Hi everyone,
I want to show off a graphic designed by SYLVIA VARDELL, who wrote the introduction for 40 POEMS FOR 40 WEEKS. TIM RANSINSKI and I edited the anthology, ANGELA KNIGHT inspired it and wrote the foreword (including a poem), and 40 poets contributed to the making of the book.
As word spreads about this resource for librarians, teachers, and families, we hope to hear from others like th reviewer quoted in the graphic. Thank you, Sylvia, Tim, and all who made this book so special.
Hi everyone,
This weekend I’m delighted to bring you the Poet Laureate for Illinois to share her thoughts about poetry in our daily lives. ANGELA JACKSON lives in Chicago. Like so many of our guests, Angela fell in love with poetry in first grade and was writing her own poems by third grade. We’ve seen over and over how important it is to introduce children to poetry at a time in their lives when they are figuring out who they are and forming tastes and interests that may remain with them over their lifetimes.
Angela says something else that we’ve heard from others. She loves every book as she works on it — in this case it’s her last one, More Than Meat and Raiment — another reminder that the more we put of ourselves into our work, the more it gives back, and we need to love our work to give it the best we have in us. In addition to her award-winning poetry (including Shelly and Lilly Awards, an American Book Award, and numerous others), Angela writes novels and plays, including a biography of Gwendolyn Brooks. I thank MATT HOISCH again for his wonderful Laureates Project. I’ve invited a number of state laureates who have appeared on his program to write for Poetry from Daily Life.
Angela’s column appears in print on Saturday in Springfield (MO) News-Leader and in five other papers during the week. On Sunday morning I’ll post the link to her column when it comes out on the News-Leader e-edition. Thank you, Angela Jackson!
Hi everyone,
KATE COSGROVE, artist for A Tree is a Community, received some pretty incredible news yesterday. Her artwork for the book has been on display in New York in The Original Art 2024 exhibition at the Society of Illustrators. That is a singular honor to recognize the best picture book illustrations of the year. Yesterday she heard from the museum’s director, telling her that her work has been chosen to be featured in the 2025 Bologna Book Fair art exhibit, taking place in Bologna, Italy April 1–4, 2025!
This is an incredible opportunity for artists to showcase their work on an international stage, where about 1,500 exhibitors and nearly 32,000 editors, art directors, agents, authors, and artists from 100 countries will be in attendance.
Congratulations to my friend and partner, Kate Cosgrove!!! An earlier collaboration of ours, The Dirt Book, Poems About Animals That Live Beneath Our Feet, has done quite well. Both books were edited by GRACE MACCARONE and published by Holiday House.
Kate’s art for The Dirt Book was also chosen for display in The Original Art 2024 exhibition at the Society of Illustrators, but A Tree is a Community is off to a great start of its own. Kirkus gave it a starred review. It has it first translation (Brazil), and made one of BETSY BIRD’S lists for potential nominees for the 2025 Newbery Award. What do you want to do next, Kate?
Hi everyone,
Yesterday I had to make a list of my books of poetry for a form I was filling out. One thing I learned was that not counting anthologies I’ve published 36 books in the last 32 years. Fifteen titles were for education publishers so they were all done with one, often two educator partners who wrote much more of the content than I did. My job in every case was to write the poems. One group of five books required 80 or so poems, another single project took nearly the same number. Since I went to the trouble of making the list, you know what’s coming. I’m going to blog you with it. Here goes, and please forgive the unruly lines. WordPress does as WordPress does.
David L. Harrison books of original poetry - trade and education
36 titles in 32 years
1993 Somebody Catch My Homework
1994 The Boy Who Counted Stars
1996 A Thousand Cousins
1998 The Purchase of Small Secrets
1999 Wild Country
1999 Easy Poetry Lessons that Dazzle and Delight (with Bernice Cullinan)
2003 The Alligator in the Closet
2003 The Mouse Was Out at Recess
2003 Using the Power of Poetry (with Kathy Holderith)
2004 Connecting Dots, Poems of My Journey
2006 Sounds of Rain, Poems of the Rain Forest
2007 bugs, poems about creeping things
2008 Pirates
2009 Partner Poems for Building Fluency (with Tim Rasinski and Gay Fawcett)
2009 Vacation, We’re Going to the Ocean!
2011 Goose Lake
2012 Cowboys
2013 Learning through Poetry: Short Vowels (with Mary Jo Fresch)
2013 Learning through Poetry: Short Vowels (with Mary Jo Fresch)
2013 Learning through Poetry: Long Vowels (with Mary Jo Fresch)
2013 Learning through Poetry: Consonants (with Mary Jo Fresch)
2013 Learning through Poetry: Consonants and Blends (with Mary Jo Fresch)
2013 Learning through Poetry: Rimes (with Mary Jo Fresch)
2016 Social Studies Literacy; Grades 4-6 (with Timothy V. Rasinski)
2016 Now You See Them Now You Don’t
2018 A Place to Start a Family
2018 Crawly School for Bugs
2020 After Dark
2020 Guided Practice for Reading Growth, Grades 4-8, Texts and Lessons to Improve Fluency, Comprehension, and Vocabulary (with Laura Robb)
2021 The Dirt Book
2021 Scope and Sequence Program for Fairfax County Virginia Public Schools System (with Tim Rasinski)
2022 Partner Poems & Word Ladders for Building Foundational Literacy Skills, Grades K-2 (with Tim Rasinski and Mary Jo Flesch)
2022 Partner Poems & Word Ladders for Building Foundational Literacy Skills, Grades 1-3 (with Tim Rasinski and Mary Jo Flesch); Scholastic
2024 A Tree is a Community
2024 Wild Brunch
2024 The Fluency Development Lesson: Closing the Reading Gap (with Tim Rasinski and Lynne Kulick)
Hi everyone,
Change of venue.
My first day back at work on the dining room table. Not many people here this time of year. I’m watching the darkness clear frame by frame The sea is calm. Yesterday we ate in Seaside next door to Sun Dog Books. Before leaving, I went in the great book store and arranged for a signing on March 6. Time now for coffee and a quiet time to think.
Children's Author David L. Harrison's Blog 