Teachers, parents and poets alike know how children thirst for poetry. Now it's up to booksellers and publishers to save it from extinction
Children, responding to its rhythm and imagery, take to poetry with natural ease
Children dive into poetry with the same natural ease as swimmers into water, climbers into trees and sleepers into dreams. I've seen this alchemy at work on countless visits to schools, visits which have convinced me that poetry's narrative, rhythm and vibrant imagery is the real language of childhood. But poetry written for children is in danger of dying out, of sliding into fossilised irrelevance, cut off from modern verse. A classic such as Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses may be lovely, but it can't sustain the vital connection between children and poetry. Children also need poets who are still breathing.
The delicate machine which brings poetry books into the hands of children is in desperate need of repair. I used to help choose the poems for the Children's Poetry Bookshelf, the Poetry Book Society's book club for ages seven to 11, and I watched with horror as the submissions from publishers gradually dried up. Starved of funding and support, the club had to stop taking on new members in 2011. As PBS director Chris Holifield said, it seemed that "children's poetry in book form was close to extinction, with just a small number of new titles being published and not much backlist being kept in print."
More
The delicate machine which brings poetry books into the hands of children is in desperate need of repair. I used to help choose the poems for the Children's Poetry Bookshelf, the Poetry Book Society's book club for ages seven to 11, and I watched with horror as the submissions from publishers gradually dried up. Starved of funding and support, the club had to stop taking on new members in 2011. As PBS director Chris Holifield said, it seemed that "children's poetry in book form was close to extinction, with just a small number of new titles being published and not much backlist being kept in print."
More
Check out my page of NZ bookshops that go the xtra mile for children's poetry on my blog nzpoetrybox.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteHalleluia! I am a drama teacher and children's author. www.rainbowpoetry.co.nz. Due to it becoming increasingly difficult to find new and also humorous poems, I began writing for my students. Main steam publishers and retailers are scared of poetry, so I made the decision last year to self publish. 'Granny Does the Boogey' is going extremely well. I visit schools where kids love my poems, as I write about ordinary family situations. They email me telling me my poems made them laugh and also think. Teachers email saying how well my work is being received. Poetry is a prime tool in developing oral language in our children. Also for those who struggle with a book, they can manage to read a poem. This was a great article, as sometimes I want to stand on my soapbox and take the giant retailers on, head first. My 3rd book is due out next month, and I already have people wanting a copy, so don't tell me there's no demand. Poetry rocks, but it's a lonely road I walk, albeit busy. Thank you so much for this.
ReplyDeleteHalleluia! I am a drama teacher and children's author. www.rainbowpoetry.co.nz. Due to it becoming increasingly difficult to find new and also humorous poems, I began writing for my students. Main steam publishers and retailers are scared of poetry, so I made the decision last year to self publish. 'Granny Does the Boogey' is going extremely well. I visit schools where kids love my poems, as I write about ordinary family situations. They email me telling me my poems made them laugh and also think. Teachers email saying how well my work is being received. Poetry is a prime tool in developing oral language in our children. Also for those who struggle with a book, they can manage to read a poem. This was a great article, as sometimes I want to stand on my soapbox and take the giant retailers on, head first. My 3rd book is due out next month, and I already have people wanting a copy, so don't tell me there's no demand. Poetry rocks, but it's a lonely road I walk, albeit busy. Thank you so much for this.
ReplyDelete