Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes

When I asked Nikki to take part in my National Poetry Month celebration, I knew the possibilities of books to discuss were many. Nikki writes in poetry and sometimes prose, from picture books to middle grade novels to young adult books.

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Sensory Images and Metaphor

Eagle flying

Working with students in their classroom, after talking about creating sensory images and the use of metaphor, I read one of my favorite poems, “Seven Ways of Looking at Eagles,” written by Tonia Scabby Face, Lakota, a middle-school student at Red Cloud Indian School.

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Wong and Vardell on Poetry

Good Luck Gold & more

Today, in celebration of National Poetry Month, I’d like to share this video from Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell, talking about the book Good Luck Gold & more by Janet and sharing a poem from Jen Bryant, “Laugh,” in Pomelo Books’ Things We Do.

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April Halprin Wayland

April Halprin Wayland

My friend, poet and teacher April Halprin Wayland, shares one of her poems with us, “Exercising My Voice.”

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Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo

A poem by Joy Harjo, poet, activist, educator, 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, Mvskoke [Creek] Nation

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Mental Health: The Giver

The Giver

Lois Lowry: “I think it’s something that literature does, that writing does, that speaking about things does. It keeps our hearts from breaking.”

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Writing the Story of Mental Illness for Young Readers

Romancing the Dark in the City of Light

I have been pulled toward the subject of suicide since I was a teen despite its stigma, and worked on my first suicide hotline when I was eighteen. That’s because as an adolescent I struggled not only with depression but with some periods of suicidality, and I understand the dangerous power and seduction of it when one is suffering mental despair.

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S.D. Nelson

Crazy Horse and Custer

S.D. Nelson, Standing Rock Sioux, author and artist, meticulous researcher, passionate about the history of his people, his ancestors, his homeland, Indian and white, has written the epic story of Crazy Horse and Custer.

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Singularity (after Stephen Hawking)

coral reef

Being   process   not a thing, not matter   more thoughts and this poem Singularity by Marie Howe (after Stephen Hawking) Do you sometimes want to wake up to the singularity We once were? So…

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Chinle Planting Hope

Chinle PLanting Hope

Imagine this. During the pandemic your schools have been closed for over a year. The nearest public library is over 70 miles away. There are no bookstores.

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