CCBC-Net Archives
[CCBC-Net] Poems in Many Voices: Poetry Anthologies
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman>
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:30:37 -0500
To mark National Poetry month, we are focusing on poetry anthologies on CCBC-Net for the first part of April.
Two exceptional compilers of poetry anthologies who are members of the CCBC-Net community have agreed to respond to questions about creating an anthology of poems for youth.
Lee Bennett Hopkins is the compiler of numerous poetry anthologies for children on a breathtaking range of topics. His many highly regarded books include welcome anthologies designed for beginning readers, such as "Blast Off! Poems about Space" (HarperCollins, 1995) and "A Pet for Me: Poems" (HarperCollins, 2003) to more challenging books for older children, including "Behind the Museum Door: Poems to Celebrate the Wonders of Museums" (Abrams, 2007) and his newest anthology, "America at War: A Book of Poems" (Margaret K. McElderry, 2008). In 1993, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was established by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book and Penn State University Libraries to honor his career. The award recognizes the American creator of the most outstanding book of poetry for youth published in the preceding year.)
Ruth Gordon is the compiler of several celebrated poetry anthologies for young adults, including "Under All Silences: Shades of Love" (Harper, 1987), "Time Is the Longest Distance: An Anthology of Poems"
(HarperCollins, 1991), "Peeling the Onion: An Anthology of Poems"
(HarperCollins, 1993) and "Pierced by a Ray of Sun: Poems for the Times We Feel Alone" (HarperCollins, 1995). Her books gather voices from across centuries and cultures around a chosen theme, offering challenging and timeless poems that speak to experiences that resonate for young adults today.
We invite you to ask Lee and Ruth questions you have about creating an poetry anthology for children or teens, or about any of their specific books.
In addition, we invite you to share some of you owe favorite poetry anthologies for children and teens.
I'll begin with a question for both Lee and Ruth. I'm wondering if you can each speak to what you think about when choosing poems for an audience of children or teens. People who say they don't like poetry often comment that the reason is because they don't understand it. One of the things I so appreciate about your fine anthologies of poems for youth is the wonderful balance between accessibility and challenge. Sometimes the theme of the collection provides the point of accessibility--a lens through which to first begin thinking about a specific poems--sometimes the poems themselves "go down easy" so to speak, even as they may offer much to think about. But there are also poems that do require readers to consciously stretch and think and imagine.
Are you consciously thinking about these ir other qualities when you read poems for potential inclusion in a book for children and teens? Are you looking for qualities you can break down and define, or is it more about how a poem as a whole strikes you?
Megan
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:30:37 -0500
To mark National Poetry month, we are focusing on poetry anthologies on CCBC-Net for the first part of April.
Two exceptional compilers of poetry anthologies who are members of the CCBC-Net community have agreed to respond to questions about creating an anthology of poems for youth.
Lee Bennett Hopkins is the compiler of numerous poetry anthologies for children on a breathtaking range of topics. His many highly regarded books include welcome anthologies designed for beginning readers, such as "Blast Off! Poems about Space" (HarperCollins, 1995) and "A Pet for Me: Poems" (HarperCollins, 2003) to more challenging books for older children, including "Behind the Museum Door: Poems to Celebrate the Wonders of Museums" (Abrams, 2007) and his newest anthology, "America at War: A Book of Poems" (Margaret K. McElderry, 2008). In 1993, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was established by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book and Penn State University Libraries to honor his career. The award recognizes the American creator of the most outstanding book of poetry for youth published in the preceding year.)
Ruth Gordon is the compiler of several celebrated poetry anthologies for young adults, including "Under All Silences: Shades of Love" (Harper, 1987), "Time Is the Longest Distance: An Anthology of Poems"
(HarperCollins, 1991), "Peeling the Onion: An Anthology of Poems"
(HarperCollins, 1993) and "Pierced by a Ray of Sun: Poems for the Times We Feel Alone" (HarperCollins, 1995). Her books gather voices from across centuries and cultures around a chosen theme, offering challenging and timeless poems that speak to experiences that resonate for young adults today.
We invite you to ask Lee and Ruth questions you have about creating an poetry anthology for children or teens, or about any of their specific books.
In addition, we invite you to share some of you owe favorite poetry anthologies for children and teens.
I'll begin with a question for both Lee and Ruth. I'm wondering if you can each speak to what you think about when choosing poems for an audience of children or teens. People who say they don't like poetry often comment that the reason is because they don't understand it. One of the things I so appreciate about your fine anthologies of poems for youth is the wonderful balance between accessibility and challenge. Sometimes the theme of the collection provides the point of accessibility--a lens through which to first begin thinking about a specific poems--sometimes the poems themselves "go down easy" so to speak, even as they may offer much to think about. But there are also poems that do require readers to consciously stretch and think and imagine.
Are you consciously thinking about these ir other qualities when you read poems for potential inclusion in a book for children and teens? Are you looking for qualities you can break down and define, or is it more about how a poem as a whole strikes you?
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 608/262-9503 schliesman at education.wisc.edu www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/Received on Thu 03 Apr 2008 02:30:37 PM CDT
