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Laura’s e-letter for educators

Catch Your Breath: a poetry-writing guide by Laura Purdie Salas

Look what just came in the mail!
Look what just came in the mail!

Hey, guess what! My most recent writing project for Capstone Press is a guide to writing poetry, aimed at 4th-8th graders.

And it covers ALL sorts of poetic forms and moods. (The title is rather a long story.)

And in addition to a few classics, it features poems generously, graciously donated by many poets you might know, like Kate Coombs, David L. Harrison, Kelly Ramsdell Fineman, Diane Mayr, J. Patrick Lewis, JoAnn Early Macken, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Susan J. Blackaby, and Marilyn Singer. And several other fabulous poets warm-heartedly offered up poems, but they ended up not fitting into the very specific parameters of the content–it was painful to see those poems not get used. Thank you to everyone who shared your work to help illustrate the breathtaking scope of contemporary children’s poetry!

And it’s available now. Wheee!

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Other poetry-writing books I’ve written for Capstone:

PrevPreviousPit [15 words or less poems]
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50 Responses

  1. Congratulations! Another great poetry guide with lots of wonderful poets’ samples. Well done!

  2. Congratulations! Another great poetry guide with lots of wonderful poets’ samples. Well done!

    1. Bookstores can get it, but Capstone is an educational publisher, and most bookstores won’t have it in stock on their shelves.

      1. I ordered me a croppy of this I’m thing it might help me learn the different forms of poetry beater cant what to get it I love the art how is the artiest

        1. I hope you like it, Jessica! The interior is mostly photo-illustrated, so it doesn’t have an illustrator, an artist, in the same way that a picture book does.

    1. Bookstores can get it, but Capstone is an educational publisher, and most bookstores won’t have it in stock on their shelves.

      1. I ordered me a croppy of this I’m thing it might help me learn the different forms of poetry beater cant what to get it I love the art how is the artiest

        1. I hope you like it, Jessica! The interior is mostly photo-illustrated, so it doesn’t have an illustrator, an artist, in the same way that a picture book does.

  11. Yay, this looks great, as do the other two!
    It’s really neat that your connections from Poetry Friday have had a little bit of a hand in this, too!

    1. Yes! Without their generosity, the book would have been of a lot of public domain works, many of them not that accessible or relevant to the intended audience. They saved the day!

  12. Yay, this looks great, as do the other two!
    It’s really neat that your connections from Poetry Friday have had a little bit of a hand in this, too!

    1. Yes! Without their generosity, the book would have been of a lot of public domain works, many of them not that accessible or relevant to the intended audience. They saved the day!

  13. I was hoping for the long story about the title! Congratulations on the book.

  14. I was hoping for the long story about the title! Congratulations on the book.

  19. I love, love, love the cover! Can’t wait to read what’s inside…

  20. I love, love, love the cover! Can’t wait to read what’s inside…

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