and ways to share it with
children.
And that's where
Conversations with a Poet by Betsy
Franco (Richard C. Owens Publishers) comes in!
The subtitle says a lot: Inviting Poetry into
K-12 Classrooms, by the respected poet who wrote this
conversational, informative and thoughtful book. In an inviting way, it
introduces ideas for using poetry
with kids and provides solid lists of poetry collections. This is a must-read
not only for teachers and
librarians, but for parents who want to introduce their children to poetry
beyond nursery rhymes.