an exciting announcement

I've known for about a month now about this new opportunity, but this week I received my first official communication as a member of the...  

NCTE Children's Poetry Awards Committee!

Our charge is

• To recommend on a regular basis (every two years beginning in 2009) the name of a living American poet or anthologist to the NCTE Executive Committee to receive the NCTE Children's Poetry Award in recognition of his or her aggregate work.
• To establish an annual list of Notable Poetry Books published in the current year by any poet, living or deceased, and of any nationality.
• To establish an annual list of Notable Verse Novels published in the current year by any poet, living or deceased, and of any nationality.
• To sustain a collection of poetry books of past and future award winners in the University of Minnesota, Kerlan Collection.
• To recognize and foster excellence in children’s poetry by encouraging its publication.
• To explore ways to acquaint teachers and children with poetry through such means as publications, programs, and displays.

I'll be joining a group of seven good folks who share these responsibilities and as you can imagine, I'm thrilled to be of service in this way and looking forward to  reading 75-100 books of poetry and novels in verse each year!

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And now, an Instadraft^TM of a sharing moment that occurred unexpectedly on Tuesday at the end of the day.  

My Tradition

is my tradition because I'm the only one!

The only one in my family 

born in China.

My mom and dad (can I tell their real names?)

were born in Texas; my sister too.

My brother was also born in the United States

(is New Mexico part of the United States?) 

in New Mexico. But I was born in China,

and I should tell you 

I'm adopted.

That's when your parents can't 

take care of you, and I went to an orphanage.

It's not sad, because three years later--

THREE YEARS--that's where 

my family found me and brought me home. 

So, Chinese New Year Is MY tradition.

We'll eat Chinese food

and maybe have some decorations 

and watch the parade in China 

with the dragon dance.

My favorite part is eating with chopsticks. 

Happy Year of the Pig!

©HM 2019                              

The round-up today is brought to us by Laura at Writing the World for Kids, I think.....parade on over and see what's happening!

cybils poetry finalists I

Oops!  My series highlighting the 7 finalists for the 2015 Cybils Poetry Award is...not allowed!  As a new judge, I didn't realize that I shouldn't post anything at all.  So I've now removed the two offending posts, and we must all wait until the official winner announcement on February 14 to read reviews and critiques by me and the other judges.

However...the chilly nature of one of the finalists put me in mind of an own poem from Pumpkin Butterfly:  Poems from the Other Side of Nature.  I shared it with my students this week after a very interesting discussion about Epiphany in the Christian story and the question "What year was Jesus born?"

Epiphany Forest

On January 6th, when the presents

and carols and cookies are over,

there’s one last thing to do. 

Just as the Wise Men finally arrive

we undecorate, unlight, strip away the gold star.

On the morning of the 7th,

at the bare gray schoolyard

one by one our dying, drying trees,

still in their stands, are planted

among the cold poles of the equipment.

And on the 8th, when the

first snow finally arrives

we fly out onto the playground

faster than the flakes are falling

to marvel at our frosted Epiphany Forest.

©Heidi Mordhorst

                             

Please join Tabatha for some more of the muscle and grace of great poetry--she's got the Roundup at The Opposite of Indifference today.

tomcat apprentice

Just before Halloween we got our second cat, partly to keep Cat #1 "entertained" and partly to acknowledge the achievement of our sixth-grader, who soldiered through two nights away from home at Outdoor Ed with her new middle-school peers.

He was named Oak by the shelter and the kids decided to keep that name, although at the time I thought Acorn would be more appropriate. No more. At almost 5 months, he resembles our son, long-limbed and lean; when Oak stands on his hind legs to scratch at a fresh section of the parlor sofa his reach comes easily to my hip now. (But I'm short.)

How fortunate that right here in my new copy of Paul B. Janeczko's A Foot in the Mouth I have "A Tomcat Is" by J. Patrick Lewis, newly named winner of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Our Oak now has a model to strive towards, as do we poets--between midnight mouthfuls of marshmallow paws!

A Tomcat Is (excerpts)
J. Patrick Lewis

Night watchman of corners
Caretaker of naps
Leg-wrestler of pillows
Depresser of laps.

...

The bird-watching bandit
On needle-point claws
The chief of detectives
On marshmallow paws

A crafty yarn-spinner
A stringer high-strung
A buttermilk mustache
A sandpaper tongue

....

See the complete poem here and then buy the book! Scholastic resources here and here, if you like that sort of thing.

Today's tasty Poetry Friday round-up is at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup, where I find that she's highlighting J. Pat too. Coincidence, or fate?!?

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Follow-up from last week's gingerbread man post (and thanks to all for the comments on Mrs. Oven's poem):

Here's the recipe I'll be using to make dough today;
baking and photos tomorrow!

Gingerbread Cookies
(6 dozen gingerbread men or 10 dozen stars )

Cream 1 ½ cups shortening with 1 ½ cups sugar.
Beat in 3 eggs, 1 ½ cups dark molasses, 3 T. apple cider or white vinegar.
Add 7 ½ cups flour, 2 ½ t. baking soda, ¾ t. salt, 1 ½ T. ginger,
1 ½ t. each cinnamon and cloves.

Mix thoroughly and form into dough disc. Chill at least 3 hours.
Roll out thin on floured surface with floured rolling pin.
Cut in shapes and bake on parchment-lined cookie sheet 5-6 minutes at 375*.