I’m going to be posting a few poems from our book about Extraordinary Women and Girls, Reaching the Stars (Macmillan), with Jan Dean (@glitterpoems) and Michaela Morgan (@MichaelamorganM).
International Women’s Day is TODAY!
Tag: Jan Dean
Come the Launch of Shaping the World!
Are you a teacher? Do you have a class you’d like to introduce to female and male historical heroes – via shape poems?
Are you free at 9:30 am on the 22nd of April?
Are you a shape poem fan?
If so. come and find out how penicillin was discovered (by being messy!), why Shakespeare is so loved, who invented the first sliced loaf of bread, or the system known as the Socratic method still used to solve crime today, and hear why Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat on that bus!
There are 20 female and 20 male heroes in the book, and many of the poems will be read by their authors – me, Matt Goodfellow, Roger Stevens, John Dougherty, Sue Hardy-Dawson, Jan Dean, Cheryl Moskowitz, Chitra Soundar, Dom Conlon, Shauna Darling Robertson, Kate Wakeling, Laura Mucha, Myles McLeod, Suzy Levinson, and Penny Kent – all hosted by Gaby Morgan, Editorial Director at Macmillan Children’s Books
At the same time as the readings, you will also see the wonderful shape poems themselves!
Opportunities to ask the poets questions included, FREE!
In fact the whole event is free, get your tickets here:
Jan Dean: A Mother’s Confession
I thought it was time for another poetry performance – this is the wonderful Jan Dean (with whom I wrote Reaching the Stars, Poems About Extraordinary Women and Girls, along with Michaela Morgan).
A Rainbow of Poems – Oh, You Shouldn’t Have by Jan Dean
So a slight change in direction -we will still have funny poems posted but also – a rainbow of poems, starting with this great funny and red poem by Jan Dean! Thank you, Jan!
Matt Goodfellow: My Favourite Poetry Books
Tenth in my series where I ask a well-known poet to choose some of their favourite poetry books is Matt Goodfellow. One of my favourite writing companions, Matt and I have written two books together, with Roger Stevens. He was asked to choose 5-8 books, one of which could be an adult collection, one of which had to be his own. Matt is a poet and National Poetry Day Ambassador. His most recent collections are The Same Inside (Macmillan 2018), and Be the Change, Poems to Help You Save the World, written with me and Roger Stevens. His solo collection is Chicken on the Roof illustrated by Hanna Asen (Otter Barry 2018). He visits schools, libraries and festivals to deliver high-energy, fun-filled poetry performances and workshops. Matt’s website is here.
Some of Matt’s Favourite Children’s Poetry Books:
Wallpapering the Cat by Jan Dean (Macmillan). Jan is a stupendously brilliant writer, up there with the very, very best. Funny, clever, thoughtful, playful, weird and honest, this is a collection that showcases her poetic talents. Seek it out – and anything else she has ever written.
Evidence of Elephants by Gerard Benson (Viking). This book contains one of my all-time favourite poems, ‘River Song’ – you can find footage of Gerard reading it aloud in his fabulous voice here. By all accounts a brilliant story-teller, actor and all-round good egg, as well as poet, it is a big sadness of mine that I’ll never get to meet the great man.
Snollygoster and other poems by Helen Dunmore (Scholastic). Helen Dunmore’s death was a huge loss for poetry. I first started reading her poems when I was just starting to dabble with writing my own – and this book was one I read over and over again. She was a beautifully gifted writer.
I Had a Little Cat by Charles Causley (Macmillan). Causley wrote so many brilliant poems over the course of his career and this book has got them all! Not really much more to say other than if you are interested in poetry for children, this is one of the important foundation stones you must have in your collection.
If You Could See Laughter (Salt). I love this book. Mandy has such an interestingly elegant way with words and a unique viewpoint on the world. It was immediately clear to me when I first read this book that here was somebody with a special talent. Having met her quite a few times, I can also confirm she is as splendid a person as she is a writer!
Plum by Tony Mitton (Barn Owl Books). To put it simply, I think Tony Mitton is a genius. I recommend you read anything that has his name on it!
Black Country by Liz Berry (Chatto & Windus). This book, written for adults, was recommended to me by my good friend, poet Dom Conlon. Dom has excellent taste and the second I dipped my toe into this rich collection I knew I was going to love it.
Chicken on the Roof by Matt Goodfellow (Otter Barry). I s’pose I better also recommend one by me! This is my most recent solo collection. I hope on reading it you’d find simplicity, depth, sadness, silliness, laughter, warmth and love. Lofty ambitions, eh?
#AtoZChallenge; D is for Jan Dean
D in the Poetry Feast is Jan Dean – oh, Jan is fun. She is also a National Poetry Day Ambassador, writing poems in a tucked away corner of her house, next to a rubber chicken handbag and Templeton the kiwi. She has two full collections of poetry, three collaborations and is in over a hundred anthologies. She used to visit schools to perform her poems and have an amazing time writing with classes, but has recently retired, however, she will never give up writing poems! Her latests books are The Penguin in Lost Property, illustrated by Nathan Reed (written with Roger Stevens) and Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, illustrated by Steph Says Hello (written with Liz Brownlee and Michaela Morgan). Jan’s website is here.
Jan gave me free reign to choose any of her poems so I chose one from The Penguin in Lost Property, because it is very typical of Jan’s wonderful sense of humour, and it made me laugh.
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Unsuccessful Pets
Given half a chance
A skink would slink off
In the blink of the eye of a lynx
A skink would skulk away
Yes, I think a skink would slink
Because I once had a skunk
And it slunk
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© Jan Dean
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If you would like to blog hop to the next AtoZ Challenge then follow this link.
Children’s Poets’ Climate Change blog: Be the Change
Liz’s Blog: Liz Brownlee Poet
Liz’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lizpoet
KidsPoets4Climate Twitter: https://twitter.com/poets4climate
Children’s Poetry Summit Twitter: https://twitter.com/kidspoetsummit
A Poem from Jan Dean on International Women’s Day
Happy International Women’s Day!
Jan Dean’s latests books are The Penguin in Lost Property, illustrated by Nathan Reed (written with Roger Stevens) and Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, illustrated by Steph Says Hello, and written with Liz Brownlee and Michaela Morgan.
This is one of her wonderful poems from Reaching the Stars.
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Advice to Rapunzel
Sort yourself out.
Don’t hang around
for someone else to rescue you.
Give yourself a trim.
Pick up the scissors,
it’s not rocket science.
Make a rope ladder.
Twist one. Plait one. Improvise.
Use your head for more than growing hair.
Escape.
Secure the ladder
Shimmy down and leg it.
Don’t look back.
Get clean away
Vamoose. Stay loose.
And learn your lesson.
Staying put beneath a tyrant’s thumb
is dumb.
.
© Jan Dean
Reaching the stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, can be bought here.
Jan Dean’s Poem, The Rubber Plant Speaks, performed by Redd Townsend
Jan Dean’s latest book is Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, pub. Macmillan, written with Liz Brownlee and Michaela Morgan.
D is for Children’s Poet Jan Dean, #AtoZChallenge #ZtoA
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Jan Dean
Jan Dean is a British poet and a National Poetry Day Ambassador. She writes poems in a tucked away corner of the house, next to a rubber chicken handbag and Templeton the kiwi. She has two full collections of poetry, three collaborations and is in over a hundred anthologies. She visits schools to perform her poems and have an amazing time writing with classes. Her latests books are The Penguin in Lost Property, illustrated by Nathan Reed (written with Roger Stevens) and Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, illustrated by Steph Says Hello (written with Liz Brownlee and Michaela Morgan). Her website is here.
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Here is one of Jan’s fabulous poems;
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I caught a grasshopper –
I caught a grasshopper –
heard its saw-tooth squeaky song
then let my eyes follow my ears
to the pale blade where it sat,
moved soft and slow
so that it wouldn’t know I was there,
cupped it in my hands
before its hairpin legs could flick
and bounce it far away.
I caught a grasshopper –
felt it tickle in my pink palms.
Gotcha. Laughed.
But what can you do
with a grasshopper?
What use is a grasshopper
without the field,
without the sky?
How can it be a green scratch
against the blue
if you don’t let it leap?
So I opened the box of my fingers –
It wasn’t mine to keep.
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© Jan Dean (The Penguin in Lost Property by Jan Dean & Roger Stevens. Macmillan 2014)
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Happy #WorldPoetryDay! Celebrating with the mini-film, Poets are Everywhere!
Happy World Poetry Day!
To celebrate, here is a video of Poets are Everywhere, featuring poets Liz Brownlee, the late and wonderful Gerard Benson, Catherine Benson, Jane Clarke, Sue Hardy-Dawson, Andrea Shavick, Roger Stevens, and Philip Waddell. Written by the poets, with extra verses by Jan Dean, Michaela Morgan and Graham Denton. Filmed on location in Bristol, thanks to Blackwell’s Bookshop and Bristol City Museum.
Poem for #InternationalWomensDay ‘Girls of the Week’ by Michaela Morgan
Girls of the Week
Monday’s girl stands up proud.
Tuesday’s girl speaks clear and loud.
Wednesday’s girl likes to dream and ponder.
Thursday’s girl loves to wander.
Friday’s child can be slow – or speedy.
Saturday’s child will help the needy.
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
is as good as the rest in every way.
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© Michaela Morgan
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From Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, by Liz Brownlee, Jan Dean and Michaela Morgan, Macmillan.
Poem for #InternationalWomensDay – The Battle of the Sexes
Battle of the Sexes
Bobby Riggs, a 1939 tennis champion, unwisely asserted that the female tennis game was inferior and that a top female player could not beat him. In 1973, Billie Jean King, who fought constantly for recognition and equality for women in sport, accepted his challenge, determined to beat him. She felt it would set the progress of women back fifty years if she lost and affect all women’s self-esteem. In front of a worldwide television audience of almost fifty million, she beat him easily. The match was called ‘The Battle of the Sexes’.
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Bobby Riggs, tennis champ,
said a woman couldn’t
beat a man . . .
.
Billie Jean King, tennis champ,
in three straight sets, showed
a woman can.
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© Liz Brownlee
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From Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, by Liz Brownlee, Jan Dean and Michaela Morgan, Macmillan.
Poetry Book for #InternationalWomensDay!
This is the one I’d recommend (unsurprisingly!). It was written by me, Jan Dean, and Michaela Morgan to chime with the 100th anniversaries of the work by suffragists from every walk of life.
Here’s the review in Lovereading4kids:
New poems by three of our brightest and liveliest poets are gathered together in this anthology which celebrates women and girls, lots of them. The lives of the really famous – Malala, Frida Kahlo, Amy Johnson, Hillary Rodham Clinton – are discussed, the roles of women in fairy tales debated, and the achievements of women whose names we’ll never learn acknowledged too. The poem styles are as varied as the book’s subjects, and there are poems to make you laugh, to make you angry, to make you think. It’s a sparkling collection, inspiring and empowering. Buy copies for all the young people in your life. ~ Andrea Reece
Since then it has won the North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards for Poetry.
Jan Dean reads her poem Davy Bones
Ooooooh… Jan Dean.
Jan Dean’s Poem Suffragette on Radio 4
Jan Dean‘s poem ‘Suffragette‘ from Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls, on BBC Radio 4, Wednesday 6th February 2018, available indefinitely on podcast:
Poetry Roundabout 