Aimee, Neo and I go the TV studio to record poems and an interview for The Book Show on Face TV

To celebrate The Letterbox Cat (Scholastic, out now) and A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children (Random House, out Oct 3rd), Carole Beu invited me to The Book Show. Aimee and Neo read poems and Carole and I chatted about the books, Poetry Box and my Hot Spot Poetry Tour of NZ.

Aimee and Neo go to Cornwall Park District School and read some poems. They got their mics on, stood against the green backdrop and recited their poems beautifully. I was so proud of them.

Afterwards we went to a cafe for hot chocolate and talked about books and poems and being on TV.

It was a great morning and I especially loved talking with Carole about poetry for and by children.

Here’s where and when you can see the episode:

Where: The Book Show, Face TV Sky 083

When: Wednesday October 1st 8.30pm, Thursday October 2nd 12.30pm

and from Thursday morning you watch it on YouTube.

Tomorrow morning you can find the link here if you look at the top of the Women’s Bookshop homepage and click on The Book Show. This is Episode Three.

A very fine book to inspire me in the school holidays: The Day No One Was Angry by Toon Tellegen

    

I should be hard at work editing all the fabulous interviews you have done of authors in A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children. I can’t wait to start posting them once the book is out. But instead I am having a delicious time reading a delicious book published by Gecko Press. I don’t even want to go to the supermarket and get food for dinner. Ahhh! What a good book!

The Day No One Was Angry is written by Toon Tellegen and has gorgeous illustrations by Marc Boutavant. Toon is from The Netherlands, and like Glen Colquhoun, was a doctor before he began to write books. He is a well loved children’s author in his home country. Marc lives in Paris and has illustrated lots of children’s books.

The book is made up of twelve short chapters that feature animals and different kinds of anger. It reminds me of reading Joy Cowley’s Just One More and Kyle Mewburn’s Melu. There is folk-tale-ish-ness about the tales. I love the way you see an emotion in so many different ways. Sometimes you laugh and sometimes you frown. Stories can be like poetry and poetry can be like stories.There is a hyrax, and elephant, a lobster, a hedgehog, a toad, a cricket, a squirrel an aardvark and many more.

The book is filing me with ideas for poems and I want to give you a challenge but I am so busy I am not sure I will have time to post them before I go away

But I can’t help it!

Unfortunately this book isn’t out until November so I will post my favourite poems when it is!  Thanks to Gecko Press I have a copy of the book for one young poet.

Try writing a poem about an animal or two that have to cope with something that makes them angry. Your story might make the reader laugh or sad or think. Just like in this book.

How will it end? Test out three endings and then pick your favourite.

DEADLINE for your Animal-Anger Poem Challenge: MONDAY November 10th

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 Animal-Anger Poem challenge.

I will post my favourites and have a copy of the book for a poet thanks to Gecko Press (Year 0 to Year 8).

A third way to celebrate A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children with me (you will need a camera and a poetry book!)

A week today A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children will be in bookshops.

I have set you three challenges to celebrate this (plus one coming on Publication Day).

Challenge number one: Write a poem that is inspired by another poem. See here for details. I will post favourites and have copies of the Treasury for a few (or  another book if you have it already!).

Challenge number two: Write a poem and then write that poem with surprising things in surprising places (sand, mud, window). Take a photo and send it to me. I will post them as I get them and will  have two $50 book vouchers for my favourites. See here for details.

Challenge number three: Take a photo of yourself reading a poetry book in a great place to read a poetry book. Your parent will need to send me permission so I can post it. I will post while I am on tour and will have two $50 book vouchers for my favourites after November 8th.

Deadline: You have until November 8th to do this but if I can (while I am on tour) I will post them as I get them. I may not be able to because I don’t have a laptop. Preferably a .jpeg

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 Fascinating Place to Read a Poetry book challenge.

Celebrating A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children. Challenge number 2 you need to write a poem in a fascinating place

My challenge is all about putting poems in fascinating places in fascinating ways.

I love the idea of this challenge and I am inspired to do it because of the beach-poem event I am doing with Golden Sands School in Papamoa on my Hot Spot Poetry Tour of NZ.

You can work on this over the holidays!

1. Write a poem about anything you like. It might fit where you put it or it might not!

2. Find a fascinating place to write it. On the sand or in the mud or in the grass or on a window or a mirror or on a path. Over to you! You can use chalk or shells or leaves or grass or twigs. Whatever you like!  You could use cotton wool or material or wool or tinsel or glitter. Just don’t harm plants when you do it! Let you imagination go flying.

3. Take a photo of it to send me.

4. Deadline: You have until November 8th to do this but if I can (while I am on tour) I will post them as I get them. I may not be able to because I don’t have a laptop.

5. 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 Fascinating Place-Poem challenge.

I will post my favourites and I will have a $50 book voucher for my two favourite ones (Year 0 to Year 8).

Celebrate A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children on Poetry Box with three cool challenges. Number One, a poem for you to write

On 3rd October A Treasury of NZ Poems for Children is out in the world so not many more sleeps.

I have three special challenges for you all.  I decided to share them now, so you can start work on them over the holidays. I will post them again on Day One of Term 4 before I head off on The Hot Spot Poetry Tour of NZ.

On 3rd October I will post a special launch day challenge.

Treasury Challenge Number One

Use a poem you love to help you write another poem. See below the poem a class at Gladstone wrote after being inspired by my ‘Anifable’ poem in The Letterbox Cat.

You can use the same structure or pattern as the poem.

You can use the same idea as the poem.

You can play with the original poem and make it different.

You could start the poem with the same start word as the poet on every line.

You could end each line with the same end word as the poet.

You could just use the same title.

Make sure you say: My poem was inspired by ….. (the name of the poem and the poet).

I will post all my favourites and will have a copy of The Treasury for a couple of you.

DEADLINE for your Treasury-Poem Challenge: Monday 3rd November

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 Treasure-Poem challenge.

I will post my favourites and have a book prize for a couple of poets (Year 0 to Year 8).

The Animix Zoo
(inspired by Paula Green’s ‘Anifables’)

The Crococat snaps and naps,

The Mouseafrog leaps and creeps,

The Rhinobull rages and charges,

The Tigersaurus is carnivorous,

The Octopup chases its tails,

The Cheetaquail is fast and frail,

The Doggadile lurks and barks,

The Crocodog begs and basks,

The Elephorse can stomp and clop

The Hippopig wallows in slop,

The Crocoduck like to spy and dive

The Rhinobird can charge and glide

The Chickapups can peck and pant,

Wait til you see the SabreAnt!

The Parrowhale can screech and breach.

(But the Lionsnake is totally fake.)

Screeching, loud, with a spying feature –

I’m pretty sure one is my teacher!

Crazy creatures at the Zoo,

But what will happen to me and you?

By Room 22 at Gladstone School

Poems that make pictures: two cats, a crane and a flock of scavenging seagulls

Here are my favourite picture poems (shape poems, concrete poetry) from the challenge I set (inspired by all the picture poems in my new book The Letterbox Cat).

These four poems are all different, but I love the way the words sound as good as the picture looks!

I loved these so much I want to give you a chance to do some more in the holidays. See end of post for details.

Meanwhile I have picked Gemma to send a book to as the poem sings in my ear and the cat poem is like a pawprint on the page (very cunning!). I am sending her a copy of my favourite childhood poetry book — AA Milne’s Changing Guard at Buckingham Palace. His poems used to sing in my ear and they still do.

Concrete Cat by Gemma age 8 Adventure School

Seagulls by Daniel, Age 5 Adventure School

Cat by Maya, Year 4,  Stonefields School

Cranes by Arya, Year 5, Gladstone School

DEADLINE for your Picture-Poem Challenge: Thursday October 9th

It can be on any subject! Check my new book out for ideas or these poems.

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 Picture-Poem challenge.

I will post my favourites  and have a book prize for a poet (Year 0 to Year 8).

The Animix Zoo from Gladstone School sounds so very very good I want to say it out loud this instance

I loved doing workshops at Gladstone School today. Some great poems, some of which will be read on my Hot Spot Poetry Tour event in Auckland. This means my Third Fabulous Poetry Competition is now over and I can have a wee rest before getting on with my Hot Spot Tour planning again. As some of you know i have been sick with a fierce winter bug so I might not answer your emails straight away. Time to sleep and sleep and dream of new poems I think.

One of the classes after my session yesterday got inspired to write this poem (after my Anifable poem). I love the imagination at work and I love the juicy sounds that are like little musical chords. Great job on this poem young poets, I really loved reading it. You made my day and so nice to see you share it with your Principal. All Principals should have poems read to them, I reckon!

The Animix Zoo

The Crococat snaps and naps,

The Mouseafrog leaps and creeps,

The Rhinobull rages and charges,

The Tigersaurus is carnivorous,

The Octopup chases its tails,

The Cheetaquail is fast and frail,

The Doggadile lurks and barks,

The Crocodog begs and basks,

The Elephorse can stomp and clop

The Hippopig wallows in slop,

The Crocoduck like to spy and dive

The Rhinobird can charge and glide

The Chickapups can peck and pant,

Wait til you see the SabreAnt!

The Parrowhale can screech and breach.

(But the Lionsnake is totally fake.)

Screeching, loud, with a spying feature –

I’m pretty sure one is my teacher!

Crazy creatures at the Zoo,

But what will happen to me and you?