Posted in Poetry News

You Can Now Buy Signed Books From Me!

I now have a safe PayPal facility installed which means you can buy books straight from me, signed with a personal dedication – the perfect Christmas present!

Available are:

A few copies of first print run Animal Magic Poems on a Disappearing World, illustrated by Rose Sanderson, and published by IRON Press.

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Animal Magic, Poems on a Disappearing World

Review: It’s not every book of poems that crosses over the grown-up/child divide – but this is one that does so beautifully. Elegant poetry sits alongside interesting facts, enhanced by charming illustrations. Price includes P&P. Email dedication wanted from contact page, with your name and address, and book’s name.

£10.00

being-me-big-from-janetta

Being Me, Poems about Thoughts, Worries and Feelings

Written with Laura Mucha and Matt Goodfellow, a ground-breaking collection offering understanding, support and encouragement, and advice from a leading developmental psychologist. Price includes P&P. Email dedication wanted from contact page, with your name and address, and book’s name.

£8.00

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Shaping the World, 40 Historical Heroes in Verse

20 amazing women and 20 amazing men who helped shape the world – in shape poems, all with biographical notes! Find out about Florence Nightingale’s pet owl, Benjamin Franklin’s windsurfing, and the youngest Nobel Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai. Price includes P&P. Email dedication wanted from contact page, with your name and address, and book’s name.

£7.00

Posted in Be the Change

Be the Change – Some Poems Performed by the Poets!

Hello! Today, Matt and Roger and I are launching Be the Change, Poems to Help you Save the World in performance – brought to you from lockdown in Manchester, Bristol and somewhere deep in France… we are wondering whether to do some lesson plans for other poems in the book, if you’d like that, could you get in touch so we can gauge demand?

So – without further ado – the poets perform!

Hope you enjoyed that!

Many poems have little tips at the end for ways in which young people can help save the planet with small, achievable actions.

The book is available here on Amazon, (also available on Kindle), and here from an independent book shop.

Posted in National Poetry Day 2019

National Poetry Week Climate Truth Poem from Roger Stevens

Roger Stevens is a National Poetry Day Ambassador, a founding member of the Able Writers scheme and runs the award-winning website www.poetryzone.co.uk for children and teachers. Roger (link to 3 Simple Steps to Perk up your Poems) has published 40 books for children. His book Apes to Zebras – an A to Z of Shape Poems (Bloomsbury), written with Sue Hardy Dawson and Liz Brownlee, won the prestigious NSTB award in 2018. Recent books include  I Am a Jigsaw; Puzzling Poems to Baffle your Brain (Bloomsbury 2019) and Moonstruck; an Anthology of Moon Poems (Otter-Barry). This poem is from the Tricky Questions, Talking Points section of the just published Be the Change; Poems About Sustainability (Macmillan) written with Liz Brownlee and Matt Goodfellow.

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Getting to the Truth

Some people say
drinking cow’s milk is bad
For one thing
cows expel huge volumes
of greenhouse gasses
which contribute
to global warming

They say
Drink almond milk.
Almonds are good for you.
And they are.
Very good for you.

But it turns out
that nearly all the world’s almonds
are grown in California*
where there are often droughts
And did you know that
in California
it takes
six thousand litres of water
to produce one litre of almond milk?
That’s BONKERS!
And farmers are ripping up
healthy citrus groves
to meet the rising demand
for almond milk.

Oatmilk seems to be a better alternative
But the whole point is this.
Don’t always accept
what you read on a label.
or what people tell you.
Don’t always believe what you read
in the papers
or see on TV
or on the internet
If you really want to help
Just dig a little deeper
Try and get to the truth

*around 80%

.

© Roger Stevens

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Thank you for the poem, Roger!

 

Posted in A to Z Challenge 2019

# A to Z Challenge, B is for Liz Brownlee

Sue Hardy-Dawson, Me and Roger Stevens after our NSTBA win

The second post is me, because I handily have a surname beginning with B. I write poems for kids and I’m a National Poetry Day Ambassador, a role I take very seriously.

I have my own website, but run this website to showcase all children’s poets and the wonderful work they do to celebrate children’s poetry and everything it encourages, such as empathy, understanding, reading ability, education, etc. The website contains poetry videos for kids, poetry activities for kids, poetry games for kids, everything to do with poetry for young people!

I run the Children’s Poetry Summit Twitter feed, as well as my own, and also the Twitter account for KidsPoets4Climate, supporting our children in their fight for their climate. If you have any suitable sustainability poems, do send them for tweeting!  There is also my blog called BetheChange about sustainability for children.

In August, a book of sustainability poems I have written with Matt Goodfellow (link to Matt’s article, What Poetry Offers in the Classroom) and Roger Stevens (link to Roger’s article, Three Simple Steps to Perk Up Your Poems) will be out, called Be the Change – we are all very excited about it!

I also love going into schools, to libraries, performances and literary festivals with all the books’ subjects, but my favourites are animals, rainforest and sustainability readings and workshops.

You might think I’d have no time for writing, but I love writing for children; my books are Animal Magic, Poems on a Disappearing World (about endangered animals), Reaching the Stars, Poems about Extraordinary Women and Girls (about some of the countless women who have shaped history, until now), The Same Inside, Poems about Empathy and Friendship (what it says on the tin), Apes to Zebras, an A-Z of Shape Poems, a book of animal poems in the shapes of the animals they are about, and out on August 8, Be the Change, Poems About Sustainability

Reaching the Stars won the prestigious NSTBA for poetry in 2017 and Apes to Zebras won it in 2018, with The Same Inside being shortlisted.

Here is my poem for the poetry feast:

Pelican

And here’s the poem written down!

 

Pelican

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A pelican scoops up to consume

its seafood soup with its own spoon;

the spoon unfolds into a dish,

and soon as it is full of fish

which wiggle-waggle round inside,

the pelican swallows, goggle-eyed.

Oh, what efficient use of space

to keep a kitchen in its face!

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© Liz Brownlee, poem and shape.

 

If you’d like to blog hop to another A-Z Challenge, follow this link.

Liz Brownlee

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

Posted in Poems Needed!

What Are You Doing Today? #kids4climate

Image: Woodleywonderworks, Flikr, CC license.

Today our kids are striking to protest our inaction to address the state of the planet. I’m Tweeting today from @poets4climate and welcome any poems you have about endangered animals, poverty, hunger, gender inequality, importance of education, sustainability, new technology, water, desertifcation, tree felling, palm oil… anything to do with climate sustainability, for TODAY, to show our support.

Posted in World Book Day

Happy World Book Day!

Happy World Book Day – here is a tiger poem to celebrate!

Tiger

You who
are meant as
part of
the forest,
marked in each
sleek stretch
of soft-pawed pace
bold black
like the living trees
against the sun,
no matter
how deep
you go,
as each tree falls,
your stripes,
your bones
will also.

 

© Poem and Illustration, Liz Brownlee