From: Lisa Von Drasek <lisav>
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 12:19:20 -0400

One of my favorite writing teachers, Kate McMullan began her class in writing for children proclaiming that one needed to read before writing. I am still reading and haven't gotten to the writing. That her students should swim in the waters of children's books, to be drenched in the language, showered in story ( I paraphrase, this was in 1992) Our children need to hear Arnold Adolf aloud. To enjoy the silliness of Judy Sierra's Antarctic Antics as well as the stunning revelations of Sonya Sone's Stop Pretending. Nikki Grimes spoke for me, about my grief and mourning in What is Goodbye ( Hyperion)
 
 I can't help but mention A Kick In The Head: An everyday guide to poetic forms selected by Paul B. Janeczko and illustrated by Chris Raschka.(Candlewick 2005) This delicious volume offers definitions and examples of a diversity of poetic forms from a simple couplet by Ogden Nash The Mule In the world of mules There are no rules.
  Flip to The Cows Complaint by Alice Schertle, a triolet.
  Janeczko has included one of my favorite contemporary poets Liz Rosenberg ( please don't miss her collections, Earth-shattering Poems,
(Holt) and Invisible Ladder: An Anthology of Contemporary American Poems for Young Readers ( Holt)) with the humorous and spooky Haunted Poem Pantoum.
 

Lisa Von Drasek Children's Librarian Bank Street College of Education School for Children Pre-K- 8 610 West 112th St NY NY 10025
  lisav at bnkst.edu
  212 875 4452
Received on Mon 04 Apr 2005 11:19:20 AM CDT