Podcast: Janet Wong & Sylvia Vardell
Today we’d like to welcome two amazing women who are on the cutting edge of children’s poetry.
Janet Wong is a prolific writer of poetry and short stories for young people. Her work has received wide recognition from shows like Oprah Winfrey to awards such as the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. She is the first generation daughter of Korean and Chinese immigrant parents, and many of her works deal with multicultural experiences.
Dr. Sylvia Vardell is professor of children’s literature at Texas Woman’s University and is the author or contributor of over 24 books. She received the 2014 Scholastic Library Publishing Award for her work in the field of children’s literature. She blogs regularly at Poetry for Children.
Together, these two authors have collaborated on the Poetry Friday Anthology series, a collection of poems by some of the best children’s poets from around the world. Even better, each poem comes with lesson plans and classroom resources for teaching these poems. Whether in a traditional classroom or at home, these books offer a wonderful means of widening your family’s consumption of poetry.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting these two powerful women! We all agreed that too often poetry is perceived as boring or difficult. Yet those who love poetry say otherwise. Janet and Sylvia make poetry so accessible and delightful through their work, I found myself wanting to run right to my poetry anthologies after our conversation to spend time again with my poet friends.
Enjoy our conversation and do yourself a favor: take the plunge into exploring and experiencing poetry for yourself and with your children.
Here is the link to Sylvia Vardell’s blog Poetry for Children and Janet Wong’s website. Be sure to check out their books below or at your local library!
By Janet Wong
A Suitcase of Seaweed: And Other Poems. Celebrates diversity. Winner of the Claremont Stone Center Recognition of Merit Award.
The Trip Back Home
Night Garden: Poems from the World of Dreams. NY Times Best Illustrated Books of 2000.
The Rainbow Hand
Knock on Wood: Poems about Superstitions
Twist: Yoga Poems
Behind the Wheel: Poems about Driving
By Sylvia Vardell
Poetry Friday Anthologies
You Just Wait: A Poetry Friday Power Book for Tweens & Teens (Soon to be available!)
The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations
The Poetry Friday Anthology
The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School
The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science for Kids
Check out Janet and Sylvia’s written interview
on the Poetry Teatime blog!
