Sylvia Vardell’s newest book

Poetry Aloud Here 2Sylvia Vardell

Hi everyone,
Congratulations to Sylvia Vardell for her newest title, POETRY ALOUD HERE 2.
This is a comprehensive, user-friendly roundup of what is what and who is who in children’s poetry and follows her original POETRY ALOUD HERE published in 2006. Chapters include “Why Make Poetry a Priority?”, “Which Poets Are Popular?”, “What Poetry Do Children Enjoy?”, “How Do You Promote Poetry?”, “How Do You Present Poetry to Children?”, and “What Happens after You Share the Poem?”

My copy arrived a few days ago and the wait was certainly worth it. Sylvia is a professor at Texas Woman’s University in the School of Library and Information Studies, where she teaches graduate courses in children’s and young adult literature. She is recognized as one our leading authorities on children’s poets and poetry and I’m grateful to see her latest book in print.

Many of you also know her through her partnership with Janet Wong that has produced a growing number of poetry anthologies for the classroom under their imprint, Pomelo Books, including Poetry Friday Anthology (K-5), Poetry Friday Anthology, and Poetry Friday for Middle School. The dynamic duo also collaborated on PoetryTagTime (K-5), P*TAG (for teens), and Gift Tag (holiday poems for K-8).

If you don’t follow Sylvia’s wonderful blog, start today! It’s a professional must. Today she talks about her new book so I urge you to read and enjoy what she has to say. http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/

Way to go, Sylvia! And thank you!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Here’s part of a note from Christopher Boucher, Managing Editor of POST ROAD. This might be of interest to my west coast friends.
“Dear Issue 26 Contributors,
I’m writing, first, to thank you again for allowing us to showcase your work in Issue 26 of Post Road. I hope that you’re pleased with the issue – we certainly are; the consensus here is that it’s one of the strongest issues that we’ve ever produced. We’ll be featuring PR26 at this year’s AWP Conference, which begins on Thursday at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. If you’re attending AWP, please stop by our table (J10) and say hello.

David

Win free e-books from Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

Hi everyone,

This just in from Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell and I wanted to share it with you.

David

Will You Be a Winner on
12/12/12?

WHO
Anyone who loves poetry and would like to win an e-­‐book! Do I need an e-­reader? No. If you win, you can download our e-­‐books on your computer or phone—or have us send your e-­‐book to a friend of yours as a gift.

WHAT
Post a 12-­‐word comment at one of our blogs: the PoetryTagTime blog, the P*TAG blog, or the Gift Tag blog. Twelve words about poetry, favorite words from a poem, poets’names—any 12 words—andearn a chance to win the e-­‐book associated with that blog. How many winners will we have? 12/12/ (and) 12!

WHEN
Post comments from now until 12/12/12 at noon.

WHERE
The PoetryTagTime Blogs (see PoetryTagTime.com).

WHY
Because poems make the best gifts!

Introducing PoetryTagTime e-Book

Hi everyone,

Today I want to tell you about a grand new product, an e-Book collection of poetry that was introduced to the world yesterday, April 1, 2011. It’s a great idea. My thanks to Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell for thinking about it and then pulling it all together. Here’s the press release and cover.

First Paperless Poetry e-Book

Just in time for National Poetry Month, look for the first ever electronic-only poetry anthology of new poems by top poets for children (ages 0-8), PoetryTagTime, compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong and available for only 99 cents at Amazon on April 1.

This collection of 30 new, unpublished poems range from the humorous to serious, about tongues, turtles and toenails, in acrostics, quatrains, and free verse written by 30 of our best children’s poets: Children’s Poet Laureates Jack Prelutsky and Mary Ann Hoberman; Newbery Honor winner Joyce Sidman; NCTE Poetry Award winners X.J. Kennedy, J. Patrick Lewis, Lee Bennett Hopkins, and Nikki Grimes; popular poets Douglas Florian, Betsy Franco, Jane Yolen, Alice Schertle, Helen Frost, Carole Boston Weatherford, Calef Brown, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, April Halprin Wayland, Leslie Bulion, Avis Harley, Joan Bransfield Graham, David L. Harrison, Julie Larios, Ann Whitford Paul, Bobbi Katz, Paul B. Janeczko, Laura Purdie Salas, Robert Weinstock, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, and Pat Mora. And the “connections” between poems as the poets voice how their poems are interconnected adds another layer of fun and meaning. You’ll be able to share brand-new poems and poetry tips with children all month long for pennies a day!

How do you play tag with poetry? In PoetryTagTime each poet has tagged the next poet and explained how her/his poem connects with the previous one, in a chain of poets, poems, and play. PoetryTagTime encourages appreciation of children’s poetry by making it an affordable 99-cent “impulse buy” that is easy to find, easy to own, and easy to read aloud (whenever the mood strikes and an e-reader, computer, or cell phone is handy). A teacher might read a poem aloud to start each morning. A family on a road trip might read poems aloud to pass the time. Some estimates say that 10 million Kindles have already been sold; there were over 10 million Kindle ebook sales last December alone. We bet that at least a tenth of those Kindles belong to adults who spend a significant amount of time each day with children. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could bring a million Kindle readers to children’s poetry?

Even if you don’t own a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle app for a number of devices, including your Windows or Apple computer, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android-powered phone. Also, be sure to check out our web site (http://poetrytagtime.com/Poetry_Tag_Time/Welcome.html) and companion blog (http://poetrytagtime.blogspot.com/ ) for strategies for sharing each of the 30 poems in the book, rolling out one per day throughout the month of April.