Write! Write! Write!

Posted on March 17, 2020 by rosecappelli

Happy Book Birthday to Write! Write! Write! by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. This book is a wonderful companion to Amy’s Read! Read! Read! so I hope you will add it to your collection.

Title: Write! Write! Write!

Author: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Illustrator: Ryan O’Rourke

Publisher: Wordsong, 2020, Poetry

Audience: Ages 5-10

Themes: Writing, Poetry

Opening lines: From “Timeline”:

Writing a sentence

is building a tower

block after block

hour by hour.

I am a writer.

And writing is power.

Synopsis: From Amy’s website: Write! Write! Write! is a poetry collection that explores every stage and every aspect of the writing process, from learning the alphabet to the thrilling moment of writing a thought for the first time, from writer’s block to finding inspiration, and from revision to stapling your finished work into a book. These poems also celebrate how writing teaches patience, helps express opinions, and allows us to imagine the impossible. This book, brimming with imagination and wonder, will leave readers eager to grab a pen, pencil, or keyboard–and write!

Why I Like This Book: The number one reason I like this book:Amy’s poems are so accessible to young readers and writers. In the collection there are examples of many different types of poems – rhyming and non-rhyming, couplets, list poems, acrostic, and poems with repeated lines. All explain some aspect of writing and offer an invitation to write. The illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to the words.

Amy has terrific resources for kids at www.poemfarm.amylv.com

Happy reading (and writing)!

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Poetry Friday: Montezuma’s Castle

Posted on March 13, 2020 by rosecappelli

I recently spent a week vacationing in Phoenix, Arizona. The blue skies, warm breezes, and time with friends was everything I could have asked for in a vacation. One of the days we spent at Montezuma’s Castle National Monument. This treasure boasts one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. It was a wonder to gaze at the ruins and imagine the lives of the Sinagua who inhabited the area for 300 years.

Montezuma’s Castle

Gaze on ancient ruins 

amid white Arizona sycamores.

Cliff dwellings

of a resourceful people

beneath an azure sky.

A story of desert survival

inspiring imagination.

Matt Forrest Esenwine has the round up today at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme. Be sure to check it out!

Posted in Poetry Friday | 20 Comments

Poetry Friday: Growing a Story

Posted on February 28, 2020 by rosecappelli

I read a lot of Mary Oliver’s poetry. A few weeks ago I copied this line from her poem “Swimming One Day in August” in my notebook:

“…it will be time again for the deepening and quieting of the spirit.”

Then I jotted down a few things that deepen and quiet my spirit, and “words” came to mind. Yesterday I took that idea for my poem, “Growing a Story.”

Growing a Story

I put pen to paper
hoping to begin with the right word,
the best word
 
(there are so many from which to choose)
 
just one,
then another will arrive
to keep the first company
 
(we all need friends)
 
the friends will ask others to join in,
and they will grow into
phrases,
sentences,
images,
until they become…
 
a story.

For today’s Poetry Roundup please visit Karen Edmiston* Thanks, Karen!

Posted in Poetry Friday | 10 Comments

Poetry Friday: A Valentine for My Granddaughter

Posted on February 14, 2020 by rosecappelli

poetry-friday-button

Happy Valentine’s Day! There are so many ways to show love and kindness – a gesture, a smile, a caring act. And while Valentine’s Day is most often associated with romantic love, it can (and should, in my opinion) be a celebration of everyday love in all its many forms.

For today’s poem I decided to write a rhyming couplet (not my usual structure for a poem) and celebrate a grandmother’s love.

A Valentine for Nina

You’ve captured my heart.

I hold you in my arms,
No escaping your charms.

Ten fingers, ten toes
As soft as a rose.

Those eyes bright as sunlight
In a sky blue and white.

Your smile is a gift
Sure to soothe any rift.

The music of your voice
Leaves me no choice –

You’ve captured my heart.

You can also read a rhyming story poem I posted earlier this week for Susanna Leonard Hill’s Valentiny Contest here.

Today’s Poetry Round Up is at Teacher Dance. Thanks, Linda!

Posted in Poetry Friday | 7 Comments

Rusty and Rosie: A Little Love Story

Posted on February 12, 2020 by rosecappelli

I love challenges, especially writing contest challenges! They give me a focus and help me stretch as a writer. So today, I’m participating in Susanna Leonard Hill’s 5th Annual Valentiny Writing Contest. The challenge: write a Valentine story in which someone or something is curious, appropriate for kids, in 214 words or less. Thanks for reading!

Rusty and Rosie
by Rose Cappelli
(187 words)

Rusty rose from his den
On a cold winter day,
When his world was arranged
In a most special way.

He spied hearts on the hillside
And hearts on the trees.
Hearts on the leaves
Blowing by on the breeze.

Heart shaped rocks on the path
Rusty couldn’t ignore.
His questioning mind
Made him want to know more.

He followed them down
To a grove of tall pines,
Where hearts on the bark
Were the next special signs.

Heart shaped rocks in the stream
Kept his paws fairly dry,
As Rusty continued
His quest to learn why.

He discovered more shapes
On the opposite shore,
Where blackberry hearts
Led to Rosie’s front door.

Rusty knocked right away
And she answered quite quickly.
“I hoped you would come,”
Rosie said rather briskly.

She invited him in
Where he saw a huge sign-
WILL YOU PLEASE, RUSTY FOX,
BE MY SWEET VALENTINE?

So they huddled and cuddled
The rest of the day.
Dined on blackberry hearts
Baked in blackberry tarts.

And they promised each other
On stars up above,
They would always find hearts
To remind them of love.

Posted in Poems | 15 Comments