Irene Latham's Blog, page 59

CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? and the N-Bomb: What is Appropriate for Children?

Happy Octopus Month! Our month-long celebration of octopuses through poetry and art will begin shortly! But first: an important post for all you humans out there. (Cross-posted at Lerner Books blog.)---------------

A customer on Amazon recently expressed concerns that the book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship is not appropriate for elementary students because it includes a poem called “The N-Bomb” that references the existence of the N-word (though doesn’t spell it out). Coauthors Charles Waters and Irene Latham and editor Carol Hinz wanted to share their thoughts about the poem, the word, and tackling difficult topics with children.Charles, Irene, and Carol
Conversations about the N-word aren’t easy. In a perfect world, we'd never have to talk about it, because the N-word wouldn't exist. All of us want to protect the young people in our lives from the harshness of the world. But this wish won’t make the N-word disappear. And we cannot keep children’s ears from hearing a word that might one day be spoken in hate at them or at someone they love. The word comes up in songs, in movies, and, yes, sometimes in books. So what do we do?Charles Waters, coauthor I don't know how to have a conversation about the race in our country without talking about the N-word. It’s the atomic bomb of the English language. If someone outside my race says it, no matter the color, no matter the circumstance, it jars me. I don’t feel entirely that way when people who are African American say it, especially if it's used as sign of affection or to discuss how people might view us behind closed doors.I've heard from those who’ve said no word should have that much power and needs to be said out loud to diminish its impact, and from others who say it shouldn’t be uttered at all, no matter what, end of story.Ultimately, I don't know if there’s a right and wrong answer but I do know it would be unfortunate not to have a talk about it, especially between parents and their children. To have not written the poem “The N-Bomb” in Can I Touch Your Hair? would have been the equivalent of erasing my existence as a person of color in this world. By the way, I understand both the Charles character’s point of view in the poem and the mother’s point of view equally. It’s weird when you can see both sides of a debate and not come to a definitive conclusion. That’s what makes life so fascinating and complicated.
illus. by Sean Qualls and Selina Alko
For anyone having trouble reading the poem from the image of the page above, here's the full text of the poem:THE N-BOMB
Mom, holding my folded laundry, passes
as I’m nodding, swaying, flowing into rhythms
that make me start sliding my feet from side to side.
The rapper then punches out a word that makes
her do a double take. “Did he just drop the N-bomb?”
she asks. “Yes,” I say. “But it had an A at the end of it,
not an E-R, so it’s okay.” “No, it’s not,” she says, “No matter
how you spell it, it’s still a spit in the face of our ancestors,
who for far too long fought against the infection of that word.”
“Sorry,” I say, pressing the Stop button, not knowing what kind
of music I can listen to anymore that will make me happy.Irene Latham, coauthorI've made the mistake of withholding information from my own children in an effort to protect them—and I’ve regretted it. Whether you talk with a child about something difficult—or not—you’re taking a leap. Your decision will have consequences. As a mother, a poet, and a citizen in the twenty-first century, I feel like it is more important than ever to be open with our kids, even when it’s uncomfortable or frightening.Ignoring hate, not talking about racism, doesn’t make it go away; it only allows it to fester and grow. The key to eliminating systemic racism is to bring it into the light so we can all see what we're dealing with and how to change our attitudes and behavior.I am reminded of an interview with Katherine Paterson, author of the Newbery Award-winning book Bridge to Terabithia, which includes the death of a child and has been criticized as being inappropriate for children. In an interview, she said, “I worry about children who still need a fairy tale. Is there a dividing line between children who need a fairy tale and children who need a book that reflects their life? It differs from child to child. And it’s [BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA] a book I really hope parents will read with their children. It gives you a safe place to talk about hard topics.”I'm proud to have been part of creating a book that's a safe place to talk about hard topics.Carol Hinz, editorDear reviewer, thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about this book.I first read Can I Touch Your Hair? to my older son, who is white, when he was seven years old. The book hadn’t even been printed, but I had a PDF on my computer and he wanted to know what I was working on. I started to read, expecting him to lose interest. But he didn’t. And then I got to the poem “The N-Bomb.” My heart dropped. I took a deep breath and said, “I need to tell you about a word you don’t know. It’s very bad and you should never use it.” I kept talking, and he listened carefully. After the fact, I was relieved. At some point, I knew he was going to encounter the word, whether in music, in a movie, or spoken by a peer. Did I want that to be his first exposure to it? Or did I want his first exposure to be in the safety of our home where we could talk about what the word is and why it is never okay?While not every kid is exposed to a given word at the same age, it’s often not something we as parents can control. And I feel grateful to have books such as this one that allow children, parents, and educators to address race and racism in a manner that fosters conversation and empathy.More about the N-word A conversation between Oprah and Jay-Z You’ll need to scroll down pretty far into the interview. Their exchange about it begins with the following:Oprah: Speaking of conversations, when I met you a few years ago, we discussed our disagreement over the use of the N word and misogynist lyrics in rap music. Do you believe that using the N word is necessary?Jay-Z: Nothing is necessary. It's just become part of the way we communicate. My generation hasn't had the same experience with that word that generations of people before us had. We weren't so close to the pain. So in our way, we disarmed the word. We took the fire pin out of the grenade. A conversation between James Lipton and Chris Rock  The N-word is addressed in the first 1:23 of the clip. *Warning: The full word is said multiple times in this video*More about children and tough topicsA Safe Way to Talk about Hard Topics: Children’s Author Katherine Paterson by Joyce MarcelWhy We Shouldn’t Shield Children from Darkness by Matt de la PeñaWhy Children’s Books Should Be a Little Sad by Kate DiCamilloBooks for adults about race So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma OluoCitizen: An American Lyric by Claudia RankineNutureShock: New Thinking about Children by Ashley Merryman and Po Bronson (specifically the chapter “Why White Parents Don’t Talk about Race”)

Celebrating Life with Poems about "Now"

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Jone at Deowriter for Roundup.

Here it's the eve of AGNES' entry to the world - for those of you who are interested, I am still taking octopus poems and art! Thanks to all of you, Octopus Month is going to be lots of fun.

And... it still feels like summer -- esp. when I received in the mail a late Summer Poem Swap from Iphigene, who joins us from the Philippines!


Iphigene wrote this poem after reading something on my blog: "All in nature is temporary."
Of Only Now
I wonder at the world,its permanence --the art of preservationwe've perfected
Photographs,pressed flowers,scrapbook, and Google drive.
Museums,wax figures,specimens, andartifacts.
We preserve,we save, all thesebits and pieces of what was
Grasping on our handsan illusionaryimmortalitythat fades in time
Refusing the permanenceof temporary -of life, of moments.Missing in the beautyof only now.
- Iphigene Daradar-------------
Isn't that lovely! And the art!! So many thanks to Iphigene for bringing such beauty to my day. And it reminded me of a villanelle I wrote recently on the same subject, so clearly my subconscious is working through some things. :)

Now
The kingdom of Now is everykid's land –
it doesn't discriminate; nows go on and on.Just don't try to hold one in your hand;

Now slips through your fingers like sand.Each Now is its own pink-streaked dawnwaking the kingdom: Now!In everykid's land,

Now doesn't shout or grandstand.Step after step, it faces life's marathon.Still, you can't hold Now in your hand.

Now is a tiny oasis is Time's wasteland.It can be squandered in a yawn,or it can build kingdoms in everykid’s land.

Now is the only moment at our command.It appears suddenly, with the grace of a swan,then soon swells – too big to hold in your hand.

Now marches with the faith of a one-man band,endlessly teaching us to carry on.The kingdom of Now is everykid's land;just don't dare try to hold it in your hand.
- Irene Latham
-----------------
And now... the lake is calling! :) Thank you so much for reading!

Celebrating Poetry & Conversation at Riverchase Elementary

books to sign!One of the great things about writing a book with someone is that we get invited to do school visits together! Yesterday Charles Waters and I spent time with students and educators at Riverchase Elementary in Hoover, Alabama. What a lovely learning environment the administration, faculty and staff are creating for these students! What an honor to be a part of that.




Charles Waters, Jennifer Rich, Irene LathamBig thanks to librarian Jennifer Rich (and her sweet mama, who is a retired librarian, and helped with Jennifer's classes so she could devote her time to making the author visit run smoothly. I know. Isn't that beautiful? We all need a mama like that).


It was also nice to explore the school's 811 section to see what poetry titles were available. I am always looking for new-to-me books... and of course it is fun to find familiar books, too. Yay for FRESH DELICIOUS! :)



Later, when Charles and I were on our way to our book signing at Little Professor Books, I got a text from a friend who had just picked up her grandbaby from our school... and look! We'd autographed a book for her!

No, I didn't know this friend's child when to Riverchase. What a sweet surprise!




Finally, I want to share a couple more things:

SCBWI schmooze at North Shelby Library1. We loved our time at Little Professor Books! What a peaceful, well-stocked bookstore. And we made some new friends! We didn't take any pictures, though, sadly. On the other hand... we were really in the moment, and sometimes cameras can get in the way of that.

2. As part of Charles' visit, we also offered an SCBWI Schmooze to offer "Experience, Strength, and Hope for the Publishing Journey." It was lovely talking with others at different stages of the journey, and remembering once again, that there's no one road to publication. We all get there in different ways. Thanks to all who attended and shared!

3.  For the first time, Charles and I don't know when we'll see each other again, as there are no new events currently scheduled. That feels weird, and made it sad to say goodbye! We've had such a big, fun year and shared so much... I know there are many more adventures in store for us... starting with us getting these latest revisions of our next book back to our editor! :)

#nErDcampGA Report

It was my great pleasure to be part of Georgia's first ever nErDcamp! Modeled after other state nErDcamps, this one was a day of learning and communion with educators, authors and readers. Thank you, Lola Schaefer and so many others (including my "angel" Cassie) for giving your time in this way! I'm so grateful to have been included.

I loved meeting so many Georgia folks, especially after I missed the awards ceremony for Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read, during which CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? was recognized. (I was at Mississippi Book Festival with Charles Waters!)

Some highlights:

Jeff Anderson. Jeff shared about his books and how humor saved his life. His message dovetailed nicely with mine and Charles' -- about how we NEED to make mistakes. Mistakes are how we grow! And humor helps.

The first session. I sat in a room with educators passionate about diversity and inclusivity. The discussion was inspiring and meaningful. Georgia is full of great folks doing the hard work. Thank you!

R. Gregory Christie. I loved meeting Greg and learning more about him and his work! We're both shy children's book creators. :) Also, I found Greg's comments about revision so applicable to my writing and my cello and my LIFE. He said revision starts with a broom, and ends with a toothpick. Or at least it should. :) He said artists look at shape and structure... and at my recent string orchestra gig, the conductor was telling us that for the fast parts, our accuracy would improve if we'd look at the shape of the music, not to worry so much about reading the specific notes. And it worked! I love these refrains in the arts and what it means for creators, whatever one's medium.

Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It was Rebecca who was there when I had my awakening to children's poetry back in 2010. It was Rebecca with whom I wrote a poem that was printed on a poster for this event -- and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie! - before being auctioned off. We were able to read the poem aloud, and also take home posters of the poem. What fun!



Sadly, the schedule was such that there wasn't time for me to meet all of the authors or attendees. But wow, what an enthusiastic team of volunteers and passionate readers! It was an honor to share time and space with all of you... thank you!

Sidenote: I also had cello business in the Atlanta area, which meant I came a day in advance of nErDcamp and was able to treat myself to some great restaurants. One really stood out: Lazaro's Cuban Cuisine (Roswell, GA). I'd almost drive back over to ATL just to eat at this restaurant again!

Fun at the County Fair - Poem and Pictures

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure and visit Erin at The Water's Edge for Roundup!
I am away from my desk today, but I did want to pop in with some pics from last week's county fair.

Ours is one of just 22 counties in Alabama that still hosts a fair, and I kind of love it -- not the rides so much, as the noise and lights and crowds are a bit much for me, though I do respect and admire how the crew can create the fair in just hours... so many cables snaking along the ground!

What I really love are the agriculture exhibits. This year we caught the kids' 4-H lamb show. AND, we enjoyed discovering two of our son's photographs earned ribbons and prize money!

Oh, and the fair is just not the fair until hubby and I have shared a funnel cake. :)


And because it's Poetry Friday, here's a fair poem:



Fair Prayer
Thank you for thisSeptember night,for funnel cakes and Midway lights.For giant pumpkins, sunflower blossoms,and the way Mama's         worries are all but forgotten.
Thanks for hay balesand raffle ticket sales,how riding the Tilt a Whirlmakes me feel likeI'm Queen of the world!
Most of all thank you for cotton candyand how it melts        fast-so-fast but leaves a splash of blue on my lipsthat lasts forever –
or at least until the next morning.

- Irene Latham
--------------------
Have YOU been to the fair this year? If so, maybe your experience needs to find its way into a poem??

The Magic of #SCBWIMidsouth2018 Conference

"Always be yourself...unless
you can be an octopus.
Then be an octopus."My home region of SCBWI is Southern Breeze, which includes Alabama, Georgia, and north Florida. For a long while, we had two conferences a year: October in Alabama, and March in Georgia. 

But no more: now we have a spring conference only, and it moves from Alabama to Georgia and back again.

Which means... MidSouth gets to be my fall conference! And it is such a well-run conference. Kudos to all the volunteers who made it happen.



This was also my first event to share LOVE, AGNES: POSTCARDS FROM AN OCTOPUS. (!)

Agnes was not the only octopus in the room, which made it super-fun. :) Also, I learned so much from the keynotes and sessions... and from other attendees! I came home so very inspired. (You can read tweets from the conference at #scbwimidsouth2018.) I gotta say: Cheryl Klein rocked my world, as she always does!
 
 AND... I loved sitting next to Andrea Loney, author of BUNNY BEAR, which is about being yourself, and TAKE A PICTURE OF ME, JAMES VANDERZEE!, one of the Harlem Renaissance artists I wrote poems about during 2018 ArtSpeak! In her later keynote Andrea told us about how working at the circus and Disney (and improv comedy!) impacted her life and writing. Fun!

One of the things I love about attending SCBWI conferences is the illustrator displays. I was especially excited when I saw this one by Lisa C Brown featuring an octopus as an octo-bus!

 I also loved seeing dear author-friends, like Rae Ann Parker, who is not only a fabulous writer and person, she also sells books for Parnassus Books. So much fun to catch up!

Finally I want to share some goodness I learned in the nonfiction session with Heather L. Montgomery and Charlesbridge editor Alyssa Mito Pusey.

Funny thing: I kind of feel like I learn about writing backwards. I heard so many things in that session that made perfect sense to me... for instance, "nonfiction books start with cognitive dissonance" -- two ideas that don't make sense. Like, say, an octopus writing postcards! :)

But I never could have told you that before this session.

Plus Heather is such an passionate presenter. What fun to learn from her! I am very excited about her forthcoming book about roadkill SOMETHING ROTTEN.

In Which I Become a Librarian

Today would be my father's 72nd birthday. Anyone who knew my father knows he was an avid reader, reading on average a book a day -- for his whole life.

Papa, building his
library collectionPapa's dream was to retire to his hometown of Port St. Joe, FL, where he would build a library to house his thousands of books.

That never happened, but something else really awesome did.

And now, a dream, I, his daughter, has harbored has come true: I am now a librarian!

Yes, of all the professions, I've often thought the one I would have most enjoyed (if I wasn't an author) is being a librarian. So imagine my delight when we arrived in our new town and discovered 1) our (tiny) town has a just-for-the-Town library! And 2) they needed a librarian.

Can you hear the angels singing?

New book donations, ready to be shelved!So I volunteered myself and have since gotten to work weeding and sorting donations and reorganizing and surveying residents to identify needs and setting up a donation/memorial program and all sorts of other fun stuff.

Not all of it is fun. So many choices must be made -- shelf space is limited, as we only have room to house about a thousand books.
wee book-loving meBut I love books! And libraries are important! And I want ours to not only fulfill my dream, but also my father's.

Joy! So Happy Birthday, Papa, from your loves-books-because-of-you, now-a-librarian daughter.

For the Love of Punctuation

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Amazing Amy at The Poem Farm for Roundup.

Big thanks to all who have sent along octopus art and poems! Agnes and I are giddy, I tell you. Giddy! So much #octopuslove. And there's still room for me, so please, join the Octopus Month (October) celebration!
Here's the post with more information.

Today I'd like to talk about punctuation. That's because I've just read A BUNCH OF PUNCTUATION: Poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illus. by Serge Bloch (WordSong).

My relationship with punctuation in poetry goes something like this:

Who needs punctuation?

Okay, a LITTLE punctuation.

Ooh, I love that emdash!

In this new collection Lee brings us 14 poems by these fine poets/humans: Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Betsy Franco, Charles Ghigna, Joan Bransfield Graham, Michele Krueger, Julie Larios, J. Patrick Lewis, Prince Redcloud, Alice Schertle, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Allan Wolf, Jane Yolen -- and of course Lee himself.

Lee Bennett HopkinsIn fact, it's one of Lee's poems that I'd like to share today -- because I love it. It's about the comma, but it actually says as much about a period. I love when poems do that!

When I wrote to Lee to ask his permission to include the poem in this post, he offered some additional comma-y comments. Read on!

Comma
 by Lee Bennett Hopkins

A comma
lets you stop,

pause,

enjoy the weather,

unlike a period,
which puts an end

to any
cloudy,
rainy,
snowy,
or sunny day,
at once,
immediately,

forever.

----
"Commas are very important. Misusing them can cause a lot of trouble. For example:

"I love cooking children and dogs." is not the same as "I love cooking, children, and dogs."
All hail the comma -- not the coma."  - Lee Bennett Hopkins--------
You never know what Lee will come up with -- what lucky readers we are!

I myself have written about punctuation a number of times. The shortest -- and strangest -- appears in FRESH DELICIOUS, where there's a "Summer Squash as Punctuation" spread. The visual interpretation is a little different than a traditional poem:

Illustrations by Mique Moriuchi
Summer Squash as Punctuation

crookneck squash = question mark
button squash - period
zucchini squash = exclamation point
-----------
Have YOU written a punctuation poem? If so, leave your link in comments, because I'd love to read it!

AGNES, Getting Some Love from Kirkus (and What It's Like to Be Part of a Trend)

Agnes, ready to go out on the road!
First stop: MidSouth SCBWI
Nashville, TNIt's always a bit of a nail-biting time, waiting for reviews to come in on a new book.

Actually, there's quite a lot of nail-biting time in ye ol' book industry isn't there? Huh.

So it was with great relief and excitement that Kirkus had some lovely things to say about LOVE, AGNES: POSTCARDS FROM AN OCTOPUS. Here are a couple of my favorite bits:

"Though Latham's story is thoroughly fantastic, both author and illustrator have been respectful to this amazing creature, describing realistic behaviors and depicting her relatively accurately, right down to the rectangular pupils of her eyes and her senescent color change."


"Certainly the most engaging of the recent wave of octopus stories, for reading aloud or reading alone."

Read the entire review here. Truly, Thea Baker did an amazing job with the illustrations! 

As for that "recent wave of octopus stories," well, as it turns out, octopus books are a trend this fall! 

And that's not all: there's an octopus named Inky who's so popular that he's got THREE books to go along with his three hearts! (I think Inky and Agnes would be great friends... if octopuses were friends with each other. Ha!)
Inky's Amazing Escape
by Sy Montgomery,
illus. by Amy Schimler-Safford
Inky the Octopus
by Erin Guendelsberger,
illus. by David Leonard
Inky's Great Escape
by Casey Lyall,
illus. by Sebastia SerraAnd how does Agnes feel about all these octopus books? Well, she may not be the smartest octopus in the sea, but she's sure there's plenty of room in the sea for all of them -- and more! After all, these books are never just about octopuses... all nonfiction tells something personal about the author, too. Just ask Melissa Stewart, who talks about this in an amazing blog post that also includes a great quote from another nonfiction/poetry luminary, Laura Purdie Salas.

Octopuses are quite amazing creatures, and Agnes is already plotting ways she might send postcards to some of these new friends...  I'll keep you posted! Meanwhile, happy reading!

Movie Monday: SEARCHING

We weren't planning to go to the movies this past weekend, but sometimes plans change, don't they? We chose SEARCHING, because it has received some nice reviews-- and wow, it did not disappoint.

It's a mystery in which a father tries to unravel his daughter's disappearance by using technology.

Fascinating, right, how social media and the internet can provide so many clues? And also the dark side... how social media turns fathers into #monsters and how crimes/deception can happen BECAUSE of the technology. Definitely a double-edged sword. Which is not news.

But what makes this movie great is two things: emotion and surprise. Also nice to see a Korean American family front-n-center.

I was in tears after the first few minutes of the movie, after a heartbreakingly beautifulmontage that reminded me a lot of the opening scenes of the movie UP.

If you haven't seen UP, please please see it!

Now back to SEARCHING. From a pure storytelling angle, this is one heckuva satisfying mystery/thriller. Really, really well done with nice twists and a satisfying, believable resolution. It's helping me with a current work-in-progress. I love when that happens!