Poetry: Sundays in the Park, 1979

Sundays in the Park

A duck fed.
A child adored.
A breeze stilled.
A light curved
over love.

by Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

What a Girl Wants: Book Recommends

Colleen over at Chasing Ray asked the What a Girl Wants Panel for their recommends this season. Here's my response. Check out all three of her posts though. What a variety!

Lorie Ann Grover says: "When Colleen asked for a book recommend for What a Girl Wants, I went back and scrolled through my goodreads. What have I read this past year, that I'd want to place in the hands of a teen girl? There are so many books! Certainly every readergirlz main feature and postergirlz recommended read. But what rises to the top for me, personally? I've chosen three:

Justina Chen's North of Beautiful because every girl should be challenged to discover her own definition of beauty. Teen girls will identify with Terra as she charts her path away from her constraining, abusive father. They will cheer when she finds truth and beauty through art, and she gathers insight through her new friend Jacob. The beautifully crafted sentences and rounded characters will hold readers with hope and call them to find their own north of beautiful.

Laura Resau's Red Glass is my second recommend. With rich, beautiful language, readers will join Sophie on her journey into Mexico during a summer road trip. An eccentric cast, cultural diversity, and a hint of magical hope infuse this work which will expand the scope of teen girls today. Whether they be touched by the Bosnian war refuge or the six year old Mexican boy who has crossed the U.S. border illegally, the readers' experiences and empathy will be broadened.

And Beth Kephart's House of Dance is my third recommend. The lyrical beauty of Beth's prose just may incite teen readers to reach out to an older generation. As Rosie is charged with tending to her grandfather dying of cancer, she uncovers the life that he loved. Through ballroom dance instruction, Rosie's confidence blossoms until she can stand and give back herself. The sense of community and family love found in this gentle journey will resound in teen readers.

So there are three books of hope, I just realized. As I say to teen readers, "There's hope. Look." (Loose Threads, 2002)"

Colleen Mondor: Oh Justina Chen! Oh Beth Kephart! Can I say how much I love their books? Justina's Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) remains one of the funniest and most normal books I've read in ages. And yet it is anything but typical it's just that any reader can see themselves in Patty's frustrations. And Beth's Nothing But Ghosts is a revelation, plain and simple. Such gorgeous writing and such a light touch when it comes to family drama and romance and coming-of-age. A book to sink into!

Colleen went on to say:

"And Lorie Ann Grover. Well, good grief, where to begin with my friend Lorie Ann. She writes for teens and toddlers and she is (in my mind) the beating heart of the readergirlz. When I grow up, I will be as powerful and talented and compassionate at Lorie Ann. She makes my world better."

And I say:

Colleen, I'm in awe of all you accomplish and provide the literary community. AND your amazing love and sacrifice for your family is inspiring. Seriously. Inspiring. Thank YOU! xox

Photo Friday: Vision Board for My WIP

Tada! This is my new vision board I just made for my work-in-progress. With the first draft done, I like to switch over to my right brain and explore the imagery. I'm liking this! Although my hubbie finds the lower right corner too freaky. But it fits.

Ooo. I like the guy kissing her hair. Can you make him out? Click on the image, and it will enlarge. Sweet!

*rubs hands together* Now back to the text!

Poetry Friday: A Celebration of Lee Bennett Hopkins

Lee Bennett Hopkins was the recipient of the 2009 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Several lovely poets organized a celebration for Lee and created a book of poetry in his honor, with the help of NCTE. Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong graciously invited me to include an entry.



The beautiful cover was created by Stephen Alcorn.

My entry was based on the Lee's book Been to Yesterdays that really prompted me to find my voice and form.



Been to Yesterdays

You stretched out your hand
and gave me
Been to Yesterdays.

“Stowed in cardboard
corners
memories rest
quietly
in paper chests”
like my own
waiting to be dusted, lifted, and remembered.

Your mother,
grandmother,
and middle grade voice facing divorce
found my mother,
grandmother,
and me facing the divorce in my childhood.

Been to Yesterdays
took me to my own.
Thank you for
holding out your hand
so that I might grasp it.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Thank you to all the poets who worked so hard to honor Lee! Well done!

National Book Award Dinner Photo Montage

Decided to cross post this from rgz as it was a bit of work! Enjoy!

I just wanted to share the beauty and joy of the National Book Awards Dinner. So here are a few photos of the magical night!

Dia and I were all gussied up. That's a bird in my hair!

The venue was gorgeous! Flower petals all over the table.

Cipriani's on Wall Street was beautiful!

In attendance were Andy Borowitz, Gore Vidal, Joanne Woodward, and Dick Cavett. Let alone greats in the publishing industry.

We thanked rgz friends and judges Coe Booth and Nancy Werlin. These ladies, along with Kathi Appelt, Carolyn Coman, and Gene Luen Yang, had worked so hard choosing the finalists!

At our table were the charming daughters of Philip Hoose, Young People's Literature winner for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice. Here he is kissing his daughter right after the announcement. :~)

Also at our table was Poetry Winner Keith Waldrop for Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy. That's the award before him!

Needless to say, we were cheering for Laini Taylor and Rita Williams-Grarcia! Arthur Levine even dyed his goatee pink to match Laini!

What a night to remember! Thank you National Book Foundation! Congrats to all the finalists and award winners!

Beth Kephart's Review of Hold Me Tight

I just had to share National Book Award Finalist and poet Beth Kephart's most beautiful review of Hold Me Tight. It has lifted my heart and spurred me on. Thank you, Beth!



"Lorie Ann is a readergirlz founder, a homeschooling mother, a former dancer. She is also, let me be clear, a bonafide poet who, with Hold me Tight, captures the bewildering eight weeks in the life of a young girl whose father has left, whose mother is pregnant, and whose classmate has been snatched by a vengeful kidnapper. It doesn't make sense, and yet this is life as Estele Leann knows it, life as she must learn to live it.

A novel-in-poems might sound like a daunting proposition; Hold me Tight is anything but. I can't, in fact, imagine telling this story in any other fashion, with any other tools. More words would have been excess and somehow less true. Fewer would have denied us the long dwell in the cracked-open heart of a child. In line after line, Lorie Ann masterfully reveals a child grappling to understand, and to forgive.

I'm going to shatter
into a million slivers,
and none of my pieces
will end up
touching each other.

She reveals as well a child who is already finding her way:

I gather a few bits
and tape myself
back into Dad's arms.
This is what I have
to show he loved me once.
This was me
before I hated him.
This was then.

Sometimes the people who put others on the stage (as Lorie Ann has put so many on the stage) aren't given enough room beneath the spotlight. Today, on my blog, it's Lorie Ann Grover's turn to leap and to touch down, graced.

Ten Things I Learned About NYC

So, here's my new info from my trip.

10 Things I Learned About NYC:

1. NYC pigeons are chubby.
2. Mounted policemen will smile at you, but it's best not to share a smile on the subway.
3. There is such a thing as Taxi Court, thank you, Melissa Walker. Wish we had known when Dia was forced out of the cab and left on the curb.
4. Subway entrances are openings in the ground. Do not look for a subway building.
5. Nobody else is wearing fluffery things on their heads.
6. Black is what to wear.
7. King Kong is not climbing the Empire State Building, the Terminator is not in the alley, and Neo is not in the subway, even though you strongly expect them to be.
8. New Yorkers will help people find their way very nicely.
9. One can make $10 walking a dog.
10. East Coast bubble tea tapioca balls are softer than West Coast. No symbolism intended.

Tada!