Celebrating National Aviation Day and The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations!

It’s August 19 – National Aviation Day! I’m celebrating the holiday with my poem for children called: National Aviation Day. This poem is one of over 150 poems by 115 poets that make up The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong from Pomelo Books.

There are so many things to love about the anthology - the wide variety of poems that touch on familiar and not-so-familiar holidays and celebrations throughout the year, the Take 5! activities that accompany each poem, the clear layout that let readers see and choose where they'd like to dive in. I also love that some of the poems are based on heritages and holidays around the world and every poem is in both English and Spanish. Janet and Sylvia worked with several interpreters who helped make the translations. Here is the opening stanza for my poem:

NATIONAL AVIATION DAY

On National Aviation Day

we honor pilots, planes, and flight.

We celebrate two brothers

Orville and Wilbur Wright.

DÍA NATIONAL DE LA AVIACIÓN 

“En el Día Nacional de la Aviación

honramos a los pilotos, aviones y vuelos,

y celebramos a dos hermanos,

Orville y Wilber Wright,” 

To celebrate my poem and the beginning of the new school year, I’m giving away one set of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS. This includes the illustrated student edition and the teacher/librarian edition. If you’d like to enter my giveaway, just comment here.

You can also enter by retweeting one of my Twitter tweets, or tweet on your own using my handle @TameraWissinger or #NationalAviationDayPoem. Here are two sample tweets. Feel free to use one or both:

Interested in a fun #poetry book #teachers or #librarians? @TameraWissinger has a giveaway: The PFA FOR CELEBRATIONS http://tinyurl.com/p7dny48

.@TameraWissinger is celebrating her #NationalAviationDayPoem with a giveaway of the The PFA FOR CELEBRATIONS http://tinyurl.com/p7dny48

Another way to enter is to mention or share on Facebook with a tag to me. The contest goes through noon Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, August 26, 2015. After that, I'll collect the entries and draw from my ditty bag.

Thanks for stopping by and if you enter the giveaway, good luck!

Congratulations, Sarah Rose, winner of the giveaway. Thanks for participating, everyone!

(Post updated on 8/28/15)

National Poetry Month 2015: Celebrating The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations!

The first book in my National Poetry Month feature and giveaway is The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations, a book edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. I'm pleased to say that I'm a contributing poet to this anthology, and I just love the variety of poems and poetry forms used by the poets in the book. Here's the book description from Pomelo Books:

Celebrate all year long with The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations - 156 poems in English and SPANISH plus Take 5! tips for each poem to make it easy to share poetry with children in a library or classroom (preK - grade 5).

This latest book in The Poetry Friday Anthology series offers 12 poems per month plus 12 poems with the theme of “Birthdays and Baby Days.” Choose your favorite celebrations to share each month! Choices include: 

• traditional holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Easter, Passover, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas;
• book-related holidays such as Read Across America Day, National Library Week, DEAR Day (Drop Everything And Read), Children’s Book Week, and Dewey Decimal Day;
• celebrations of diversity such as Black History Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Three Kings Day, Lunar New Year, the end of Ramadan, Obon, and Diwali;
• unusual celebrations such as National Hat Day, Daylight Savings Time Day, National Pet Week, National Sports & Fitness Month, Shark Week, and National Cookie Day; and
• historic commemorations such as Presidents’ Day, Flag Day, 4th of July, National Moon Walk Day, Constitution and Citizenship Day, Election Day, and Veteran’s Day.

Why You Need This Book

This book provides support for librarians, teachers, and parents who want an easy and effective method to share some poetry. Take 5! tips connect the poems in this book to various state and national standards, including the TEKS for language arts (poetry), the CCSS, and the National Social Studies Standards (highlighted in charts for handy reference).

115 poets include:

Jack Prelutsky, J. Patrick Lewis, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, Jane Yolen, Nikki Grimes, Linda Sue Park, Margarita Engle, Alma Flor Ada, F. Isabel Campoy, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Francisco X. Alarcón, Jorge Argueta, Joseph Bruchac, Ibtisam Barakat, Eileen Spinelli, and more.

Click the image for more details at pomelobooks.com

I welcome you to enter this Rafflecopter for a chance to win a copy of the Teacher/Librarian edition and the Illustrated Student edition. 

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UPDATE: The Raffle is over - Marge Keller is the winner of The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations! Congratulations, Marge!

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Good luck, and thanks for stopping by!

National Poetry Month 2015 Is Near!

The 2015 National Poetry Month celebration begins just days from now. I'm making plans and enjoying this year's poster designed by Roz Chast, a 2014 National Book Award finalist and New Yorker cartoonist. Roz's clever art features a line of poetry from Mark Strand’s wonderfully devilish, "Eating Poetry" which begins:

"Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.

There is no happiness like mine.

I have been eating poetry..."

Click here for the rest of Mark Strand's "Eating Poetry.”

Click on the poster to learn more about the Academy of American Poets and National Poetry Month.

To celebrate National Poetry Month this year, each week during April I'll feature a new poetry-related book right here including a giveaway of each of the books. Here is the line up of featured books:

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March 30 - April 3 week:

THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong

April 6-10 week:

BLUE BIRDS by Caroline Starr Rose

April 13-17 week:

AUDACITY by Melanie Crowder

April 20-24 week:

GONE FISHING: A Novel in Verse paperback by me: Tamera Will Wissinger

Here are other poetry-related happenings:

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I'm also looking forward to participating in Irene Latham's 2015 Progressive Poem. Last year was my first time participating and it was such fun I decided to jump in again. I'll be adding the participating poets in my sidebar so that we can follow along as the poem is written.

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To celebrate the release of the Gone Fishing paperback, through 3/31 I’m hosting a Gone Fishing giveaway on twitter using the hashtag #GoneFishingPaperback.  

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Today's Poetry Friday is with Jone at Check It Out!

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That's all for now. Have a great weekend, enjoy National Poetry Month and I hope to see you back here in April to celebrate!

THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS is here!

The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations recently released!

There are two versions of the book - a Teacher/Librarian Edition that includes activites, Common Core information, and references, and the Student Edition without those extras, but with delightful illustrations. Both versions include 156 poems in both English and Spanish. I'm honored that my poem, National Aviation Day, is included with poetry from 115 poets whose poems make up this fantastic book. Here is a peek at my National Aviation Day poem: 

This April, during National Poetry Month, I'll be running a giveaway for a copy of The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations, so check back then to enter. In the mean time, if you're interested in learning more about the books or would like to purchase a copy, here are a few links:

PomeloBooks.com

PoetryCelebrations.com

(Where THe PFA for Celebrations is #1 on the Hot New Release list for Language Arts Teaching Material!)

The book is also listed at the CBC as a March 2015  "Hot off the Press" book! 

Thank you to the editors, Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell, for the opportunity to participate in this fun book. 

The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations!

I'm pleased to share the release announcement and cover for THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTOHOLGY FOR CELEBRATIONS from Pomelo Books, compiled by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell:

"Coming in April 2015! The next book in The Poetry Friday Anthology series, The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations, features poems in English and Spanish by 115 poets for 150+ holidays and celebration..." Read more at Pomelo Books!

Here is the beautiful book cover:

What fun, whimsical cover art!

This is a neat project and I'm excited to share that my poem, National Aviation Day, will be among the 150+ poems in this anthology. (National Aviation Day is August 19 - mark your calendars!)

Here are a few book details and a chance for a free gift!

Target audience: PreK – Grade 5

For: Public Librarians, School Librarians, K-8 Classroom Teachers, Reading Specialists, and ELL Teachers, and Children (ages 4 and up)

Available in a Teacher/Librarian Edition and a bilingual Student Edition; preorder by February 15 for a free gift!

National Poetry Month is just around the corner...I wonder if there's a poem for that!