Poetry for Children

H is For Haiku – For Mother’s Day, Give the Gift of Poetry

H IS FOR HAIKU:
A TREASURY OF HAIKU FROM A TO Z
Written by Sydell Rosenberg
Illustrations and lettering by Sawsan Chalabi
With a forward by Amy Losak
(Penny Candy Books; $16.95, ages 4 and up)

H is For Haiku cover illustration

I cannot think of a more fitting tribute for Mother’s Day than to share this moving and thoughtful collection of haiku that Amy Losak, daughter of late poet Sydell Rosenberg, assembled and submitted for publication. The release in April of Rosenberg’s picture book, H is For Haiku, was ” … the culmination of a decades-long dream,” says Losak. I’m so glad that Losak was determined to share her mother’s gift with children and that Penny Candy Books made that dream a reality. Now we get to reap the rewards—reading them! Over and over again.

 

Int. artwork by Sawsan Chalabi from H is For Haiku by Sydell Rosenberg PCB
Interior spread from H is For Haiku: A Treasury of Haiku From A to Z written by Sydell Rosenberg with illustrations and lettering by Sawsan Chalabi, Penny Candy Books ©2018.

 

It’s easy to tell when haiku comes from the heart as is the case for this New York inspired alphabetic haiku journey. Rosenberg’s homage to her city jumps off the pages and transcends time. Nothing escaped her observant eye, whether it was a bird, a parked car, a squirrel, an umbrella or a watering can. Having grown up in New York, I found so many favorites but I’ll try to pick out just a few. The rest will rely on you. No doubt you’ll agree that three simple lines of poetry can be oh so powerful.

With each letter comes a new delight, an awakening of the senses. Feel the wind blow alongside the gentle touch of petals in Plunging downhill/Petals falling in her hair/Girl on a bike or imagine your favorite ice cream flavor as you claim your spot on a long line in Queuing for ice cream/Sweat-sprinkled office workers/On Queens Boulevard. How amazing that in just 17 or so syllables (Rosenberg wasn’t a stickler) I could be transported instantly to my commuter days from decades ago when I took the subway daily to work! I recalled the heaviness of the humidity on my face, the barrage of assorted smells and the oppressiveness of the heat culminating with the need for a cool scoop of chocolate chip in a sugar cone. Rosenberg’s masterful haiku crafting shines yet again in Jumping Quietly/The cat follows a peach pit/Tossed from the terrace. Can you picture the fire escape or the cat jumping high to catch the pit before it hits the pavement?

 

Interior artwork by Sawsan Chalabi from H is For Haiku by Sydell Rosenberg PCB
Interior spread from H is For Haiku: A Treasury of Haiku From A to Z written by Sydell Rosenberg with illustrations and lettering by Sawsan Chalabi, Penny Candy Books ©2018.

 

The treasury includes imaginative and colorful artwork from Sawsan Chalabi. A particular favorite is letter D where she created a concrete poem in that she gives the haiku raindrop shapes adding to the sensation the language creates. The illustrations have an upbeat and retro feel at the same time and are not only pleasing to the eye but wonderful interpretations of Rosenberg’s words.

Treat yourself, your kids, friends and family to the joy that is H is For Haiku and see which ones resonate with you. Most importantly, listen to your mother, and your heart. Happy Mother’s Day!

  • Review by Ronna Mandel

Amy Losak’s comments:

“Years after Syd died in 1996, I took up her goal of publishing one of her kids’ manuscripts from the 1970’s/1980’s. She was a charter member of the Haiku Society of America in 1968, which was “born” in NYC. It turns 50 years old this year. (I am a member now too.) Many of mom’s “city haiku” reflect her urban surroundings and sensibility, but they are universal and timeless, as well.

Haiku are brief (they make perfect “pocket poetry”) but they impel readers to slow down and linger over something they may ordinarily overlook. As I say in my introduction, haiku help make so-called “small moments” big. Haiku is a way to enter with awareness into the world around us. Children and adults alike will relate to these evocative ‘word-pictures.'”

To order the book:
https://www.pennycandybooks.com/shop/haiku

Read more here:

https://www.pennycandybooks.com/blog-1/losak

http://readlearnandbehappy.blogspot.com/2017/04/happy-international-haiku-day-national.html

About the publisher:
PCB is dedicated to diversity in children’s literature. It’s a small, traditional press having “big conversations.”
Check them out at www.pennycandybooks.com or on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

 

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Great Poetry Books for Children

 We Say Good-bye to National Poetry Month

We kicked off National Poetry Month with a terrific poetry book and we’ll end the month the same way!

Changescvr.jpgLet’s look at CHANGES: A Child’s First Poetry Collection by Charlotte Zolotow with illustrations by Tiphanie Beeke and an introduction by Zolotow’s daughter, writer Crescent Dragonwagon (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky; $16.99, Ages 3 and up). The late, great, award-winning author and poet, Charlotte Zolotow, wrote many of the poems I learned as a child. Perhaps you recall some of them, too.

Now with this collection of her seasonal poetry gathered together for the first time, you can share the 28 poems and watch youngsters experience the same joy you did upon hearing them years ago. The selection of poems begins with spring and finishes in winter. The book closes with a touching poem called So Will I that might even bring a tear to your eye as it did to mine. In this poem a young narrator recounts hearing his grandfather’s beautiful memories of nature from his youthful days. This poem, like the others, as Dragonwagon so aptly points out,  is “deceptively simple, transparent and refreshing as a glass of clean, clear, cold spring-water.” Drink up!

The opening poem, Change, with its subtle message, is one of my favorites. Here’s how it begins:

This summer
still hangs
heavy and sweet
with sunlight
as it did last year.

 

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Interior artwork from Changes: A Child’s First Poetry Collection by Charlotte Zolotow with illustrations by Tiphanie Beeke and an introduction by Crescent Dragonwagon, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky ©2015.

In addition to Zolotow’s cyclical poems with evocative titles such as The Spring Wind, Crocus, By the Sea, Beetle, The Leaves and The First Snow, another treat of Changes: A Child’s First Poetry Collection is that it’s full of gorgeous illustrations. Beeke’s watercolor artwork is vibrant and cheerful, composed with a light touch and full heart. With each turn of the page, there’s something pleasing to look at whether it’s a small insect on a book in The Fly or a snowy woods teeming with life in Here.

In this centenary of Zolotow’s birth, it’s wonderful that we can celebrate her contribution to children’s literature, and recognize the brilliance of her poetry which continues to resonate today as strongly as it did when first written.

– Reviewed by Ronna Mandel

 

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World Rat Day and Other Poems

World Rat Day: Poems about Real Holidays You’ve Never Heard  Of written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Anna Raff, (Candlewick Press; $15.99; ages 4 and up) is reviewed by Rita Zobayan.

0763654027Any concept that poetry is high culture and addresses only the topics of love and death flies out the window with World Rat Day: Poems about Real Holidays You’ve Never Heard Of. Featuring over 20 poems celebrating holidays as unusual as Happy Mew Year for Cats Day (January 2), Bat Appreciation Day (mark your calendars for April 17!) or International Cephalopod Awareness Day (October 8), this compilation is silly fun wrapped in verse.

If you’re in the mood to appreciate dragons—and let’s be honest, who isn’t?!—then don’t wait until January 16 to do so. Read along as we get an inside look at dragon dining etiquette with “Eight Table Manners for Dragons.”

At every meal, bow your head, fold your wings, and say, ‘Graze.’/Wait till someone screams, ‘Let’s heat!’/Don’t talk with people in your mouth./Never blow on your soup. That only makes it hotter./Don’t smoke./Never remove a hare from your food./Play with your food, but don’t let it run around screaming./Chew your food. Once.

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Each poem has accompanying illustrations that portray the whimsy of the verses. The characters’ expressions are hilarious and the ink wash style presents the scenes perfectly. World Rat Day: Poems about Real Holidays You’ve Never Heard Of is a great way to start a youngster’s introduction into the world of poetry.

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Friendship Poems for Kids

We Go Together!: A Curious Selection of Affectionate Verse by Calef Brown (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $9.99; ages 6 and up) is reviewed today by word lover Rita Zobayan.

Calef Brown mixes pithy diction with fantastical imagery in We Go Together!: A Curious Selection of Affectionate Verse. This 18 poem collection celebrates the quirks and intimacies of friendship, whether it is between boys, girls, animals, or even aliens! Fun words—scallywags, mirth makers, chorkle, concoct—are sprinkled throughout, making each poem a new adventure in language. Some poems use simple rhyme schemes that are easy for young readers to follow and read aloud.

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Throughout the poems there is a kindness and hopefulness for the type of friendships we want for our children. “Because of You” captures the sentiment precisely:

I was once/a half-emptyer./Now I’m a half-fuller./Because of you—the together-puller./So if I should smile/and say something sunny,/don’t look at me funny/or act surprised./Because of you,/I’m optimized.

Simple and sweet. The sweetness of the poems is matched by the artistry of the illustrations. In Calef’s world, green aliens take tea, a dog in a hat rings doorbells, a kiwi floats high above the cityscape, and panda faces appear in the rain. Slightly odd and intriguing, the illustrations will draw in the reader and bring the words to life.

Perfect as a gift for a good friend, We Go Together!: A Curious Selection of Affectionate Verse is a pint-sized package (the books measures just about 6” on each side) that packs a lot of love.

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It Takes Two, Baby

Two’s Company

Take Two!: A Celebration of Twins by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, illustrated by Sophie Blackall; ($17.99, Candlewick Press, ages 5 and up) is reviewed by Rita Zobayan.

If you are a twin, know people who are twins, or are expecting twins, pick up a copy of Take Two!  A Celebration of Twins by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. This amusing book is a compilation of 44 poems on all things twins. The cleverly titled sections (Twins in the Waiting Womb, Twinfants, How to Be One and Famous Twins) contain verses on the aspects of life that are particularly significant to twins— establishing identity, individual personality, looks, names, and so on. Both authors have experience with twins; Lewis is a twin and Yolen has many twin family members. Their experience and insight show in the topics of the poems, as the reader gets a sense of what it’s like to be a twin. Here’s an excerpt from a poem titled “Two’s a Crowd”:

If you never have a single moment/You can call your own,/Always being dubbed “the twin”/And never left alone,/You’ll understand the plight I’m in,/Wishing I were one…

The poems range from sentimental to tongue in cheek. Each poem is written with language and in a style that children can understand and enjoy. Sophie Blackall’s illustrations are bright, colorful and a touch mischievous, much like the poems themselves. Catching the details in her pictures is an enjoyable way to complement the reading of the poems. My daughters (not twins) and I had a good time looking at the different expressions and actions that Sophie Blackwell cleverly portrays.

Throughout the book are scientific and fun facts about twins. For example, did you know that conjoined twins occur in about 1 out of 400,000 twin births? The record holder for the highest number of twin births belongs to Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev, who birthed an astonishing 16 sets of twins in the 1700s.

Take Two!: A Celebration of Twins makes for a fun poetry read on a subject that holds much fascination, especially to children. Of course, if you’re going to give the book as a gift to twins, you might want to pick up a second copy. 

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