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COMING
IN OCTOBER, 2008
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MORE
THAN FRIENDS: POEMS OF HIM AND HER (Boyds Mills/Front
Street). This book, sure to spark lively discussion
among the young men and women who read it, springs
from a two-year e-mail correspondence between
poets Allan Wolf and Sara Holbrook. As Allan and
Sara's poems flew madly through the electronic
ether, a fictional teenaged couple began to emerge.
Many of the poems in this collection use traditional
poetic forms (i.e. sonnets, villanelles, sestinas,
and tankas) to explore teen subject matter that
is anything but traditional. The result is a book
that traverses, in poetic form, the gap between
the genders--a gap that is sometimes vast, sometimes
nonexistent.
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THE
SPLEEN IS CHOSEN AS A BOOK SENSE TOP TEN POETRY
PICK FOR 2008 |
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THE
BLOOD-HUNGRY SPLEEN AND OTHER POEMS ABOUT OUR
PARTS (Candlewick Press) came in at number six
on The Book Sense Poetry Top Ten Picks for 2008.
This list, issued every April to celebrate National
Poetry Month, includes books by Margaret Atwood,
Robert Haas, Li-Young Lee, and Mary Oliver. THE
SPLEEN is the only children's title to make the
list.
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New
Books |
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latest verse novel, Zane’s Trace (Candlewick
Press), has come out of the gate with the loud rumble
of a 1969 Plymouth ‘Cuda with a honking 440
Big Block engine! Zane was named number seven in
the BOOK SENSE Top Ten Children’s Books Picks
for Autumn which has caused much joy in camp. Book
Sense is a publication of thousands of independent
booksellers across the country. It’s an honor
to be chosen by this group of die-hard booklovers.
I’ll be debuting Zane’s Trace at the
SIBA (Southeast Independent Booksellers Association)
conference in Atlanta. This little book, about a
troubled teen who takes a road-trip to Zanesville,
OH in order to kill himself at his mother’s
grave, may be a bit “edgy” for any of
my readers under the age of 14. Like Zane Guesswind,
the novel’s hero, I used to write on my bedroom
walls, an activity that helped me cope with adolescence,
puberty, and other horrific adventures.
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| Recently
Released |
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Just in time for National Poetry Month
Haiku
Stickies: 100 Haiku to Write and Leave Behind
(Lark Books, 2007)
Kids
can produce instant poetry, inspired by these partially-written
haiku. Composed by Allan Wolf, author of Immersed
in Verse, they range from silly to serious, realistic
to fantastic. Each poem has blank spaces for children
to fill in; earlier in the pad, they’ll need
to add only a word or two, while the later haiku
will have kids writing nearly from scratch. Comes
with pencil and built-in pencil sharpener! |
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Found Land: Lewis and Clark’s Voyage of Discovery
(Candlewick Press), which first came out in
2004, is now out in paperback. Honor Award for Excellence
in North American Poetry by The Lion and the Unicorn:
A Critical Journal of Children's Literature. On
the 2005-2006 Read-Aloud Books Too Good To Miss
list announced by the Association for Indiana Media
Educators (AIME). Chosen as a School Library Journal
Best Book, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an
IRA Children's Book Award Notable, and a SEBA Poetry
Award finalist. Starred reviews from Kirkus and
School Library Journal.
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What
I’m Working On Now
I’m
also up to my eyeballs in research for a book about
the Titanic disaster of 1912. At the moment I’m
sifting through over two thousand passengers in
search of a dozen or so characters who will help
me to tell this amazing story. This will be my third
novel, including New Found Land and Zane’s
Trace, that centers around a journey. I must be
trying to “work through” something.
Writing a book is certainly cheaper than therapy.
This book, like Zane, will be edited by the brilliant
Elizabeth Bicknell at Candlewick Press.
School
Visits, Shows, Readings
I'm on
the road about 120 days out of the year. Over the
summer I'll be taking time off to write and work
on the Titanic project. One interesting summer gig
will be an appearance at the Children's Festival
of Reading at World's Fair Park in Knoxville on
May 31st. You can check out my specific calendar
by clicking the link on my Visits and Presentations
page. As usual, most of these gigs are booked through
my friends Peggy and John at Loyd Artists.
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My
Night in a Haunted House
Last year I spent a great week in West Des Moines,
Iowa where I was a visiting author at Stillwell
Junior High, Walnut Creek Campus, West Des Moines
Public Library, the Marshalltown YMCA, and the ArtHouse
West. One evening during my week-long stay, I was
allowed to spend the night in West Des Moines' historic
Jordan House which was a "station" on
the Underground Railroad. Local lore claims that
the place is haunted by the ghost of a three-year-old
girl who tragically died there in the later 1800's.
Well I just HAD to find out for myself. So for the
entire night it was just me and the house and my
notebook and video camera. For a complete story
of my adventure there (and to find out if I saw
the spirit of young Eda Jordan) click the link below:
Click for
Entire Article
Also,
check out this article from the Des
Moines Register
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All
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