BLOG TOUR: Joan Bransfield Graham's New Book & Poetry Exercise!--Wednesday Writers' Workout

.
Howdy, Campers!

We're taking a breaking from HATCHing today--i.e.,celebrating the arrival of Jill Esbaum's newest book, I HATCHED! (here and here so far), but the contest to win this remarkable rhyming picture book by our very own Jill doesn't end until January 31st, so get your tail feathers on and enter here!

Today, I'm excited that TeachingAuthors is one of two mid-week stops on Joan Bransfield Graham's blog tour (the other stop today is at Renee LaTulippe's terrific No Water River) introducing Joan's new poetry book...AND since it's Wednesday, we welcome her as our very own personal trainer for today's Writing Workout.

This is my friend, the effervescent, inventive and truly original author and thinker, Joan Bransfield Graham. 

Joan is an award-winning poet who can't STOP writing poetry. She has files and piles of poems, which have been featured in anthologies, magazines, textbooks, and on CDs. She likes to think "outside the page" because poetry is "everywhere." Her books SPLISH SPLASH and FLICKER FLASH--shape poems about water and light--were both chosen as School Library Journal Best Books of the Year and NCTE Notables, among many other honors, and have been described as "ingenious," "wonderfully evocative," and "stunningly delicious." She loves photography, art, traveling and lives not-too-far from me in Los Angeles, CA.

 Celebrating its 20th Birthday!

Celebrating its 15th Birthday!

Just YESTERDAY, Joan's newest book--The Poem That Will  Not End: Fun with Poetic Forms and Voices--was published! This fabulous book, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker, was recently featured in an article called "A Year for Poetry" . . . "A picture book which may have language arts teachers doing a happy dance." – Kirkus Reviews

As Joan describes it, this book is the opposite of writer's block--Ryan O'Brian can't STOP writing poetry and does so in many unusual ways.  There is a book-length story poem, 22 poems embedded in the artwork, and a three-page glossary done as Ryan's notebook, describing the 15 poetic forms and five voices used. (Note: The publisher will provide a Teacher's Guide for this book with ties to the Common Core. I'll post the link as soon as I get that information.) 

Joan is truly a TeachingAuthor--her degree in Elementary Education is from Rowan University in NJ.  She taught 2nd Grade in New Jersey, did substitute teaching for grades 1 - 8 in Kentucky, and taught 4th and 5th Grade Gifted classes in California.  She is always teaching during her school visits, doing what she enjoys most--encouraging students to use their imagination and creativity.

And now, without further ado, here's Joan's WWW Olympic Writing Challenge:

JOAN: With the Winter Olympics fast approaching (Feb.7th in Sochi, Russia), April and I are going to turn writing into an Olympic sport--and we want you on our team!  Among the poems in my new book, THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END:  Fun with Poetic Forms and Voices, is a bike poem.  In this mask poem, the bike "speaks" for itself:
BIKE

Step on—
I am wheels
and gears,
I am speed.
I will heed
your slightest
command.

I will take you
anywhere.
I am wind
in your hair,
I am things
unsaid,
I’m the road
ahead . . . .

--© Joan Bransfield Graham

illustration by Kyrsten Brooker

In this Olympic Writing Challenge we ask you to see the Games through the "eyes" of a piece of sporting equipment--give it a voice--and write your own mask poem. 

What will you be--an ice hockey helmet, ski poles, ice skates or...?   

Share your mask poems with a loved one...and with us in the comments section below--we want to hear them!

And to double your pleasure, snowboard over to Renee LaTulippe's No Water River blog and transform your poem into an apostrophe poem (in which the poet addresses a non-living or non-human being)!

And BTW--did you know that Renee lives in Italy?  So, this "doubleheader" poetry prompt is an international event! Work out those mental muscles and Go for the Gold!

Thank you so much for sharing this energizing WWW with us, Joan!

Links to Joan Bransfield Graham's Grand Blog Tour 2014:

Monday, Jan. 27--Poetry for Children--Dr. Sylvia Vardell, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX, a behind-the-scenes look, http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2014/01/blog-tour-poem-that-will-not-end.html
Tuesday, Jan. 28--Tales from the Rushmore Kid--Tina Nichols Coury, editor interview with Melanie Kroupa, http://www.tinanicholscouryblog.com/
Wednesday, Jan. 29--Double Olympic Poetry Challenge--an international event!
No Water River--Renee LaTulippe (in Italy--using "Soccer Ball" as a prompt, write an apostrophe poem for a piece of Olympic sporting equipment), http://www.nowaterriver.com/
Teaching Authors--Six Authors Who Also Teach--(USA--using "Bike" as a prompt, write a mask poem for the same sports item--skis, skates, etc.) http://www.teachingauthors.com/
Thursday, Jan. 30--The Miss Rumphius Effect--Dr. Tricia Stohr-Hunt, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/
Friday, Jan. 31--Jama's Alphabet Soup--Jama Kim Rattigan--review of book, potato recipe, plus write "food couplet" (a la "Couplet for French Fries") to be entered into giveaway http://jamarattigan.com/

*  *  * 

Remember to enter our Book Giveaway of Jill Esbaum's
I HATCHED!--you have until Friday, January 31st!

posted with love by April Halprin Wayland with help from the fairies and the killdeer