Put on Your Red Shoes and... WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit beautiful Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for Roundup.

It's been a quiet-ish week around here, filled with a number of home improvement projects like putting in some azaleas, touching up the paint on the outdoor furniture, wiping away the pollen, wiping away the pollen, wiping away the pollen...
Today I am thrilled to welcome one of the dearest children's poets ever Amy Ludwig VanDerwater in celebration of her new book WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!, illus. by Ryan O'Rourke, published by Boyds Mills and Kane. Is there any more generous poet among us than AmyLV? She has such a wonderful way of speaking directly to children exactly on their level, so all her books are musts for me. And now, please welcome Amy, who was kind enough to come on over and respond to a few simple prompts as they relate to this latest project. Welcome, Amy!

The delicious: 

AmyLV: It is delicious to have a second book with the same illustrator. I adore Ryan O’Rourke’s art: his child expressions and textures and small details and bright colors and the way he plays with light on the page. Those pen and pencil butterflies and dragonflies delight me. I love that we have two books together, and I think of them as brother and sister books.

Butterfly Pencil Template from Ryan

Beautiful Amy!

The difficult: 

AmyLV: This is the last book that my friend and mentor, Lee Bennett Hopkins, will ever see of mine. His death last August still surprises me, and I will always be grateful to him for his generosity. I hear Lee’s voice when I revise, and I hope I always will.

The unexpected:

AmyLV: Sometimes people share their favorite poem in a newly released book. I have read several such comments about Write! Write! Write!, and I have been tickled to find there are many different favorites. It is my hope that many people will find a poem in this book that matches their experience of writing.

  

Anything else:

AmyLV: Here is the book trailer I commissioned film student Patrick Krum to make. When I watch this, I imagine each of the book characters  jumping off the page!

  

Thank you, Amy! Want to know my favorite poem in the book? It's "The Pen."

The Pen

In a town, there is a house.

In the house, there is a room.

And in the room, there is a boy.

And in his hand, he holds a pen.

And in the pen swirl drops of ink.

They lead the boy to write and think.

And when he reads, the boy can see,

the pen has set his stories free.

It could be you.

It could be me.

(Pens are magical, you see.)

- Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

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Magical, indeed! And now... because Amy inspires me, I, too, will write about writing for my latest ArtSpeak! RED poem. Enjoy!

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When I write to you,

I put on my red shoes

Instead of I am fine,

I write:

                  I am divine!

Instead of I miss you,

I confess:

                  you are my bliss.

When you read my letter,

do you

                put on your red shoes, 

                                             too?

- Irene Latham