Well, Poetry Month is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop reading poetry to your kids! Poet/Anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins provides our final tip of the month. Check out his advice as well as his anthology, Amazing Faces.
How to Read a Poem Aloud, Part 4
As Spring finally appears to be arriving and April is swiftly fleeting away, Guadalupe Garcia McCall shares some advice about reading poetry- and adding your own passion into 
that reading. A published poet in more than twenty literary journals, McCall’s first book, Under the Mesquite, will be released by LEE & LOW in Fall 2011.
What we’re doing to celebrate Earth Day
Happy Earth Day, everyone! In celebration of the day, I thought I’d ask around the office to see what Lee & Low staff members are doing to keep things green, and got some great answers:
“Tonight, I’m going to be unplugging my TV, laptop and phone and curling up with glass of certified organic wine and a good environmentally focused book, either Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion by Alan Burdick (which I need to finish!) or Elizabeth Kolbert’s Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change (an old favorite).”—Jaclyn DeForge, Educational Sales Associate
“I started using reusable bags a few years ago at the suggestion of my cousin. I found out that the U.S. wastes approximately 100 billion plastic bags every year, so I’ve been using a reusable bag ever since to cut down on waste. The one I have is really convenient too- it folds up to the size of the palm of my hand, so I can just keep it in my purse. It’s prettier than a plastic bag, too!” —Lucy Amon, Marketing & Publicity Assistant
How To Read A Poem Aloud, Part 3
April is flying by, but there is still plenty of time for poetry tips from our Lee & Low poets! This one is from Anastasia Suen who has published a whole plethora of titles with Lee & Low, most in our Bebop imprint. Her works include What Do You See at the Pond?, Pencil Talk and Other School Poems, and Toddler Two/Dos Años.
How to Read a Poem Aloud, Part 2
Some more advice from our LEE & LOW poets! This piece of wisdom is from award-winning author Marilyn Singer. Her first Lee & Low title, A Full Moon Is Rising, is expected later this spring. Some great advice from a woman who really knows poetry!
“My parents knew that reading to their kids was important. But reading wasn’t the only thing they did which shaped my love of books and then of writing. They also sang to me—especially my dad. He had these wonderful pastel-colored HIT PARADE sheets, which contained the lyrics of the most popular songs of the day. Now, we may not have Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, and all those other great lyricists around these days, but we have plenty of other good ones. I think that singing that stuff to your kids is a marvelous way to inspire musicality, love of words, and a feeling for poetry.
Tips for Reading Out Loud During Poetry Month
Since Poetry Month is in full swing, we asked some of our poets at LEE & LOW to provide tips for reading poetry to your kids or students. There were so many great answers that we’re going to break them up for you. Our first response is from Pat Mora, author of Yum! ¡Mmmm! ¡Qué Rico! Americas’ Sproutings, Confetti: Poems for Children (Confeti: Poemas para niños), and Love to Mamá: A Tribute to Mothers, among many others. Check out her advice, and try it! Be sure to let us know how it goes, and keep an eye out for the next tip!
Being There Without Being There
I did my first Skype visit last week. It was with the students of a publishing course being taught by Simmons College at the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, that needed a guest speaker. My visit was scheduled for Friday, which is the dress down day at the office, so I wore a dress shirt with jeans and sneakers and donned the spare tie I keep in the office. I looked presentable from the waist up.
Coming Soon: Tu Books!
We are THRILLED, thrilled I say, to unveil the covers of our first three Tu Books! Tu Books is our newest imprint and will be publishing multicultural middle grade and young adult science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. We now introduce our Fall 2011 launch list—drumroll, please:
Tankborn, by Karen Sandler
Best friends Kayla and Mishalla know they will be separated when the time comes for their Assignments. They are GENs, Genetically Engineered Non-humans, and in their strict caste system, GENs are at the bottom rung of society. High-status trueborns and working-class lowborns, born naturally of a mother, are free to choose their own lives. But GENs are gestated in a tank, sequestered in slums, and sent to work as slaves as soon as they reach age fifteen.
When Kayla is Assigned to care for Zul Manel, the patriarch of a trueborn family, she finds a host of secrets and surprises—not least of which is her unexpected friendship with Zul’s great-grandson. Meanwhile, the children that Mishalla is Assigned to care for are being stolen in the middle of the night. With the help of an intriguing lowborn boy, Mishalla begins to suspect that something horrible is happening to them.
5 Great Titles for Women’s History Month
It’s hard to believe we’re already in March! Warm weather may still be a few weeks away (although I’m ready any time now…) but there’s already plenty to celebrate this month—including, of course, Women’s History. Here are five of my favorite titles to give some color to your March reading list:
Catching the Moon: The Story of A Young Girl’s Baseball Dream, by Crystal Hubbard, illus. by Randy DuBurke
30 Days
Because I do not have cable at home I tend to discover shows on television much later than everyone else. Last week I watched the first three episodes of 30 Days. I liked Super Size Me a lot, and the idea of 30 Days appealed to me because the creator, Morgan Spurlock, tries to push people out of their comfort zones by making them walk (literally) in other people’s shoes.
