April Means Poetry

Still recovering from the Pistachios, but I have to give some kind of welcome to wonderful April, AKA National Poetry Month. Every year, the children's poetry contingent celebrates mightily, not to mention beautifully.

Over at Alphabet Soup, Jama Rattigan gives us a very nice list of National Poetry Month events. Of course, her Poetry Potluck is one of my favorites: tasty poetry and recipes!

I will mention that I'm participating in a few events. First of all, I'm so happy to be a part of Greg Pincus's 30 Poets/30 Days at Gottabook. (See artwork to right.) Here's the link.

I am also doing one line in Irene Latham's very cool Progressive Poem. More on that next week. (Irene gives us a list of Poetry Month events, too.) Okay, this is the post with my line and the links to keep following the poem all month.

And thank you so much to ReaderkidZ for making me their author-in-residence this month. I solemnly swear to tell embarrassing childhood stories, show photos, and talk about writing poetry. Thanks to Chronicle, ReaderkidZ and I will also be giving away a copy of Water Sings Blue sometime soon!

Bestsellers and the Big 30

Greg of GottaBook has news for us. First, a link to a Publishers Weekly breakdown of Bestselling Children's Books—by dollar amounts. Discover how Stephenie Meyer still outsells everybody on the planet! Watch Fancy Nancy add lace to dollar bills! See where the celebrity authors' books and Disney tie-ins fall, not to mention your own favorites!

Now, April is National Poetry Month, and that means it's nearly time for Greg's 30 Poets/30 Days event, which I visited joyfully last year. Basically, Greg has invited 30 children's poets to contribute poems, one for each day of April. Even more fun, all of the poems will be previously unpublished. Here's the announcement with a list of participating poets, including great names like Bobbie Katz, Alice Schertle, and Laura Purdie Salas.