Poetry Friday: News, Paley, Roethke

If it's Friday, it must be time for poetry. There's actually some poetry news this week. The Poetry Foundation announced that it will name a Children's Poet Laureate next week. Over at Big A little a , several of the kid lit bloggers are speculating on who it will be: names tossed about include Douglas Florian, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jack Prelutsky, and Mary Ann Hoberman. (Thanks for the tips, A Year of Reading and Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast! And GottaBook, Mr. Fibonacci poetry himself!)

The Poetry Foundation maintains a searchable database of poems, so I've picked two from there for today's Poetry Friday selections. The first is "Autumn," by Grace Paley, and the other is "Child on top of a Greenhouse," by Theodore Roethke.

Another neat thing at the Foundation's site: you can also find a chart of the current children's poetry bestsellers. Leading the list is Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. The picture-book version of Robert Service's Cremation of Sam McGee, which Kelly at Big A little a  recommends, is on there, too.

Comments

[Becky]

I meant to post this at Kelly's when she originally wrote about the book, but "Sam McGee"is the new 20th anniversary edition :). I received a copy 12 years ago as a "welcome to Canada" present, even before we had kids, along with the companion book, Robert Service's "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" also illustrated by Ted Harrison. That one should be having an anniversary sometime soon, too!

Sorry I haven't been reading and posting much -- between the farming (finishing up) and homeschool (starting up), there's not too much time left over. Hoping you and Junior are having a wonderful fall!

[Susan]

Hey, Becky! Thanks for that information. I edited my post a little bit. I know you're busy with the harvest and homeschool, and look foward to your great posts when you have the time! We're enjoying some brisker weather and got inspired to set up a bug trap for nature study! So, fall is good.

[Jules]

Thanks for the link. Love your blog! -- jules