Small Reads for Brighters Days
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I recently read Nikki Grimes’ Ordinary Hazards. This young adult memoir in verse comes out October 8 and is by turns harrowing and hopeful. Nikki has always been such a smart, strong poet and woman–it was both painful and illuminating to read about her childhood, […]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I won a giveaway of Too Many Friends, Kathryn Apel‘s latest novel in verse, from Robyn Hood Black (aka artsyletters) earlier this summer. Thanks, Robyn! I finally got to read it recently! The main character Tahnee is the sweetest kid. At first, I worried, […]
I’ve had a lot going on in life lately, and my online community has been so supportive, which I greatly appreciate! But I feel whiny, and I want to concentrate for a bit on something each day that makes me smile. I want to make sure I appreciate all that I have. Today, I’m appreciating […]
Last week, I read, actually listened to, All the Broken Pieces, by Ann Burg. What a powerful novel in verse about Matt, a Vietnamese boy adopted by an American family. His struggles are as big as the Vietnam War and as small as the bully on his baseball team. I cared about Matt. I teared […]
Words with Wings by?Nikki Grimes Wordsong/Boyds Mills, 2013 I shared a poem from this book for Poetry Friday.? I love that this poem is all about the power of words. In the very first line, poet Nikki Grimes says “Say the word…” [boldface added]. It’s not the actual snowflake itself that makes the narrator experience […]
view cop(R(.I shared a poem from Nikki Grimes’ wonderful?Words with Wings?(Wordsong, 2013) here before, and today, I’m sharing another in celebration of the Coretta Scott King Honor this book just won! Woohoo! There is nothing I like more than seeing fantastic writers and books and (of course) poetry getting some awards love:>) . There are […]
Today’s poem comes from Nikki Grimes’ most recent work of excellent poetry. In Words with Wings, Gabby, an outsider and daydreamer, finds a way to make her daydreaming work for her with the help of a fantastic teacher. Here’s one of my favorites: Nothing New One or two hellos greet me at the classroom door. […]
Kaleidoscope Eyes, by Jen Bryant (Knopf, 2009) This is the first novel in verse I’ve read on my Kindle (and because of that, I have no idea if the formatting I saw is how the author intended it). As with many novels in verse, I wouldn’t categorize this as poetry, so I think that classification […]
I love to get a sneak peak of forthcoming poetry/novel in verse books, because anticipation is half the fun! Tamera Will Wissinger was a student in an online class Lisa Bullard and I taught, and she’s a graduate of Hamline University’s MFA program. I was so excited when she got in touch to share her […]
