My first book, Squeeze, was born in 2005--here I am signing a copy at its Book Birthday Party! Who is older, you or Squeeze? I myself was born in 1964 and started writing poetry in about 1972. I wrote poems all the way through college, took a long break, and began writing again in 1999.
I grew up mainly in Richmond, VA, on the Northside. Many of the poems in Squeeze are about places and experiences I had there between the ages of 5 and 17. The poems in Pumpkin Butterfly come mostly from the time after I grew up and became a mom, between 1999 and 2009.
To find out what I mean about poems coming from places and experiences, click on this for young poets link.
Fun Facts
Favorite color:
Turquoise--could you
guess? It took me a long time, but I
finally made the committment at age 32.
Least favorite food:
Green peppers, although
I like other green vegetables--even Brussels sprouts.
Most favorite food:
Yes.
Favorite poetry books:
In the Night Garden by Janet Wong;
stone bench in an empty park,
collected by Paul Janeczko;
A Lucky Thing by Alice Schertle;
all the small poems by Valerie Worth,
and many more to be
added soon!
Favorite picture books:
Swimmy by Leo Lionni;
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
by William Steig;
Hazel's Amazing Mother by Rosemary Wells;
Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran;
and almost all books by
Ezra Jack Keats. I once had a writing
friend in New York whose family had known Ezra Jack Keats, and she had an old green
sofa that belonged to him. I used to sit on it during meetings of writing group. Much later I found signed copies of Peter’s Chair and A Letter to Amy in a church library giveaway box, and even later I
discovered that we share the same birthday, March 11!
Favorite chapter books:
From when I was a kid:
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Warner
Chandler;
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White;
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil
E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg;
My Side of the Mountain by Jean George;
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, and
Harriet the Spy by Louise
Fitzhugh.
More recent
additions:
The Mysterious Benedict Society
by Trenton Lee Stewart and
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine.

I hold a Master's in Language and Literature in Education in addition to my graduate degree in teaching and that still-useful B.A. in American Studies. This extensive training has served me well throughout 27 years of classroom experience, during which I've taught children ages 3 to 14 in schools from East Harlem to Inner London to the DC suburbs. I've conducted inservice development for teachers in Writing Workshop, a literature class for ages 4-7 called Books for Beginners, and freelance workshops in classrooms throughout the DC Metro area, especially through Arlington, VA's wonderful Pick-a-Poet program.
After eight years teaching part-time at a local cooperative nursery school, in 2007 my spouse and I moved with our two children to Vincennes, just outside Paris, for a year-long adventure. Since then I've had several part-time positions in Montgomery County Public schools and been involved in an effort--unfruitful--to establish a public charter school. Our daughter and son, now 16 and 13, attend two different MCPS schools, and I'll be teaching 2nd grade this year at a third school, after four full-time years in kindergarten.
Your work is beautifully designed and written, with flaire I wish I could develop! This is a God given talent of which I was not blessed! I am a medical procedures who is no longer able to practice due to Rheumatoid Disease. If my life long desire to write never becomes reality, I will fight for your rights to be in US Libraries!
ReplyDeleteAppreciations for this lovely introduction page, Heidi.
ReplyDeleteYou've created a mighty fine site.
I've put your titles on my to-read list!