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My Friend’s House — A Poetryaction to In a Cave
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Howdy, everyone! Thanks for your nice comments on last week’s poem, the dreaded monotetra :>D Several of you mentioned your favorite line was the one about twilight singing in plum. I have to tell you this made me so happy! I wrote that line strictly
Noise of the World
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Also, you can skip the writing process and go right to my draft on the full-cover graphic near the bottom :>) Quick note: I’m looking for an online critique group of picture book authors that focuses solely on picture books/poetry. My own beloved
A Blizzard of…: a Poetryaction for The Power of Snow
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I have so many things to share, but I don’t want to overwhelm you, so I’m gonna do a quick bullet point list! My Texas trip was good, and I loved sharing the work of some PF friends! A big highlight was the people–from the
Take 2: Driving Through Farm Country and Heart of Earth Choral Work
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’m just back from Texas, where I got to share with educators about poetry and also about mentor texts for informational writing. It was an awesome conference and a short, intense, very hot trip! My blog comments were broken last week, and I think they’re
Back Together with Moon
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) So, this month, our Poetry Princess challenge was to write in response to a quotation. The initial one someone suggested was an excerpt from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, p. 359, in the chapter “People of Corn, People of Light:” “If grief can
Heart of Earth
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) More hard family news came our way this week, and life kind of feels like a slog right now. Thank you for all your virtual hugs and good thoughts coming my way! On the plus side, our daughter who’s lived overseas for the past 10
Tail of Red, Tip of White, by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
It’s Poetry Friday, and I may be moving slowly, but I’m here. (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’m putting this post together on Tuesday, and I’m still dragging from Covid. I’m thankful for my relatively mild case, though I feel like I’m trying to swim through concrete. Over this past month (before my
Mom’s Quilted Tree Skirt, a Poetryaction to Pick a Pine Tree
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’ve been busy with lots of family dramas lately, and I’ve felt overwhelmed with life and business/promotion stuff, and I haven’t been writing too much. This week, I finally forced myself to spend 30 minutes per day working on a new trade picture book project.
9 Beautiful Nature Picture Books, Plus Uncertainty, Writing During Lockdown, and Art Surprises
It’s my final Classroom Connections for the schoolyear! Thanks for reading:>) In April, I helped organize a virtual group book launch party. It was a blast, and some of you were there! Thank you so much for coming! Red Balloon, my local indie bookshop who kindly hosted the event, sent me the video, and I’m
The Song of Sunshine
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Thank you all for your lovely words about my ghazals last week. Although I’m not a big fan of the form in general, your nice messages made me feel less ugh about them :>D Last weekend, Randy and I went to a Twins baseball game
A Fun Craft for a Rainy Day
Rainy season is here! Here’s a fun craft to go along with my board book, Puddle Song. You can do the coloring and cutting while it’s raining, and then go outside and make your creations bloom in the puddles. Have fun! Click on the image below to visit my Puddle Song page, where you’ll see
Put a Muzzle on My Ghazals
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This month, our Poetry Princess challenge was the ghazal. To be honest, I’m not a fan. My first attempt came out whiny. I know people are tired of hearing about how much I hate hot weather! But we’ve got a lot going on–kind
Thank You! A Virtual Author Visit
My most recent author visit was with Pipestone Elementary School. I had such a wonderful virtual time with them. We talked and moved and wrote and connected. I was so tickled to get a lovely packet from Marcy Schmitke, the school librarian. I love how each grade level was inspired by the session we did.
Imagine…, a Poetryaction to Milo Imagines the World
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I read Milo Imagines the World last week. It’s all about the assumptions we make about other people, and also about re-imagining the world for ourselves. This made me daydream about what would be an idyllic day, and I decided to do a poetryaction draft.
Weathering Weather at LitLinks
Author Patricia Newman has such an extensive collection of great LitLinks posts, all connecting books, science, and language arts. What a great gift for teachers! I’ve shared activities there before for Snowman-Cold=Puddle and If You Want to Knit Some Mittens. Today I have a new post up there about weather! I’m sharing about weather journals
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Are You Looking For?
Go to my Poetry page for:
- National Poetry Month projects through the years
- Small Reads Roundups (poems grouped by topic)
- Introductions to several favorite poetry forms