A Writing Kind of Day, Poems for Young Poets
by Ralph Fletcher,
Illustrated by April Ward
Boyds Mills Press
$9.95
This is the beginning of a poem about making a snow angel, but it might also refer to the mysterious way that a person comes into being and takes on a life of its own. In his new collection, Ralph Fletcher shows how you can write a poem about almost anything: a baby sister, a Venus’s-flytrap, a failing grandmother, a squished squirrel, romantic disasters, grammar homework, and more. These poems take us inside the creative process as they reveal both the playfulness and the power of poetry. More than anything, A Writing Kind of Day is a generous invitation to pick up pen and paper, to write some poems of your own.
Water Planet, Poems about Water
by Ralph Fletcher
A poetry collection about water arranged in two parts. The poems in Part One (Water Songs) are humorous & rhythmic as in “H20”: “The recipe/ for water is/ the same as/ it’s always been/ two parts/ hydrogen/ one part/ oxygen.” These playful poems will encourage young readers to wade into Part Two (Deeper Water) which includes “A Writing Kind of Day”: “Each word hits the page/ like a drop in a puddle/ & starts off a tiny circle/ of trembling feeling/ that expands from the source/ & slowly fades away…” Essential collection for teachers doing theme units on water or the water cycle. “Ralph Fletcher’s WATER PLANET, like water itself, refreshes & leaves the reader into new ways of feeling & looking. These poems rescue the young from drowning in the sea of mediocre verse, the false metaphors & tired cliches which threaten to become the standard of our time. This is an important collection with its variety of forms & felicitous images.” (Myra Cohn Livingston)