It’s recess, or after school (or in the store or in church –
any place with a long expanse of hallway or large, open space seems to
suffice), and Corbyn, my six-year-old is instantly trying to start a game of
Tag. He steals up on one of his friends
and with a (hopefully) gentle jab says, “Tag.
You’re It!” and off he runs. Tag
seems to be an irresistible game for younger children.
Capitalizing on this perennially favorite game, Poetry Tag plays tag with famous
children’s poets, making the poetry a game which is fast-paced and fun. One at a time, the poets write a poem and
then tag the next poet who is then IT. The
poem from the newly tagged poet had to connect in some way to the poem from the
poet who tagged him or her. The rules
for the participating poets were simple:
- share an unpublished poem within one day of being tagged
- make the poems accessible to children ages 0-8
- keep the lines of their poems short so that e-readers would not break the lines where unintended
- explain how their poem connects to the previous poem
This e-book of poetry is so inventive, clever, and fun to
read. While the audience is technically
0-8, this book of poetry is fun for all ages, from young children to teens to
adults. The poetry is all excellent – 30 simple yet amazing poem.
However, reading each poem and seeing how each poet connects to the
previous poems is in itself an amazing treat.
Some of the tags are poetry themselves for a delightful double-dose of
poetry that day.
For example, Alice Schertle writes a Cinquain about wanting
shade from the summer sun called “Sunquain” and then tags the next poet:
Message to Lee Bennett Hopkins:
Hi, Lee, you’re recruited,
You’re summoned, caught, bagged.
Greetings from Alice
Start writing. You’re tagged.
Then Hopkins
connects to Schertle’s poem by wondering what flowers might feel in a thunder
storm as opposed to the sun.
Summer Fear
by Lee
Bennett Hopkins
Roses cower
behind
fence
posts–
Pansies
crouch
in a window
box–
Sunflowers
cling
to the
back of a yew–
The are
afraid
of
thunder,
too.
The Hopkins
goes on to tag Betsy Franco, because “Franco-ly you’re so much fun.”
My grandson enjoyed sitting with my iPad, which has the
Kindle app, and reading through the poems.
The artwork is simple, yet wonderful.
Rich Arnold has captured the essence of each poem in colorful, graphic
art. But I would love to use this format
to challenge my high school students to use other’s poetry as inspiration for
their own poems. The idea is to start
the game with a discussion of the rules and then give them time in our writing
workshop to draft poems. Taking
volunteers who are willing to turn in their drafts for possible use the next
day, I can randomly select a poem, make sure it follows the rules, and use it
the next day at the opening of the workshop.
Students then go to their writing with the challenge to write a poem
that connects to the previous poem, turn in their drafts if they are willing to
share one, and the game proceeds. While
it would not be a true “tag” since the previous poet does not select the next
poet, the students nevertheless are able to try using others’ writing as
inspiration for simple, short poems. And the pressure is non-existent as the poets are able to choose whether they want to turn in a poem each day or not.
The idea for the e-book came from Vardell’s blog from the
year before in which she started the game. The poets played tag through the
month of April which is National Poetry Month.
She repeated the game the next year, and three e-books have been the
result of the game. Extremely affordable
to download at $2.99 each, the three volumes contain poetry by the biggest
names in children’s and young adult poetry.
If I could recommend a single Kindle download, it would be any (all!) of these three
volumes. Poems in your pocket are a
wonderful thing to have!
And remember, if you don’t have an actual Kindle, you don’t
need one. Download the Kindle app onto
your smart phone, tablet, and/or computer.
I have access to my Kindle library on all three of my devices without
owning a Kindle.
I not only suggest you purchase all three collections by
Vardell and Wong, but that you check out Vardell’s blog, especially April of
2010 and 2011 when she played tag both of those years during National Poetry Month.
A link to April 1, 2010 to get the ball rolling.
The home page for Poetry Tag Time
Let’s play tag! Some
of the most fun I've had with poetry!
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