Thanku! The podcast is up!

I am so grateful to have been included on this amazing podcast alongside other contributors to the Thanku poetry anthology. You are all amazing poets! What an honor! I've learned so much about different types of poetry, and when I talk about this special book with children at school visits, we sometimes practice writing poems together. Writing sonnets with children is interesting -- especially when they are about our least favorite foods!

The pickled beets and peas slipped off my plate.
I promise, Mom, they tumbled to the floor.
And all the other healthy foods I ate
Have filled me up -- there's just no room for more!

I belched and ugly beet taste filled my throat,
"Oh, thank you, Mom! This tastes just like a dream."
"That's it," Mom said, "Now, go put on your coat."
We drove around the block to buy ice cream.

A sonnet must have three stanzas (sometimes called quatrains) of four lines each, followed by a rhyming couplet. Each line of every stanza and the final couplet must be written in iambic pentameter. This means there are five (penta) "iambs" in each line. An iamb is like a horse gallop: da-DUM! Every line must have this same rhythm, which makes sonnets difficult to write!

da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM

Not only that, the first and third lines of each stanza must rhyme.
And the second and fourth lines of each stanza must rhyme.

When I'm working with students, I only try to write one stanza or sometimes two. Never an entire sonnet. That would take much too long!!  

You can write sonnets, too! Here's a link to help you get started.
And here is the Children's Book Podcast. I hope you enjoy it!

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