This week, I’d like to thank Margarita Engle for her activism and advocacy during her term as Young People’s Poets Laureate and beyond. I recently read her sweeping history of Latin Americans in what is now the United States, Dreams from Many Rivers: A Hispanic History of the United States Told in Poems. I shared […]
Laura's Blog
Thursday, 6 February 2020
Thursday, 30 January 2020
About a week ago, my poet friend Michael Rothenberg messaged me. The message was this: This looked to me like a monster in need of a poem. So… Monster Poem #1After artwork by Michael Rothenberg A monster bought the house next door.When it moved in, I wasn’t surejust how this creature, tall and wide,would squeeze […]
Thursday, 23 January 2020
Quick post this week, my poetry friends. One of my first reads of the new year was David F. Walker’s fantastic graphic biography, The Life of Frederick Douglass, illustrated by Damon Smyth and Marissa Louise (2019). (Publisher info here.) I’d taken this book out of the library. As soon as I returned it, I went […]
Thursday, 2 January 2020
Happy New Year, Poetry Friday friends! I am a member of the middle grade ARC sharing group, #BookExpedition. We are 12 educators — classroom teachers, librarians, and one visiting teacher (me) — from all around the U.S. We request Advanced Reading Copies of middle grade books from authors and publishers, then share them within the […]
Thursday, 5 December 2019
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone. I wanted to do NaNoWriMo this year, but knew I wasn’t ready to work on a new a novel. So I set myself a different task: RoPoWriMo. That’s RObot POem WRIting MOnth. My goal was to write a robot poem every day in November, with the ultimate aim of drafting 40 […]
Thursday, 14 November 2019
Happy POEtry Friday, everyone. I’m excited that so many of you are coming to Baltimore next week for the National Council of Teacher of English conference. Lucky me — I get to host Poetry Friday friends Kat Apel and Irene Latham for a few days! To put everyone in a Charm City mood, I am […]
Thursday, 17 October 2019
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone. This week, I have an original poem inspired by one of my new neighbors. This spider decided it was Guardian of the Mailbox. I found it there, sometimes on the handle, sometimes inside the box itself, for a few days in a row. I wondered, what would a spider be waiting […]
Thursday, 10 October 2019
I’ve been out of blogging commission for some weeks. Most of you know the reason why.
But first, a reminder: If you’re coming to the NCTE Conference in Baltimore next month, you are invited to a Poets of KidLit dinner. It will be on Wednesday, November 20, 7 pm. Location TBA (probably Nick’s Fish House). Our special guest will be Kat Apel!
So … why haven’t I been blogging lately? On September 30, my husband and I moved out of our home of 20 years. We downsized a bit and moved from the suburbs to the country.
Thursday, 19 September 2019
Happy Poetry Friday everyone! Thanks to the fabulous Linda Baie at Teacher Dance for hosting this week’s Poetry Friday link-up. (Look for a cameo from Linda a bit later in this post!) This Friday and next, I am celebrating Read a Poem to a Child Day. I wrote about this annual initiative a few weeks […]
Thursday, 5 September 2019
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone! Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong are hosting this week’s round-up at Poetry for Children. (Sylvia and Janet know how to throw a good party, so be sure to stop by and enjoy all that’s on the poetry menu.) Two quick bits of business before we get to the good stuff: Are […]
Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.
