Two Haibun, an Essay, and an Interview Published in “Notes from the Gean”

This week,  two of my haibun, the reprint of an essay about haibun published in Wingbeats: Exercises and Practice in Poetry  (Dos Gatos Press, 2011), and an interview including a number of poems from several of my books–including one from my children’s alphabestiary,The Beastie Book, and the first paragraph of Limula’s Magic Tail, my new children’s story for the Delaware Bay ecosystem–have just been posted in Volume 3, Issue 1 of Notes from the Gean (Aberdeen, Scotland)

Haibun: http://www.notesfromthegean.com/archives/sept-2011/haibun/haibun_006.html

Essay: http://www.notesfromthegean.com/archives/sept-2011/haiku-matters/haiku-matters_001.html

Interview: http://www.notesfromthegean.com/archives/sept-2011/interviews.html

There’s quite a bit to take in here, and I’m honored to have so much space in this fine journal. Hope you can dip in and out of these now and then, and that you enjoy what you read.

“The Beastie Book” featured on amazon.com

I just checked amazon.com to see how The Beastie Book was doing, and found to my delight that it now has a  “look inside the book” invitation, with sample poems and illustrations. You can check it out here–and be sure to look for the hidden letter “A” in the sample illustration:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1934860050/ref=si_aps_sup?p=random&ie=UTF8&qid=1292791673#reader_1934860050

So for any of you looking for holiday gifts for the children in your life, these sample pages will give you a good idea of the book. Hope you enjoy them. And Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year! May the coming year bring you all good things.

Another Review of “The Beastie Book”

It pays to search on one’s name now and then. While checking for something else, I came across a good review of The Beastie Book that I hadn’t known existed. I just found it, so am posting it immediately. Then, who knows—I’ll go back to my searching and see whether I discover any other nice surprises. I thank Usha Reynolds for the fine review and hope it helps to spread the word about the book. Here’s the link to the review:

http://www.curledupkids.com/beastieb.html

Happy Beastie Dreams!

The Beastie Book Readings & Workshops

It’s been such a busy time that I’m way behind on posting news. So I’ll start with last week:

A week ago today I drove up to Summit in North Jersey, and first met for lunch with four teachers in Lincoln-Hubbard School, the elementary school I’ve been the resident poet in for the past four springs. This year makes five residencies in a row, and I very much enjoy working with both the staff and students there. As we ate, we planned my mid-May residency. Then I did some business in downtown Summit, the town Bill and I used to live in, and it felt both strange and sad to be there. In some ways I felt like I’d never left. Remembering, I kept imagining I’d see Bill striding toward me up the street. In other ways, I felt quite distant from our former life. On Wednesday morning, driving south on the Garden State Parkway, I felt happy to be going home. So I’ve been here long enough, now, that it does feel like home—and that’s very good.

After lunch and errand time, I was graciously hosted overnight at the Summit home of  Sasha (Alexandra) Miller, the wonderful artist of The Beastie Book, and her husband and twin fifth grade daughters. I will be working with the girls in Lincoln-Hubbard.  I mainly drove up north to collaborate with Sasha in presenting an early evening reading and workshop for a group of elementary teachers, during an “Education Seminar” at the Springfield, NJ, Barnes and Noble store. It was a wonderful event! We presented the same lesson we’d done with the K-2 students in the Gillette School (see the previous post “Travel and Beasties”) and I enjoyed turning about 30 tired K-5  teachers into kids again. Our impromptu “class” came up with a number of new Beastie names, and the group contributed to two new Beastie poems—while Sasha drew them on the spot. Some of our children of all ages were busy scribbling their very own poems, too. (If I can figure out how to do it from an e-mail attachment, I’ll insert a photo of me in front of a book display.)

As a result of that visit, two different school districts have already expressed interest in bringing Sasha and me in for a similar presentation with their students, and Sasha has booked us into the big Barnes & Noble store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for October 3rd. I think the book is starting to take off—by word of mouth so far. Hopefully, some reviews will come our way soon, too.

Finally, I will be reading and signing The Beastie Book for “Storybook Time” at the Mays Landing / Atlantic County Library this coming Thursday, April 22nd, at 10:30 a.m. And I’ll be doing the same at the Mays Landing Borders store on Saturday morning, April 24th, between 10 and 11 a.m. At that event, I’ll also workshop a bit, and the store will have materials for kids (of all ages) to create their own Beasties. Such fun!

The Beastie Book reviewed on Macaroni Kids

I’m happy to announce that The Beastie Book, has just been reviewed on Hillsborough/Branchburg/Somerville: Macaroni Kid website: http://www.hillsborough.macaronikid.com/

It was posted there last Saturday and will be up throughout the week, during which time it will also be posted nationally on a number of other Macaroni Mom’s websites.

Update, July 12th, 2010: If you click on the site above, you’ll get the current page. Use the “Search” box to put in The Beastie Book, and it will take you right to the review. Thanks!

Here’s the review:

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The Beastie Book – An Alphabestiary. A Visually Captivating Dream Through The Alphabet

Oopsy

The Oopsy ties her shoes wrong

And never combs her hair.

Sometimes she doesn’t brush her teeth

Or clean her messy hair.

Her shirts are buttoned crooked,

Her socks don’t match at all,

And if you try to help her out

She’ll only start to bawl.

The Beastie Book: An Alphabestiary was written by New Jersey author, Penny Harter and illustrated by New Jersey resident Alexandra Miller.

The Beastie Book is a unique and dreamlike imaginary voyage through the alphabet.  Each letter is expressed in a poem about a mythical beastie creature.  Each poem is accompanied by a visually lush illustration.  A little added surprise—each letter is hidden in the poem’s illustration.   When I received the book, I showed my 6 year old daughter.  She immediately was drawn to the art work.  We sat down and read the poems A through Z.  She adored the silly beastie poems and enjoyed searching for the hidden letter.  After we read the book, she scurried away and put in her room where her favorite books go (the place where she hides thing from her younger sister).  At bedtime, we read the book again.  The following day, she was teaching her class of dolls and animals about the alphabet using the book.

My daughter’s reaction to the book speaks volumes—pun intended.  I think the uniqueness of its poems and illustrations captivate the young imagination — and the older one.   My Macaronies gave it their seal of approval and so did this Macaroni Mom.

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I’m so happy with this review by Allison Rebenack, and hope it inspires its readers to check out the book. If you’re interested, perhaps you can even ask your library to order a copy.

Travel and Beasties

It’s been a while since I last posted a blog, and much has been happening. Christmas and New Year’s came and went, and suddenly I am full-tilt into a January that’s almost gone already. I spent the week of January 11th-15th in North Jersey, being a visiting poet in both the Millington Elementary School (working with 4th grades on using original similes and metaphors, and on having them write poems  expressing emotions) and the Gillette School (my first day as the visiting author of The Beastie Book). I stayed in a Best Western in Murray Hill (New Providence), a lovely facility, and had a great week. After school and evenings, I enjoyed visits and the occasional supper with various old friends whom I hadn’t seen in too long. The Long Hill School District PTO facilitators, Melissa Azarian and Lisa Rook, and all the school personnel I worked with, made me feel most welcome.

The highlight of my stay was working in tandem with Alexandra (Sasha) Miller, the marvelous illustrator of The Beastie Book, presenting to successive groups of K-2 students in the Gillette School Library. We saw five groups during the day on January 13th, and worked out our presentation pretty quickly. First, I read some of the poems and showed the accompanying illustrations—taking questions and encouraging the kids to “find the hidden letter” in each. Sasha had brought larger matted copies of many of the illustrations which she propped on the chalk rail in the front of the room and showed the students while I was reading. In this photo, taken by Lisa, Sasha and I are showing the class the Lopsy-Tilt, and they are looking for the hidden letter “L”. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, perhaps you can find it.

Next, I encouraged each group to create a “Class Beastie,” coaxing several made-up names from them, choosing one (with Sasha’s help) and then leading the kids into telling us a poem about that new Beastie. I wrote down their words while Sasha drew their Beastie on the spot, on a large piece of story-board paper. She, too, asked leading questions. It went beautifully, and the school intended to laminate Sasha’s drawing and display them in the hall along with good copies of the accompanying poems from each group. Then we encouraged all the students to go on and create their very own Beasties, draw them and write about them. What fun! Here are the five “class poems.” Enjoy!

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The Crocolus

The Crocolus lies in the swamp.
It eats a lot of bugs.
It has four arms
So it can give
A lot of slimy hugs.

It has three legs
So it can kick
And swim through lots of mud.
And if you visit it one day
It will ask you please to play
And you will say, “No Way!”
And then you’ll run away!

—Combined Kindergarten-First Grade class poem

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The Wackieuptus

The Wackieuptus jumps each day
From her volcano home.
And when she’s out she wants to play
With little local gnomes.

Her hair is growing two nice moons.
Her hands have only four
Fingers that she uses well
To have a Lava War!

—Kindergarten class poem

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The Droople

The Droople lives in the puddle
Below a saggy tree.
And everyday he cries and cries
Shoos away bugs and flies
Until his eyes are very red.
Then he stops and goes to bed.

— Kindergarten class poem
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The Sneezikus

The Sneezikus lives underground
In a place called Sneezitown
Where everybody sneezes
And makes a lot of breezes.

She has a tiny body
With huge and floppy feet
And only knows to sneeze on you
But she is very sweet.

So go ahead and visit her
So you two can meet
And offer some Sneezitizer
When she goes to sleep.

—First Grade class poem

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The Octolaser

The Octolaser has eight arms
And lives under the water.
It likes to hug sea monsters
And play with its sweet daughter.

It eats a lot of scaly fish
And puts them on a coral dish
And then it likes to make a wish
That all the fish will be delish.

—First Grade class poem

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And here is another photo taken by Lisa, this one from the Gillette School hall wall of a display of three of Sasha’s spontaneous sketches with their accompanying class poems. The school mounted the display after Sasha’s and my visit. It should enlarge if you click on it:

I drove home on Friday, very tired, and on Saturday finally succumbed to the cold that I’d held at bay all week. Thank goodness I’m starting to feel better today, Friday. Tired as I was, though, my homecoming was greatly brightened by a note awaiting me in my postal mail—a note of thanks from X. J. and Dorothy Kennedy, responding to my having sent them a copy of The Beastie Book. (I’d shared some earlier drafts of the poems with them, along with a couple of the accompanying jpegs, and they’d been encouraging back then.) In his note, Joe said lovely things about the book, and when I asked him whether he’d like to offer a comment I might post on my blog, he graciously e-mailed me the following kind words:

In the rollicking verse of The Beastie Book, Penny Harter creates stupendously ridiculous new animals never seen before, and swaggeringly colorful illustrations fit the poems like gloves. This book has been thoroughly child-tested and warmly approved (by several of my grandchildren).

—X. J. Kennedy

Sasha and I are blessed by his words, and by the fact of this book. We hope to repeat our workshop in a number of schools. Anyone out there interested in having us come to a school please contact me. We’d love to take our show on the road.

Finally, if you’d like to order the book, you can not only get it from Shenanigan Books and amazon.com, but also from Barnes & Noble and Borders (on-line), and from Baker & Taylor.

My First Copy of “The Beastie Book” arrives–and is now available

The Beastie Book, my hardcover alphabestiary of rhyming poems for totally imaginary creatures, illustrated by Alexandra Miller, has just been published by Shenanigan Books. I’m so excited!

http://www.shenaniganbooks.com/beastiebook.html

Last August in an earlier post, I announced that the book had gone to print. Well, last week the publisher called me to say that she’d gotten six advance copies, and one was on its way to me. Then, Monday afternoon it arrived via FedEx. It is absolutely beautiful, and I’m thrilled. The illustrations are marvelous and full of brilliant color. The design and presentation of the text—plus the whole layout of the book—remind me of the old fairytale books.  It’s on lovely paper and has sewn signatures. (Please see below for updated ordering information.)

When one contemplates the unopened envelope or box containing a new book, there is always the trembling hope that one will like it. When I pulled this book out, I literally jumped up and down in delight.  I’m in love with it and hope reviewers and readers everywhere will also like it, and want to order it—not only for the children in their lives, but also for the children still alive inside them. (Obviously, the child in me wrote the poems ).  I am extremely fortunate to have an extraordinarily talented illustrator, and a publisher who knows how to match text with artist and design a gorgeous book.

**UPDATE**As of the week of December 7th, the publisher is now sending out copies as she receives orders. Below is a link to a PDF file you can print out and fill in for ordering the book — and get it before the holidays :

http://shenaniganbooks.com/RETAILORDERFORM2009.pdf

And here’s a link to a page from which you can order it on-line from the publisher:

http://shenaniganbooks.com/ordering.html

**FURTHER UPDATE: 12/18/09: Also, you can now order it through amazon.com and get it by December 24th,”standard shipping,” if you order it soon.  Just put in The Beastie Book:** And if you click on “larger picture” on the book page at amazon.com, you’ll get a really good photo of the cover .

Have fun!

“The Beastie Book” goes to print

For all of you who have been wondering when The Beastie Book will be available–and I know some of you are eagerly anticipating it–I have great news: It has gone to the printer.

And please do visit the Shenanigan Books site, where you can check out the other wonderful offerings from this unique press. My granddaughter Courtney ( age 9) loves both The Book of Mermaids and A Book of Fairies, and my grandson Conor (age 5) really identifies with the younger brother of the older sister in the delightful Star of the Show. Of course, they both can’t wait for their very own copies of The Beastie Book which is, in part, dedicated to them. They think Grandma Penny is famous (grin).

I’ll be sure to let you know when the book is available. It is listed as being available on November1st, and we’ll hope it makes it by then. If you decide to order it, you can have your copy or copies in time for Christmas, which makes me very happy.

Hello world!

Welcome to my new blog for my forthcoming children’s illustrated alphabestiary, The Beastie Book, and other of my writing related news.  I’m settling into my new condo, adjusting to life without Bill, and launching into the 21st century with the help of Anna Evans—-hence, this blog.