April is one of my favorite times of year. Looking out my window this morning, the dogwood and redbud trees are in bloom. A carpet of purple phlox greets visitors at our door. And, of course, it’s National Poetry Month. My series of interviews with verse novelists continues today with middle grade author Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu. Welcome, […]
Laura's Blog
Monday, 17 April 2017
Thursday, 13 April 2017
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone. My series of interviews with verse novelists continues today with middle grade author Shari Green. But first, a quick PSA: This week, I did a guest posting at School Library Journal’s Teen Librarian Toolbox blog. Blog team member Amanda MacGregor invited me to write up this year’s February Poetry Project as […]
Monday, 10 April 2017
Welcome back to my National Poetry Month, 2017, series of interview with verse novelists. I am spending this month learning more about the craft behind this form of writing with nine poet/novelists. Leza Lowitz is the third author to take on my 5 Questions challenge. Leza is originally from California, but lives in Tokyo. Her novel […]
Thursday, 6 April 2017
This week is the first Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month, 2017. I’m thrilled to welcome middle grade author Caroline Starr Rose to the blog today. Caroline’s got a new prose novel out, JASPER AND THE RIDDLE OF RILEY’S MINE. But today, she’s joining my month-long series of interviews with verse novelists. Caroline, tell us […]
Monday, 3 April 2017
Thanks to everyone who joined me at the Nerdy Book Club last night. What began as an idea to encourage people to teach poetry during National Poetry Month grew into a full-on event when my Nerdy friends invited me to post the live video on their Facebook page. Wow! In case you missed it, I’ll […]
Monday, 3 April 2017
Happy National Poetry Month, everyone! Today, I’m kicking off my NPM 2017 series on verse novelists with my friend, poet and author Jeannine Atkins. In addition to answering five questions about their work, I’ve asked each author to share a photograph of a poem from her book, so we can get a peek at how the […]
Thursday, 30 March 2017
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone! Are you ready to celebrate National Poetry Month 2017? Like many Poetry Friday bloggers, I do an annual project for NPM. This year, my theme is novels-in-verse. I’ve got a great line-up of authors, ready to talk about the art and craft of the verse novel. But, before the line-up, a […]
Thursday, 23 February 2017
Happy Poetry Friday. It’s been a while since we visited my bookshelf, friends. In Bookshelf posts, I pair a middle grade or young adult novel with a poem, to be read and enjoyed side by side. Earlier this month, my friend Jeff Giles visited Maryland as part of his book tour. Jeff’s debut novel, THE […]
Thursday, 16 February 2017
Dear Friends and Poetry Friday bloggers, I have to begin this post with a thank you. On Tuesday, I learned that THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY is the 2016 CYBILS award-winner for poetry. Many of you have cheered on my novel-in-verse for years — commenting on drafts of the poems on my blog, […]
Thursday, 2 February 2017
Happy February, everyone. This week, we kicked off my annual poem project, which has moved over to Facebook. This year’s theme is #10FoundWords. We have a daily news story, speech, or current event selected by a project member. That person chooses 10 words from the news source, which makes up our word bank for the […]
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.
