Poetry Friday - A DEFINING Moment

Hi Everyone, and welcome to Poetry Friday. Leave your links below and enjoy a special day of poetry!

         Irene Latham wrote me a few weeks ago to ask if I'd like to help reveal the cover of a new book coming in February 2020. Of course I shouted "YES!" and here we are, getting ready to welcome autumn on Monday and today a marvelous new book by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrations by Mehrdokht Amini.  

         All kinds of dictionaries come into the world. When I researched to find the first, I found that in 1604, the first book generally regarded as the first English dictionary was written as Robert Cawdrey, a schoolmaster and former Church of England clergyman. Yet, other sites give different names, ones you will recognize, like Webster. However you look at it, our world is filled with books that want us to learn and grow with words! And that's how poets do their thing, right, with words! 

Two I found at the bookstore where I volunteer!

         As for a second way of communicating a concept, a story, a feeling, artists make art with the medium of their choice. That is where Mehrdokht enters the collaboration with Charles and Irene. She painted their words, helping to create a new kind of dictionary for children from her palette. 

       Here's the publisher description:

How can we make the world a better place? This inspiring resource for middle-grade readers is organized as a dictionary; each entry presents a word related to creating a better world, such as ally, empathy, or respect. For each word, there is a poem, a quote from an inspiring person, a personal anecdote from the authors, and a "try it" prompt for an activity.

This second poetic collaboration from Irene Latham and Charles Waters builds upon themes of diversity and inclusiveness from their previous book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. Illustrations from Iranian-British artist Mehrdokht Amini offer readers a rich visual experience.

         Sounds fabulous, doesn't it? Because the book is filled with inspiration to write and act, I asked Irene, Charles and Mehrdokht a question about their own actions. At the beginning, one might ask "What if?" as in "What if we do this?" or "What if this was added?" or "What if we did a _______?" When Mehrdokht began her work for the book, perhaps she asked: "What if I took each word and?" or "What if this time, using _______ would work?"