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Valerie Worth
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From: JSidman at aol.com <JSidman>
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 19:22:48 EDT
This is my first time writing to the CCBC-net. I am an author (my first book of children's poetry is coming out this summer from Millbrook Press--"Just Us Two: Poems about Animal Dads"), but I also teach in public schools as a writer-in-residence.
A mainstay of my work writing poetry with kids is Valerie Worth's book "All the Small Poems." These short, gorgeous, deceptively simple poems resonate in a way that few collections do, and what's more, their subject matter
(everyday objects) is perfect for introducing children to poetry. I often start out a residency by telling kids that if they look hard enough, they can write a poem about anything. I read a Williams Carlos Williams poem, and then I read them Worth's poems about house flies (which "gleam/ Dark blue, or bright/ Metal green) earthworms (which "glisten...like rubies", and finally, her poem about a zoo tiger, which gives me goosebumps every time I read it:
"The tiger has swallowed a black sun...black rays roar from the center of his eyes."
(I also just used a short poem of Eve Merriam's--"Where to Hide a Secret Message" as a model with second graders, and they loved it. They delightedly wrote poems about where to hide secret messages for birds, dinosaurs, crocodiles, etc.)
Terrific children's poetry is being written these days, but I always find myself going back to the elegance, clarity, and simple profundity of Valerie Worth.
Joyce Sidman Wayzata, Minnesota
Received on Wed 05 Apr 2000 06:22:48 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 19:22:48 EDT
This is my first time writing to the CCBC-net. I am an author (my first book of children's poetry is coming out this summer from Millbrook Press--"Just Us Two: Poems about Animal Dads"), but I also teach in public schools as a writer-in-residence.
A mainstay of my work writing poetry with kids is Valerie Worth's book "All the Small Poems." These short, gorgeous, deceptively simple poems resonate in a way that few collections do, and what's more, their subject matter
(everyday objects) is perfect for introducing children to poetry. I often start out a residency by telling kids that if they look hard enough, they can write a poem about anything. I read a Williams Carlos Williams poem, and then I read them Worth's poems about house flies (which "gleam/ Dark blue, or bright/ Metal green) earthworms (which "glisten...like rubies", and finally, her poem about a zoo tiger, which gives me goosebumps every time I read it:
"The tiger has swallowed a black sun...black rays roar from the center of his eyes."
(I also just used a short poem of Eve Merriam's--"Where to Hide a Secret Message" as a model with second graders, and they loved it. They delightedly wrote poems about where to hide secret messages for birds, dinosaurs, crocodiles, etc.)
Terrific children's poetry is being written these days, but I always find myself going back to the elegance, clarity, and simple profundity of Valerie Worth.
Joyce Sidman Wayzata, Minnesota
Received on Wed 05 Apr 2000 06:22:48 PM CDT
