I talk about children’s poetry with Lynn Freeman

 

 

from Groovy Fish

It was such a pleasure having this chat with Lynn in the studio before my memorable taxi ride.

I can’t believe I forgot my all-time favourite New Zealand children’s poet, Margaret Mahy whose word play and leaping imagination astonishes me more than that of anyone else. I was full to the brim with award-day nerves but still …. A thousand apologies.

The Sapling will post an A to Z of my favourite children’s poetry books on Poetry Day.

I got to read two poems from my new collection based on the titles you gave me: Daniel’s ‘Midnight’ and Lucy’s ‘Lick Lick Riff’. This is not a published book yet as I am still doing the drawings for it.

Listen here.

 

 

Three local children’s books make Kate De Goldi happy

Listen to Kate talk with Kim Hill here

 

Kate De Goldi joins Kim to discuss books for young readers: Two fiction works – Rona by Chris Szekely and Awatea’s Treasure by Fraser Smith; and in non-fiction, See, play, do; a kid’s handbook for everyday creative fun, created by Louise Cuckow. De Goldi is a fiction writer and book reviewer. Her most recent novel, From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle, won the Esther Glen Medal at the 2016 NZ Children’s and Young Adult Book Awards. She is co-editor, with Susan Paris, of ANNUAL, a miscellany for 9-to-12 year olds, which was published in 2016. (ANNUAL 2 is due out in September 2017.)

I sung praises of Chris’s book here. I love Rona! I must track down the other two.

Celebrate children’s books in Wellington

My good news (the secret is out, young poetry fans)!

Paula Green, Peter Simpson (photo: Marti Friedlander), Witi Ihimaera

 

Dear young poetry fans

I had to keep a secret for ages! But I just wanted to let you know I have been awarded the Prime Minister’s Award for Poetry – and yes! that includes my children’s poetry.

 

You have been such an important part of my poetry adventures – so it is a perfect time to say thank you. I love the way you take on my challenges and spark with poetry when I visit schools. I am always inspired by the poems you send me.

Once I have handed my big book to my publisher next year I will be able to come and visit classes again. I have missed it but I am writing every day at the moment.

The good news is I have finished my next collection Groovy Fish. I used the titles I collected from you on my Hot Spot Poetry Tour. Now I am doing black and white drawings to go with the poems which is fun.

 

Witi Ihimaera got the award for fiction and Peter Simpson got the award for nonfiction.

Very exciting and very special and my legs shook all day when I found out.

 

You can read about the award winners here.

I do hope you try my August challenge on Poetry Box.

 

And on Poetry Day I might show you one of my new poems and new drawings!

 

Warm regards

Paula

August challenge: list poems

 

 

 

I am a big fan

of list poems

because they might

play with sound

the way  a poem flows

collect things

twisty endings

twisty beginnings

the way rhyme can leapfrog through a list

collect more things

open up a topic

show what’s in your fridge

or under your bed

or in the sky

or red

or soft

or noisy

or swift moving

or makes you angry

or sad

or happy

or tastes good

or reminds you

of something or somwhere

 

a list poem

might be like

an old junk shop

or the back of a truck

or the sandpit

or inside my head

when I am thinking of a really really really long line that wants to stretch wide

or a short

snip snap

l

i n

e

because list

poems can do

anything

 

you just need

to look

and list

en!

 

Send to paulajoygreen@gmail.com by 29th August. I will post some favourites on 31st August and have a book for at least one reader.

Please include your name, age, year and name of school. I won’t post poems if I don’t have these details.

IMPORTANT:  Put LIST challenge in the subject line of the email please.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my favourite July challenge poems: you are something or someone else poems

but I do get to go for early morning walks!

 

I do hope you had magnificent holidays, kept warm, kept busy, did some surprising things, read some books, wrote some poems, toasted marshmallows, looked at the sky, went for adventure walks, saw something that made you blink, laughed and laughed, thought about something, did a puzzle, watched a good movie ……

…… I have been so busy writing my book I have barely had time to do anything else!

But it was a special treat to read all your poems where you imagined you were something or someone else. I was really impressed with how your imaginations bounced like a trampoline with this challenge.

AS usual I could NOT post them all so please don’t feel sad if you missed out this time because YOUR POEM put a smile on my face.

I am sending a copy of The Letterbox Cat to Toby and one to Dakota, and a mystery book (I have to look in my book box) to Daniel.

 

 

 

Henry Box Brown

I am not a slave
I will not stay here
I will do something
I see a crate
I fit inside that crate
I will mail myself to Pennsylvania
I will mail myself to freedom
I will bump and shudder on a stagecoach
I will be upside down on a train
I will slide and crash about on a ferry
I will have four days of agony
I am not a slave
I am Henry Box Brown
I am free

By Daniel L
Year 4 age 8
Adventure School

 

Neil Armstrong

One small step
The hardest I ever took
A step made with heavy boots
And a light heart
A step that changed everything
That changed me
Years of learning how to take that step
A giant leap for man kind
But now I want to keep my feet on solid ground

from Gemma who goes to Adventure School but is currently at a NASA space camp.

 

Here are some poems from Room 12, Year 4  Stanmore Bay School, Teacher: Mrs Jeromson. I love he wide-ranging subjects and the way the poems include such vivid detail:

The Fierce Attack!

I’m a lurking creature
in the shallow swamp
I flick my tail
And lick my jaws.

A flicker catches my eye,
Has my enemy come to battle?
I splash my tail it looks up
But I am gone.

I come up behind it and do a mighty
Chomp!
The bunny scuttles away as I am left alone
Crawling back to my throne.

By Toby H (8 Years)

 

My Life

If you snuggle with me, I’ll snuggle with you,
If you stroke my fur nicely, you might just receive a …
rumbling purr.

Night is my day, day is my night
this is when I sleep and…
fight.

By Gracie W (9 years)

 

The Unthinkable

I am huge
Strong, stable
unsinkable.

I’m on my way
Crossing the Atlantic
My first voyage.

The 15th of April
Close to midnight
A blurry shape in the water.

Crack!
Screeeeeeeeeeeech
Passengers rush outside to see what happened.

The water fills my hull
People jumping out of me
I start to tilt.

I’m in pain
My back starts to tear
Bang!

Now I’m two
I drift towards the bottom
No more voyages for me.

By Jordin F (9 Years)

 

The Roadside Chair

I stand rickety and old
Big but not bold
I, an old chair
It really is not fair

My fabric starts to tear
Now I’m super bare
By the road I sit
Because I just didn’t fit

By Lucia H (8 Years)

 

Fantail Dance Off
I’m shaking my feathers
With delight
Dancing and feasting
All day and night.

Sienna L (8 Years)

 

Feed Me

I lay on the couch as you
Stroke me
I jump off the couch
and wait for tea

I do a desperate
Meow
Then I start to
growl

I sit up straight and
start to purr
But you just stroke
my soft fur.

By Max R (8 Years)

 

And two poems from the South Island:

 

Poem

Now it’s my time to shine.
The sun goes down and I come up.
The dark sky surrounds me as I stare down at earth.

The stars are my friends.
We chat every night.
Some times I dream of going to earth.
But I am stuck in the sky.

I am the moon

By Dakota G Age 11  Fendalton open air school

 

Lost Hiker

Snow billows around me,
Every step is fading hope,
Unpleasant waves of cold lessens my breathing,
Nothing heard but icy winds,
Glimmering ice torrents narrow my every possible path,
Exhausted I collapse to my knees.

A distant crunch, a snap of a twig,
A voice perhaps,
Eyes half closed a blurry shape,
Rescued.

By Lucy M, age 9, Cashmere Primary School – year 5

 

Some extremely inventive POEMS from Westmere School:

Under the Hat

Well I’m the Cat in the Hat
there’s no doubt about that!
So let’s have a chat
about my big hat!
Say! I’m the Cat in the Hat…..
And I’m very proud of that.

By Deacon LS6 Age 11

 

The Vacuum Cleaner

YUCK! Furballs!
I HATE furballs.
Into the kitchen…..
and fish scales get stuffed in my mouth.
I hate lego pieces from the bedroom.
But now I am tired from all the stuff
going up my shoot….
so goodnight everyone and I’ll see you again
tomorrow.

By Layla LS6 Age 9

 

Books These Days

Yay! Someone is finally using my pages.
This hasn’t happened in ages.
A week passed
my pages danced.
My words are amazing
so everyone is staring
at me.

By Jimmy LS6 Age 10

 

I am a Poem

I am slippery and slimy,
brave and tall.
sometimes I’m shy and small
and don’t want to come out at all.
I am never the same
I change moods
like the rain.
I am always different
not the same
at all.

By Bailey LS6 Age 10

 

Who am I?

Who am I?
Am I as fierce as a lion or as scared as a puppy?
Am I as tiny as an ant or as giant as a blue whale?
Am I as fast as a cheetah or as slow as a sloth?
Am I a lone wolf or a school of fish?
No
I
am
a
human.

By Renee C LS6 Age 11

 

Tornado

Swirl. Woosh. Swoosh.
I am a storm of swirling wind.
I am masked in debris and rubble.
I am looked down upon for my hostility.
But I don’t want to devour animals, buildings, plants!
Even in the depth of my chaos,
there remains a peaceful silence.

By Nina LS7 Age 10

 

The Cleaning Journey

I am a dishwasher.
I clean every day.
Washing the dishes is my
normal way.
Some are
quite
dirty.
Some are
quite
clean,
I
don’t
care.
I’m
going to
SCREAM!

By Kate J LS7 Age 10

Rubbers

I am a rubber called Grace
I come out of my case
to erase.
I am starting to hate the human race.

I am a rubber called Pat
I am flat because Matt’s cat, sat
on me.

I am a rubber called Snout
I like to rub out
but sometimes I say help
because they try to rub out felt.

By Flynn W LS7 Age 9

 

My Job as a Blender

My job as a blender is very horrible.
The sloshing red meat is quite intolerable.
The bananas and nuts are Okay,
but the kidneys and livers do not make my day.
But it is all mushed
it’s a bit too much
it makes me gag
and feel sad.

By Jamie G LS7 Age 10

 

Some extremely inventive POEMS from Richmond Road School:

 

Pens and Pencils

Cats coming out of holes.
Firefighters going down poles.
T-Rexs like to listen to remixes.
Lamborghini are fast like a flash.
When I draw,
when I wink,
something comes out of me…
it’s ink.

By Kingston Samoan Unit Age 9

 

ROAR!

I’m a lion.
I’m fearless.
I’m gorgeous, golden.
I love zooming
zebras to eat
but hate getting
caught for
zoos, but
they always
give me
food.

By Alani Samoan Unit Age 9

 

 

 

Toitoi 8 for young writers is now out – a great opportunity for Primary and Intermediate ages

This is a terrific place for young writers and artists to send work – Primary School and Intermediate ages!

Check out the latest issue so you feel inspired to send in work to the next one. Or get invited to illustrate!

I think the cover is magnificent!

 

We are delighted to introduce Toitoi 8! Congratulations to 10-year-old Isabella Lee on her fantastic cover illustration. Check out more of her work in the story “Can Kiwis Fly?” by Frederieke Beekmans, age 11, on page 60.

 

Get your copy of the journal at here.