Heidi Mordhorst is the author of two collections of poetry for young readers and contributions to journals and anthologies for both adults and children, most recently Entre Magazine of the Arts Vol. 2, POETRY BY CHANCE (Button Poetry, ed. Taylor Mali) and DEAR HUMAN ONT HE EDGE OF TIME: Poems on Climate Change in the US (Paloma Press, ed. Luisa Igloria et al). She taught in primary classrooms for 37 years, has served on the NCTE Excellence in Poetry Award Committee and as a Cybils Award Judge. She's now a Teaching Artist with the Maryland State Arts Council and offers multiarts poetry programming for young writers through her organization WHISPERshout Writing Workshop.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 35 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.
FOR KIDS
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 commitment 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
Climbing Shadows by Shannon Bramer
One Last Word by Nikki Grimes
A Place Inside of Me by Zetta Elliott
Favorite Verse Novels:
Voices by David Elliott (for teen readers)
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
Harriet the Spy by Louise
Fitzhugh
