Posts for 'Poetry' Category

These days television and the Internet compete with books for kids' attention, but "Good Morning America" parenting contributor Ann Pleshette Murphy has some must-reads that are sure to turn your couch potatoes into bookworms.These selections are divided into four categories -- supernatural, how-to, growing pains and books+ -- and are perfect for tweens and teens as they enjoy their summer vacations.Growing Pains
Books about the trials and tribulations of growing up are staples of summer literature."The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate," by Jacqueline Kelly
Callie lives in rural Texas in 1899 with her six brothers. She's a real rebel, preferring to explore nature with her granddaddy to darning socks. "Along for the Ride," by Sarah Dessen
Writing for older girls, Sarah Dessen presents a first-person account of a slightly awkward girl named Auden, who spends her summer before college at a small beach town with her dad and stepmom and their new colicky baby.

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In this delightful collection, Ruskin Bond introduces us to the Dehradun he knows intimately and loves unreservedly—the town that he had spent many years of his childhood and youth in. A town which, when he knew it, was one of pony-drawn tongas and rickshaws; a town fond of gossip but tolerant of human foibles; a town of lush lichi trees, charming winter gardens and cool streams; a small town, a sleepy town, a town called ‘Dehra’. With classic stories and poems like ‘Masterji’,

‘Growing up with Trees’and ‘A Song for Lost Friends’ and previously unpublished treasures like ‘Silver Screen’, ‘Dilaram Bazaar’ and ‘Lily of the Valley’, this anthology is replete with journal entries, extracts from the author’s memoirs and, of course, poetry, non-fiction and stories set in or inspired by Dehra. Evocative, wistful and witty as only Ruskin Bond can be, A Town Called Dehra is a celebration of a dearly-loved town as well as an elegy for a way of life gone extinct.Ruskin Bond’s first novel, The Room on the Roof,

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Poetry lends itself to all occasions, happy and sad, everyday and rare. It offers a multitude of forms -- the exquisite slenderness of a haiku, the sprawling pages of an epic, the rigor of a sonnet, the bouncing rhyme, the grace of free verse -- but every word is the result of a careful choice.

Poets writing in response to Hurricane Katrina and the flood in New Orleans have risen to that terrible muse in virtually every way imaginable -- some with humor, most with deep seriousness, all with a sense of responsibility.

 From the 2006 benefit anthology "Hurricane Blues," edited by Philip C. Kolin and Susan Swartwout, to impassioned small-press efforts such as "Katrina-Ku," published by the New Orleans Haiku Society in 2006, to Dave Brinks' "Caveat Onus," an intricate, three-part epic published over several months in 2006, the waves of poetry are still hitting this shore.

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Emma Gary Wallace, professional author, had more than a few notions about the business of writing.

With a resume that included essays in housekeeping and cooking magazines, and a popular Christmas story, "The New Neighbor," she was able and ready to share tips with readers of a new monthly magazine called Successful Writing.

"Writers waste a great deal of postage sending stuff around the country to impossible markets," she observed. "Don't carry coals to Newcastle or offer jewelry in a blacksmith shop. Every magazine has its own policy and makes a definite appeal to a certain clientele. Study these and take them into consideration when offering your wares for any market."

The year was 1921, and advice about writing was — and remains — a market itself.

The timeless cry for help as one makes the great leap from the desire to write to actual writing to published writing has inspired countless books, magazines, classes and Web sites. Successful Writing, now Writer's Digest, is one of the oldest players in the business. Based in Cincinnati at the corporate headquarters of F&W Publications, it still enjoys a circulation of more than 100,000.

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