Lesléa Newman coming to Poetry from Daily Life

Hi everyone,

This weekend my guest columnist on Poetry from Daily Life is Lesléa Newman, who lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Lesléa began writing sixty years ago. When asked about her favorite target audience, she replied, “I write for all ages in hopes of connecting with the humanity and kindness in all of us.”

Her many awards for her more than 80 books include a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, two National Jewish Book Awards and two American Library Association Stonewall Honors. Her column will appear in print on Saturday, May 18 and online on Sunday, May 19. On Sunday I’ll post a link so everyone everywhere can take advantage of his wisdom about poetry. Thank you for joining the conversation, Lesléa!

 

This week’s
guest on “Poetry from Daily Life” is Lesléa Newman, who lives in Holyoke,
Massachusetts. Lesléa began writing sixty years ago. When asked about her
favorite target audience, she replied, “I write for all ages in hopes of
connecting with the humanity and kindness in all of us.”  Two books she especially
enjoyed working on were The Babka Sisters (Esther lives with her cat
Lester; Hester lives with her dog Chester; babka is a Jewish treat part cake
and part bread), and Always Matt: A Tribute to Matthew Shepard (about the
life and legacy of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was
killed in 1998 for being gay). A fun fact about Lesléa: she has a green belt in
Shurin Ryu Karate! ~ David L. Harrison

 

Going to school today

Hi everyone,

Today it will be my privilege to pay a visit to David Harrison Elementary School. The 4th grade students are celebrating the books that they have written and published and I’m going to help them eat cupcakes and salute their proud accomplishments. Ask me if I’m looking forward to being there again.

To the wonderful Harrison librarian, DR. ANGELA KNIGHT, a huge thank you for inviting me back!

Spring around Goose Lake

Hi everyone,

Spring has returned to Goose Lake. The roses are in bloom. The cardinals are back. The pool is open. And the toads have regathered for extra helpings of love. I thought the mating season was over after we observed thousands of tadpoles swimming in the water that covered the pool. But the guys are out there every night now, singing at a fever pitch, each trying to outdo his competitors to entice music-loving females to their embrace. The pool is at once an enticement and a danger to the singing tenors that gather around it at night. What saves some of them from drowning when they can’t climb out of the pool and grow weary is a little gadget that our grandson TYLER WILLIAMS gave us two or three years ago. The pictures show how it works to save lives. This is the season that throbs with life around the lake and in our back yard. I love it all.

New book coming out July 15

Hi everyone,

I just learned that my book with LYNNE KULICH and TIM RASINSKI is coming out sooner than I thought. The Fluency Development Lesson: Closing the Reading Gap, a Professional Development Book published by Benchmark Education, is set for a July 15 pub date. The cover is posted on Amazon.

More about it soon. With one more potential 2024 release yet to go, I’m going to have a pleasant and busy fall.

How children’s poetry has changed, again

Hi everyone,

I recently started work on a new collection of poems, even though I have no reason to think it will find a home in today’s publishing world. Why? Because the poems are funny. Traditionally, poems for children tended to be rather serious and didactic. Along came Silverstein and Prelutsky and changed all that. They gave poets permission to be funny, even silly, because children want, need, and delight in be tickled. I owe both of those poets my gratitude. I began my career with a number of collections of humorous poems. The first one, Somebody Catch My Homework, sold the first printing in weeks and was into its third printing in months.

I followed Somebody Catch My Homework with The Boy Who Counted Stars, A Thousand Cousins, and The Alligator in the Closet, all filled with funny poems. During the years since then, I’ve seen a swing back toward poems that teach. These days we tend to write to fit into classroom lessons, to advance a child’s education. The poetry can be well done and much of it is, but I’d guess that the number of books written mostly to amuse and encourage a desire to read more books is a smaller percentage of the whole than it was for a while.

LIFE’S NOT FAIR!
(from Alligator in the Closet)

I changed the roll 
An hour ago
So there’d be plenty there.

I’m telling you
The roll was new,
We even had a spare.

So now I go,
And don’t you know,
The roll’s completely bare.

I have to yelp
And cry for help!
Life just isn’t fair!

THE TROUBLE WITH MY HOUSE
(from The Boy Who Counted Stars)

I haven’t any windows
And I haven’t any doors,
I haven’t any ceilings
And I haven’t any floors,
I haven’t got an attic
And I haven’t any halls,
I haven’t got a basement
And I haven’t any walls,
I haven’t got a roof
And that’s the reason, I suppose,
Why rain keeps falling on my head
And dripping off my nose.

WHAT MAKES IT ALL WORTHWHILE
(from A Thousand Cousins)

I do my homework every night,
I climb in bed by nine,
I say, “Yes, ma’am” and “No, sir,”
And I never beg or whine.
I make my bed
And clean my room
And hang my clothes away.
I shine my shoes
And wash my hair
And shower every day.
Mama says that I’m as good
As any son could be,
And Daddy tells my brother
To try to be more like me.
Which makes my brother crazy,
Which makes me sweetly smile,
Which makes him scream,
“I’ll get you for this!”
Which makes being good worthwhile. 

I miss those days and want to be funny again, if I remember how, even though it may be harder to find an editor who can find a place for it. Even if I can’t, I will still love writing funny poems for an audience of children who may or may not ever hear them.