Confession: while I have oft professed love for Harry Potter (and even freaking CRIED when I rode the ride at Universal Studios), the only Harry Potter book I have read is the first one. (I have seen all the movies. More than once.)
So this summer I am going to remedy that. For the next 7 weeks, I will be reading a book a week -- and blogging about it. (Okay, it may take me longer than this -- I do have travel and family plans that may prevent me from keeping that schedule for the later/longer books.)
To start my Summer of Harry Potter, I'd like share a poem I wrote in a series of “found” poems from classic children's books. I selected words from the first three pages of a book (keeping the words in order of their appearance, as in blackout poetry) with the aim of creating a poem that kind of tells the whole story. Think of it as a very short book report!
Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Proud
Dursleys
had
a secret.
Years
shuddered,
story
hummed –
owl,
cat, corner.
People
in cloaks.
- Irene Latham
Enjoy your summer of reading Harry Potter. I love the poem, it really captures the sense of who the Dursleys are. Will there be more HP poems as you read? I hope so. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alex, for encouraging me! I can't think of a better way to commemorate my reading adventure than with poetry, so, yes, I think I will write some more HP poems this summer! I appreciate you!
DeleteWhat a fun reading, blogging, magical, eye-opening, poetry summer adventure! Your found poem is spot on.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Irene, I've been meaning to email you all week. Since I never got around to it, I'll tell you here. Last weekend when I was at the SCBWI-FL conference with Rebecca Davis, she was excited to share color photocopies (the F&G wasn't ready yet) of FRESH DELICIOUS. Such a delightful, whimsical collection! Many, many nice things were said about both your book and you, as a rising children's poet, Irene... by both Rebecca and Lee. I was so proud on your behalf, and felt like you were right there with us. :)
Aww, thank you, Michelle, for sharing this. :) Lucky you to hang out with Rebecca and Lee!! I'm super-excited about FRESH DELICIOUS... Mique Moriuchi's art is charming, isn't it?? Hope you have a great summer. xo
DeleteLove it, Irene -- both your poem and your reading plans! Last summer we had a movie harr-athon, where we watched all the films on consecutive days. Very fun!
ReplyDeletea Harr-athon! LOVE! We are incorporating a weekly movie viewing into my reading adventure... thank you for visiting xo
DeleteLooking forward to your Potter posts, Irene. I confess I've only read the first 4 books of the series. They just got longer and longer -- love the food scenes though! Cool poem :).
ReplyDeleteI haven't read them all, either, Irene, maybe should try again. It's a nice summer goal to read & write those 'short' book reports-fun. I do remember reading and loving the first one, thinking this author has some new & exciting things to share about fantasy! What a marvelous time she gave kids those first years, and now with a whole new group discovering them. I saw Michelle mention a new book-can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteOne of these days I may try a HP book. I am probably the only one besides my husband, who has never read one!
ReplyDeleteIt will be so fun to read them all in a row like that! I enjoyed them all, but it's been a while. I'm kind of jealous of you reading them for the first time!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous summer reading goal! Thanks for taking us along with you!
ReplyDeleteI have read the first three, but do not consider myself a Harry Potter fan. I knew the length of the 4th book would do me in! I love the idea of using a found poem as a "very short book report." This would be wonderful to do with my students.
ReplyDeleteGreat poem and wonderful journey ahead of you. I always envied folks who could read them straight through instead of waiting until the next one was published. We (job-shared that classroom) read the first one in our 3rd grade classroom when it just published in the US. When I came back on Wednesday or Thursday each week, my first task was to catch up with the reading I missed.
ReplyDeleteAmazing how you captured the essence of the first book in so few (found) words! Enjoy the adventure! =)
ReplyDeleteMy confession: I haven't seen even one of the Harry Potter movies. Yikes. Not sure why I've been postponing that,but I better do it soon because my grandson is incredulous and keeps asking me why I haven't. Meanwhile, I'll look for your Potter post, Irene. .
ReplyDeleteLove your poem! i hope you enjoy the books!
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