Children's Poetry Blog Hop: On Haiku

When my friend (and fearless leader of Wednesday writers) Jackie Jules asked if I would participate in the Children's Poetry Blog Hop, I knew I had to say yes. What I didn't know was what I was going to say next. You know, on the subject of children's poetry. I'm supposed to ask (and answer) three questions in a Mortimer Minute. Here goes:

Formal or free verse? Formal. As a writer, I like the freedom of working within certain contraints, and the subversive pleasure of defying them.

A favorite form? Haiku. Three lines: one breath. I teach haiku as part of a program for families that uses observation, discussion, and poetry (or sketching, or sound) to explore works of art, and I encourage my families to think about haiku as an experience--capturing a moment--not an exercise in counting syllables. 5-7-5 doesn't work in English the way it does in Japanese; try short-long-short instead.

A collection of haiku for children? My favorite is Today and Today; haiku by master Kobayashi Issa, pictures by G. Brian Karas (Scholastic, 2007). Karas selected and arranged 18 of Issa's haiku to tell a story of four seasons--one ordinary, extraordinary year--in the life of a family. Our library shelves it with the picture book fiction rather than the poetry, actually. It's beautiful, understated but very sad.

That's all for the Mortimer Minute! And thank you, Jackie, for asking me to participate: as it turns out, I did have something to say about children's poetry. Maybe even more than a minute's worth! If you do, too, please consider participating in the Children's Poetry Blog Hop. Mortimer and I will thank you.

[Poetry Friday is at Jama's Alphabet Soup today. Thanks, Jama!]

How old is that in blog years?

Books Together is six years old today. It's easy to remember the anniversary of my first post, because it coincided with what would have been Astrid Lindgren's 100th birthday: we celebrated at the House of Sweden. I think we're catching up to her.

I've been quieter than usual this year, partly because of Batchelder Business: I'm on the 2014 Award Committee, a tremendous privilege for me (I was pretty sure they had me confused with another Anamaria Anderson) and one that makes it hard to write publicly about what I'm reading most of the time. I can say that I see translated literature and culturally diverse literature for children as two sides of the same coin. Let's mint more of them.

[The image above is by Argentine illustrator Isol, who received  the 2013 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for lifetime achievement. At 41, speaking of birthdays!]

Reports from Kidlitcon and One Photo of a Cat

Children's (and YA) book bloggers met up in Austin over the weekend for the seventh annual Kidlitcon. I've only managed to attend one--the one right here in Washington, DC--but it was so worthwhile I always wish I could go (well, as long as I'm wishing, I wish it were in Washington every year. But failing that, I do wish I could go). Fortunately, I can at least benefit from everyone who did go and then blogged about it, most especially Charlotte, who together with Katy (Books YA Love) and Melissa (Book Nut), moderated a panel on Blogging Middle Grade; and Jen, who presented with Sarah on Blogger Burnout. Since I would do more of the first if I didn't have a case of the second, I appreciate their insights and advice. Look, I'm blogging already! I've also taken to heart keynote speaker Cynthia Leitich Smith's recommendations regarding cat photos. This is not my cat.

Journey by Aaron Becker

Everything you've read or heard about Aaron Becker's Journey (Candlewick) is true: it's a magical, beautiful book, more than a little reminiscent of Harold and the Purple Crayon, with detailed illustrations done in watercolor and pen and ink. And wordless, like Barbara Lehman's The Red Book (HMH Books for Young Readers, 2004), with which it also has a lot in common: crossing oceans, finding friends.

My favorite spreads are the earlier ones, of a forest hung with fairy lights and Chinese lanterns, and of the glorious loch castle on the cover: I lingered there for a long time. Unfortunately for me, Journey doesn't. Instead, it takes to the air, and I'm not entirely on board with the steampunk airships and samurai soldiers--bad guys, ordered by their emperor to catch and cage a purple, phoenix-like bird. And keep it in a golden pagoda. Hmm.

Anyway, girl frees bird, bird rescues girl (there's a magic carpet of her own making involved), girl meets boy, the end. For now. It's still a magical, beautiful book, only not quite one for me.

You might love it, though. I really wanted to--just look at it!