Poetry Friday: #DearOneLBH

 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm

is hosting this week's celebration

of beloved children's poet and anthologist,

Lee Bennett Hopkins.

I'm happy to join this celebration of Lee Bennett Hopkins today. I pulled all my poetry anthologies by Lee off my shelves, read each poem by Lee, and borrowed the line "carries us all" from the poem "School Supplies" in the book by the same title.  It wasn't long before I realized that I wanted to model my poem on his "School Supplies" poem. Here's my "Poem Train" chugging down the tracks to join today's #DearOneLBH celebration.

 

Poem Train 

This glad-Friday

 joyful-cheerful-vibrant

poem train

gathered for Lee

carries us all –

         Poem friends-

         Fans of Lee-

        Scanning lines of poetry

        and finding

        line
        after
        line

        of

       words to love.

-   Ramona Behnke
    (mentor poem – “School Supplies” by Lee Bennett Hopkins)

Poetry Friday & NPM 2018: A Happy Birthday Poem!

Head over to Life on the Deckle Edge,

Robyn Hood Black's blog, for this week's

round-up of birthday posts in honor of

 an extraordinary poet, Lee Bennett Hopkins. 

Today is Lee Bennett Hopkins 80th birthday and we're celebrating him and his poetry for Poetry Friday. I knew that I wanted to pay tribute to some of my favorite books and anthologies by Lee. When I started listing my favorites, I first thought about a book spine poem, but then I realized that there were several of my favorites that I don't own (I may need to remedy that). So I decided to arrange the book titles into a poem. First, I tried to arrange them in order of preference, but that was too hard (like trying to pick a favorite child). I had fun organizing the titles into mostly two line phrases and by the number of words in the title. When I realized that the 13th is Lee's birthday, I added one more book to the poem so that it has 13 books (a baker's dozen) in honor of the day of the month that this remarkable poet was born.

Happy Birthday, Lee Bennett Hopkins!

Manger,

Sky Magic.

Amazing Places,

My America, 

Got Geography!

School Supplies,

Wonderful Words.

City I Love,

Sharing the Seasons.

I Am the Book

Jumping Off Library Shelves.

Good Books, Good Times,

Pass the Poetry, Please!

 - Ramona Behnke 2018

While looking up titles for this post, I ended up requesting additional LBH titles from the library for our upcoming display of poetry for Poem in Your Pocket Day. I even had to purchase an older book that my library doesn't own because I was so enticed by  its delightful title. Watch for the cover reveal later in the month when it arrives on my doorstep. And I had to request Poetry on Wheels from our library's Central Storage for my wheel-obsessed grandson. 

Pass the Poetry, Please! is a title that I purchased years ago and that guided my love for poetry as a young mother in the 80s and then when I went back to the classroom in the 90s. I purchased the 3rd edition of the book, but my earlier one is hardback and it's autographed. So I had to keep it too (just don't tell my husband)! And if you'd like to see more LBH joy, check out my post in last year's alphabetic stroll through poetry when I presented Lee Bennett Hopkins, the king of poetry. How lucky we are to have someone like you, Lee, a literary light in the world of children's poetry. Here's to a birthday filled with joy, good friends, and many poems! 

National Poetry Month 2018
"Give praise with friends near and far,
flinging words to the sky!"
- Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

NPM Day 10: Lee Bennett Hopkins, The Poetry King!

My book spine poem for NPM 2017:

She walks in beauty

A jar of tiny stars

Awakening the heart

Open the door

House of light 

Pass the poetry, please!

For day 10 of my alphabetic stroll through poetry, I give you (drum roll, please!) the king of poetry, Lee Bennett Hopkins.  I love these words of tribute offered by Renee LaTulippe at The Spotlight on NCTE Poets post on Lee:  "This installment brings us to a prolific and celebrated educator, poet, author, and anthologist who has dedicated his life to the advocacy of children’s poetry, to the benefit of us all."  

One of the first professional poetry books that I ever purchased was Pass the Poetry, Please!  I've returned to it again and again and always learned something new and fun from its pages.  My second edition copy is hardback and autographed, so I've resisted purchasing the third edition for just that reason.  However, while preparing to write this post and looking at some of the preview pages offered by Amazon, I could resist no longer.  When I compared the table of contents between the two editions, I could see that I not only wanted, but needed the third edition.  Even as I write, the 3rd editon (revised, enlarged, and updated) is on its way to my mailbox.  And speaking of new editions, perhaps it's time for a 4th edition!   Here are just a few of my personal favorites from the king of poetry, Lee Bennett Hopkins!

 

Favorite picture book anthologies

by Lee Bennett Hopkins

from my own shelves:  

Good Books, Good Times

I Am the Book

Jumping Off Library Shelves

Manger

School Supplies

Wonderful Words

Favorite professional book by Lee Bennett Hopkins:

Pass the Poetry, Please!

Favorite interviews with Lee Bennett Hopkins:

Renee LaTulippe at NoWater River:

Spotlight on NCTE Poets

Michelle H. Barnes at Today's Little Ditty: 

Spotlight on Lee Bennett Hopkins + DMC Challenge

Reading Rockets:

Let's talk about poetry with Lee Bennett Hopkins

Favorite quote from Lee Bennett Hopkins:

"When bringing poetry and children together – PLEASE – just bring them together. They do not need to answer endless senseless questions or stomp verse into the ground surrounded by a bevy of activities. Do children really have to be asked how they know Miss Muffett wasn’t married? That a lovely verse about a city has to be followed up doing research on population? That a poem about math has to be followed by a discussion on the law of relativity? NO! Read the poem – and quite simply, shut up!" (from Reading Rockets interview "Lets talk about poetry with Lee Bennett Hopkins)