An ANZAC DAY challenge for you

April 25th (ANZAC Day) is a special day in New Zealand as it is the day we remember what happened in World War 1 and World War 2. It is day we get up very early to go to dawn services, we wear red poppies and we listen to the stories of those who were at war and from their families.

War is a terrible thing. Writers and poets who haven’t experienced war sometimes try and step into the shoes of those who have — to share what happened.

This is a very tricky and hard thing to do. You need to do do research. You need to talk to people who have stories to share. We can never know exactly what it is like but it is important to remember.

This year I want to post some poems to remember ANZAC Day. I invite you to go hunting for stories by talking to your grandparents or finding books.

Then have a go at using that story you find to write a poem.

For my favourite poem, and thanks to Scholastic I have a copy of The Bantam and the Soldier by Jennifer Beck and Robyn Belton.

I will do a post about the book next.

 

DEADLINE for your ANZAC poem Challenge: Wednesday April 16th

Send to paulajoygreen@gmail.com. Include your name, year, age and name of school. You can include your teacher’s name and email. PLEASE say it’s for the ANZAC Poem challenge.

I will post my favourites and have the book for one poet.