http://growwings.blogspot.com/

PS:  If you have or know of a blog that should be featured in the Update, drop Jon a line at jon@write4kids.com   Also, if you happen to come across a children's writing blog or site that doesn't list the Children's Writing Update, The Children's Writing Web Journal (http://write4kids.com/blog) or Write4Kids.com among its links or resources, why not send a friendly note telling them about us?  We'd really appreciate it!

 

 

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We've Got Solutions to Aid Your Resolutions!

• Need insider secrets and fresh markets for your manuscript? Check out Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers at http://write4kids.com/aboutchi.html

• Just getting started and need a friendly, step-by-step guide to becoming a children's author? Check out Career Starter, The Beginner's Guide to Writing for Children at http://write4kids.com/starter.html

• Want to have an incredible amount of "How To" wisdom right at your fingertips? The Children's Writer's Big Book of How To has the solution to more than 100 of the trickiest issues faced by children's authors. From coming up with great ideas right through signing the contract, this amazing volume is packed with insight. http://write4kids.com/bigbook.html

• Have you written a story but don't know what to do next? I've Written a Story, What Do I Do Now? tells you what you need to know about submitting your manuscript to publishers efficiently and professionally. http://write4kids.com/nowwhat.html

• Tired of getting rejection letters? Improving The Odds reveals the manuscript-revision secrets of top authors that help push them over the top. http://write4kids.com/odds.html

• Looking to self-publish a picture book? Could You, Should You Self-Publish a Children's Picture Book? is the perfect step-by-step guide for anyone who's considering the self-publishing route. Don't spend a dime of your precious funds before reading what Anne Emerick has to say! http://write4kids.com/could.html

• Need to know how to write a killer query or cover letter that gets noticed? Author to Editor collects actual letters used by top authors that resulted in publishing contracts. Full analysis and lots of easy-to-apply tips help make writing the perfect query or cover letter a breeze. http://write4kids.com/a2e.html

• Having trouble developing a plot? Crafting strong characters? Coming up with good story ideas? Our In-Depth Workshop Series goes in-depth to make you a stronger and more confident writer. http://write4kids.com/indepth.html

• Care to hear -- first-hand -- the best advice superstar authors have to give for aspiring children's writers? In Their Own Words offers exclusive insight from Lois Lowry, Judy Blume, R.L. Stine, Chris Crutcher and many, many more. This is pure gold and available nowhere else. http://write4kids.com/itow.html

And there's more. For a full listing, just go to http://write4kids.com/collect.html

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The Children's Writers Big Book of "How To"

The Children's Writer's Big Book of "How To" has the solution to more than 100 of the trickiest issues faced by children's authors. From coming up with great ideas right through signing the contract, this amazing volume is packed with insight. Visit http://write4kids.com/bigbook.html to view then entire table of contents!

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>> ITEM 7 - Feature Article: Writing Poems for Children  By Laura Backes, Publisher of  Children's Book Insider

Springtime brings out the poets. The collections I critique this time of year might include verses that gush over the beauty of a sunset, pine for lost youth or eagerly anticipate a future love. And though the authors clearly worked hard to pack their poems with eye-popping adjectives, I'm afraid when kids read them all they'll do is gag.

I love good poetry for children. It's free of the narcissistic navel-gazing and emotional hand-wringing present in a good chunk of the poetry for adults. While there's really no wrong way to write verse for kids, the poems that work have the same childlike worldview employed by successful children's prose. And, like any other area of writing for children, reading quality published examples is the best way to learn how to write good poems of your own. I like anthologies because they give you a sampling of many different poets and styles. One of my favorites is the classic Random House Book of Poetry for Children, edited by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. Use an anthology as a jumping-off point to discover poets you like, then delve further into their own collections. As you read, you'll see that great poems for children all share some common elements:

1) They're built around a central idea that has nothing to do with the adult author. There are certain universal truths and ideas that mark each stage of childhood. Poems, like books, have a specific target age group, and should explore the ideas that are of importance to that particular age. Pick one childhood truth and present it to the reader in a new way. Broad, abstract, grown-up concerns have no place in poetry for children.

2) They hold a magnifying glass up to the world. Kids are fascinated with the details of the world, as long as those details are relevant to their own lives. Instead of rhapsodizing about the beauty of a sunset, commiserate with the frustration of trying to duplicate the colors of the sunset with a box of only eight crayons.

3) They capture a moment in time. The area of that magnifying glass isn't very big, and neither is the time frame of your poem. It might be however long it takes for a bird to swallow a worm, or the period between lights out and sleep. But everything that occurs in that time frame is in sharp focus. One of my favorite poems that beautifully illustrates all of the above is "A Bug Sat in a Silver Flower" by Karla Kuskin. I don't want to infringe on copyright by reprinting the poem here, so I urge you to read it for yourself. It involves a bug sitting on a flower, minding his own business, when a bigger bug comes along and gobbles him up without a thought, just because he can. It touches perfectly on a child's sense of fairness, bullies, and good manners. And it also contains a brilliant final line.

4) They are pleasing to the eye and the ear. The way the poem looks on the page is just as important as how it sounds. The length of the lines and the arrangement of stanzas can add meaning to the words. Valerie Worth's "Crickets" is a poem written in very short lines, most one word long, stacked on top of each other like a blade of grass. The structure of "Valentine" by Shel Silverstein reminds me of Valentine's cards piled on a child's desk, with the final line (displaying the child's disappointment) hidden underneath. Even if you create words, they must capture the rhythm and spirit of the poem, and make sense to the reader. A.A. Milne pulled this off perfectly with poems like "The More It Snows" and "Sneezles."

5) They end with a punch line. Not every poem needs a kicker for a last line, but it's a good way to add humor, irony, or make your reader see the world in a new way. Kuskin's poem about the bully bug ended by dispensing justice, as the big guy didn't just eat the little bug: "He also ate his underwear." 

Above all, poems for children encompass all the wonder, joy, sadness, imagination, and discovery of simply being a child and interacting with the world. No navel-gazing allowed, unless it means examining the lint that collected there over the winter.