Welcome, everybody! I’m excited you’re here for the Poetry Friday Roundup! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
A couple of weeks ago, I made a Facebook faux pas in replying to a comment on my phone that I thought was to me, but wasn’t. The happy upshot of a long, boring story is that Amy Ludwig VanDerwater sent me one of her copies of her new poetry collection, Read! Read! Read! (illustrated by Ryan O’Rourke, WordSong 2017).
Wow. Y’all know I love me a poem about reading and books:>) This collection is like a huge reading party! There are funny poems and heart-wrenching poems. (I teared up several times.) There are rhyming poems (mostly) and free verse poems. There are poems celebrating so many reading materials: maps, cereal boxes, the sports page, online content, and more. But mostly, there is heart. In every poem, Amy’s immense passion for books and reading shines through. And her heart. And her kindness. Amy is one of those people who is exactly the same person in real life as she is on her blog and on the pages of her books. And as you can see from this poem, books get at least part of the credit for her kindness!
I had a terrible time trying to choose a favorite to share, but I’m happy to share “An Open Book.”
An Open Book, by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater (Read! Read! Read!, WordSong Press, 2017, illus. by Ryan O’Rourke)
This book encapsulates the best thing about reading–beyond the learning, beyond the entertainment, beyond the joy, reading makes us better people.
An Open Book
An open book
will help you find
an open heart
an open mind
inside yourself
if you’re inclined.
An open book
will make you kind.
© Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, from Read! Read! Read!
Don’t miss this book. If you’re here for Poetry Friday, then I know you’ll love this collection as much as I do. Thank you to Amy, for your words, to Ryan O’Rourke for your clean, compelling art, and to editor Rebecca Davis for bringing all the elements together to make this magical book!
Add your links below by clicking on Mister Linky!
I’m hoping this book will wend its way to Australia, like another little book by a #PoetryFriday friend did. #thingsyoufindinyourlibrary
Thanks for sharing… and hosting. Have a lovely weekend, Laura!
Most Facebook faux pas don’t end nearly so happily! Thanks so much for hosting this week and for sharing “An Open Book.” Love it! I can’t wait to get my hands on Read! Read! Read! and join the reading party. Have a great weekend!
Thank you for sharing this book and especially this poem! It’s perfectly true. I really look forward to sharing these poems with kids. My copy is winging its way to me and with any luck I’ll have it this weekend!
This week I went on a journey that started with my Aunt Kathleen’s photo of aspens golding in Colorado….which I saw because I had a sick day….which gave me unexpected time on my laptop….which led to more than usual Poetry Friday time last week.
I was especially touched by Amy’s poem about Sitting & Writing after using Frost’s work as a mentor poem. And, then…..Diane Mayr’s found haiku was too tempting not to try….and I really wanted to try what Brenda Harsham showed in her poem about liking people who are like covered bridges. I’m not sure I was able to accomplish it all…but I had fun trying.
Happy Poetry Friday, all. Thanks so much for hosting, Laura!
LOVE this poem you shared, Laura – and your descriptions of its amazing author are spot-on. I think READ! READ! READ! served up with BOOKSPEAK would be a perfect poetic meal! :0)
Ooh, me, too! Thanks, Robyn!
What a great poem! Thanks for sharing Amy’s book with us Laura. It sounds marvelous!
I’ve posted my link early, but the actual post won’t go live until after midnight Central Time because it includes a book giveaway for my brand new young-adult novel.
Thanks so much for hosting, Laura!
Thank you for hosting Laura and thank you for sharing a favourite page from Amy’s book. It’s always good to know what others are reading, noticing and celebrating.
What a sweet illustration to go with Amy’s charming poem!
Thanks for hosting us, Laura!
I have to read Amy’s book! I love that you shared a poem from it and I love the poem you shared which doesn’t surprise me because Amy’s work is magical. Thanks so much for hosting!
My link won’t go live until bright and early tomorrow morning.
Enjoyed reading a sample poem from Amy’s new book. It definitely whetted my appetite for more. Thanks for sharing and for hosting this week, Laura! 🙂
Amy’s book has arrived at the library and is being processed. I get first dibs! Have a great weekend Laura and thanks for hosting!
So happy to see Amy’s book getting love from all across the Poetry Friday community!
The more I see of this book, the more I like! I didn’t expect there to be heart-wrenching poems, though—you’ve got me intrigued. Thanks for hosting this week, Laura!
Well, it’s not that there are terribly sad poems, though a couple felt sad to me because of memories they brought up for me personally. But there are poems that speak to the fact that books heal us, get us through hard times…poems with a bittersweet feel, but still beautiful and full of the joy of books. I’m probably not saying it well. You’ll have to read it to see what I mean:>)
Amy’s book fills us up with the goodness of reading, and this poem with the goodness one acquires by reading. I do love it, and your Bookspeak makes a loving companion, Laura. Thanks for hosting!
Thank you for sharing Amy’s book and that specific poem. I really do believe (and I think there’s science to back it up) reading makes us more empathetic. The book looks wonderful.
My link will go live tonight at 12:01am. So, if you get an error, come back to it. 🙂
Yes! I am eager to get me hands on this book as well! Such a wonderful celebration of reading and the kindness of words. Thanks for sharing Amy’s book here and for hosting, Laura!
We’ve all been waiting for this book, haven’t we? This poem will be one that I share immediately, because it encapsulates a message I try to convey from Day 1 in 2nd grade–that this work of reading is most important because of how it makes us from the inside out. Thanks for hosting, Laura (author of Water Can Be, the next class read for the Diamond Miners!).
Yep! And, yes, this one so concisely conveys that. Aw, cool! Go, Diamond Miners:>)
This sounds like a wonderful grandson book! Thanks for sharing it, Laura – and writing it, Amy!
Laura, today I shared my 15WOL poem and added another to it. Thanks for giving those weekly prompts. I love Thursdays as much as Fridays now!
Hooray!
Laura, Thanks for sharing your side-step route to getting Amy’s book and the sample you shared from it. It’s always a relief to hear of the mistakes or misunderstandings of others, since I have so many of my own.
Oh, Brenda–the stories I could tell!
Maybe one day I’ll hear them in person. I hope to meet all of you PFers one day. Surely all the conferences won’t be ones I can’t attend.
Yes, yes, yes! I do want to read this book. I’m looking forward to getting my own copy. Maybe I’ll share it in my Little Free Library, and maybe I’ll have to keep it for myself! Thanks for hosting Poetry Friday today!
That poem is great – it’s so true! Glad a happy accident led you to a fun collection of poems. ????
I’m happy that a Facebook faux pas led to your getting a copy of READ! READ! READ! in your hands and happy that you love this book as I do. Thank you for such a beautiful description of it!
READ! READ! READ! and BOOKSPEAK! would make a wonderful pair. They deserve to rub shoulders on the shelf and in our hearts and minds.
Me, too! I was planning to get it eventually, of course, but I’m glad I didn’t have to wait:>) Thank you for the kind words. READ! READ! READ! does feel like BOOKSPEAK’s younger but possibly wiser sibling to me.
Well, it is still Friday on the Pacific coast, so technically I am not too late with my Poetry Friday contribution…? Thanks for hosting, Laura!
Thanks for hosting Laura and sharing Amy’s New Book! I like theses timeless lines.
“an open heart
an open mind”
Thanks for hosting! Amy’s book is my baby shower present today — with wishes for a lifetime of book love and reading for the new baby!
Amy’s book is magical! And I agree, it and Bookspeak are a perfect pair. Both books are at school, but if I remember correctly, there is a poem in each that likens words to birds. My bird-addled brain adores both. And even though I couldn’t get my act together for a post this week, thank you for hosting, Laura!
Yes! I even commented to Amy about that. “Birds” and “words” are a favorite rhyme for both of us, along with the analogy that we can fly with books, that those words can take us anywhere. I loved that sense in both our books:>) I have missed many Poetry Fridays this year, Catherine. There’s just not enough time for everything!
Isn’t this book amazing, Laura! Such a collection of treasures. My Kindergarten poets and I have been enjoying it, too.
Thank you, Laura, for this beautiful and generous post. I am so grateful to have been able to send you a book…and very happy that our books-about-books are related and dear friends. Sorry it took so long to comment. I was ever-optimistic that I would have a post up for last week…but then I never got it together. And today, I am just shattered. So much love…. xxxx
Time for the healing powers of books and poetry :>/