Live Your Poem...: Safari Sketchbooks & DEAR WANDERING WILDEBEEST Launch Pics

I was so thrilled to tie my Wildebeest book launch to SNAP (Seriously, No Adults Please!) programming at Emmet O'Neal Library in Mountain Brook, AL!

This library is just half a mile from Birmingham Zoo, the inspiration for Don't Feed the Boy!

What did we do? Poetry and Safari Sketchbooks! I introduced kids to poetry using Powerpoint and a "Poetry" acrostic poem I wrote. Then, we became lions! I gave the kids prompts like:
"What is the best part of your day?"

"What are you scared of?"

"Two lions meet at the water hole. What do they say to one another?"

They wrote their responses on index cards, and I collected them to read aloud our Community Poem. AND THEN...

it was time for Safari Sketchbooks. :) We had a pile of old National Geographic Kids magazines, and kids selected a picture of the animal they wanted to write about. They cut and pasted the picture to the cover of their Sketchbooks, added the filler paper, and used leather cording to bind it. And then they WROTE, using the same prompts, but for their own individual animal.

Funny thing: unicorns came up A LOT. Wonderful boys. :)

Big thanks to this trio of genius librarians who, with the help of Google, helped get my slide show running in a loop before the reception portion of the event. Thank you, Meredith, Gloria & Rachel! I need you with me on all my adventures. :)

I'm especially grateful to those who came out for the reception on a stormy weeknight. I have asked so much of my readers and friends this year with launch events for The Sky Between Us and Don't Feed the Boy. I really wasn't sure anyone would show up! Those of us who were there enjoyed lovely conversation about writing and life and what it means to create. Thank you, friends!