More Joy

Hi everyone,

Yesterday my new issue of NCTE’s Council Chronicle arrived. And there was our pal JANET WONG, recipient of the 2021 NCTE Excellence in Poetry for Children Award, with a delightful article — More Joy — about getting poetry into the classroom. And how does she propose we start? With a suitcase!

What is a Poetry Suitcase? She explains. It contains a “bunch of stuff I never use in everyday life.” And how do you use this bunch of stuff? “When a student chooses something out of the suitcase of props, you share a poem that goes with it.”

It’s an article as stuffed with good ideas as a, uh, a poetry suitcase. I hope you get a chance to read it. It’s free and available to the public at: https://library.ncte.org/journals/CC/issues/v31-3/31728. Thanks, Janet. Great job!

New article

Hi everyone,

The Winter Issue of The Missouri Reader is just now out and I’m delighted to have an article in it, “The Seeds of Literacy.” Here’s a link. https://viewer.joomag.com/winter-issue-winter-issue/0128783001627568593?short&fbclid=IwAR2lhGRDqaWwgPfbcEJQJMMGUI0fOU6Ci2KAPlmY5jlu9z5QUJsxyp7OD4U

My thanks to editors SAM BOMMARITO, GLENDA NUGENT, and NERMIN VEHABOVIC, who created another handsome issue filled with helpful articles for teachers. I hope you’ll pass along the good news to others.

Op-ed article in California Reading Journal

Hi everyone,

The winter issue of California Reading Journal is out and I’m happy to be in it with an article called “Poetry for All.” You have to be a member to see it but for those who are, it starts on page 24. My thanks to editor NANCY ROGERS-ZEGARA, past president of The California Reading Association, for including me in this issue. An earlier version of the piece first appeared in The Robb Review, Education Blog, hosted by EVAN and LAURA ROBB.

Read about Bill Anderson in Our America Magazine

Hi everyone,

https://www.facebook.com/Our-America-Magazine-106987374459784/

The new issue of Our America Magazine is out and I’m pleased to say I have an article in it about William (Bill) Anderson, “Exploring the Dusty Roads of History.” It’s a good article because of all the help Bill provided about his many and varied adventures from the time he began writing professionally as a young man.

I couldn’t have put so much material together without major input from Bill and I’m glad I didn’t have to. The article should have his name in the byline too. So thank you, Bill, for helping us get a glimpse into your fascinating career, and thank you, Rev. Nicholas Inman, Editor and Publisher of Our America Magazine, for providing this opportunity.

A week for partners

Hi everyone,

The Kansas/Missouri issue of the SCBWI journal just came out and I’m happy to be the featured author with a focus on RUM PUM PUM and the process of writing with a partner. Here’s the link, https://ksmo.scbwi.org/featured-author/

Many thanks to Amanda Flinn, the new PAL coordinator for SCBWI Kansas/Missouri, for getting in touch and writing the article/interview. I appreciate it very much and am especially glad to give a boost to RUM PUM PUM. Jane Yolen and I had fun writing this one.

Today I’ll tackle my part of the responses for a interview with Laura Robb and me for GUIDED PRACTICE FOR READING GROWTH, and Friday Mary Jo Fresch and I will Zoom-talk about how to handle an upcoming short article by us about EMPOWERING STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE OF VOCABULARY: LEARNING HOW LANGUAGE WORKSS. These are for our respective publishers to be used on their blogs and perhaps other promotional outlets. This is a week for working with partners!