Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week Christie is our host HERE at Wandering and Wondering. Thank you for hosting, Christie!
To start off, a shout out to Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell. This afternoon I attended their workshop on poetry anthologies, entitled Anthologies 101. It was inspiring and informative. It was also everything anyone needs to know on how to find submission opportunities, how to begin indie or self publishing, and advice on how to get your poems into the hands of a publisher. Though the workshop was just a beginning and there is much to know, I have a clearer idea how to move forward and I hope get more poems into books.
When I sat down today to decide what to share this week, I pulled from my stack of picture books, I AM FARMER, a 2019 book written by Baptiste and Miranda Paul and gorgeously illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon.
Why this book? First of all, it’s August and I have been getting deliveries of home grown produce from my neighbor. I love carrots, beets and onions that are still covered in soil because they were picked that morning.
In addition to receiving such bounty, this week I listened to Melissa Stewart’s excellent workshop on picture book biographies. She discussed how to choose a topic. This is crucial if you want to publish a picture book biography.
I AM FARMER is an appealing topic to a publisher because, although it’s about an obscure living person, a man named Tantoh Nforba from Cameroon, his life and work is acutely relevant today to people everywhere, including the U.S.. One theme is about respecting the land and protecting water because our lives depend on it. The book also tells a story about a diverse people and a diverse culture not widely known by most people who live in the U.S..
Miranda and Baptiste Paul are both poets and the lyrical writing shows that. The Book begins with a poem:
THIS IS NORTHWESTERN CAMEROON
Green
Wet
Alive
The rainy season has begun.
Check out the colors in Zunon’s illustrations.
We meet Tantoh as a boy who is smart and inquisitive. He will face many obstacles in his life.
At school, he wants to know everything there is to know about farming, though this will not earn him respect. Only the poor are farmers. They call him “Farmer” which is considered disrespectful, but not to him. He persists in his interest. I love this spread which shows his determination.
The page begins: “Tantoh wants to learn more. He wants to learn everything.
And though his intelligence and talent as a farmer are finally recognized, his struggle is to over. His personal encounter with drinking bad water and subsequent illness, shows him the importance of water conservation in his community.
The book begins with ends a short poem, and ends with another, but I won’t spoil it by posting it. I hope this book finds its way into classrooms everywhere to inspire kids to follow their dreams.
Thanks so much for the shout-out, Janice! I think your blog is a perfect example of what a poetry blog can do to help cultivate a love of poetry. So many of your entries resonate and make me feel like writing a new poem!!!
Thanks so much, Janet. I enjoyed the workshop, getting to know you and Sylvia better, and seeing so many people I have met here on PF.
Janice, I missed Janet and Sylvia’s workshop. Is there a link to see it virtually? Thanks for sharing the book about Cameroon. My daughter’s sister-in-law’s husband is from Cameroon and this is the first book I have seen about that country. It is interesting that the front and ending pieces of the book are poems.
Dear Janice, thank you for sharing your learning with us! I loved I AM FARMER, too. Wishing you poems and picture books! xo
I love this book, too, an inspiration for the life so beautifully lived and for the writing and illustration. Thanks, Janice!
Janice, thank you for sharing this beautiful picture book. I like what you said about the subject of I am Farmer–“his life and work is acutely relevant today to people everywhere…” Well said and beautiful!
Janice, you are busy learning from so many overlapping sources! I hope Janet and Sylvia run that workshop again–it looked so interesting, and your choice of picture book biography to highlight is an excellent one. Thanks for sharing all your learning!
This looks like a good one for the second graders I read too as a classroom volunteer! Thank you. And thanks for those other resources, too, about picture book biographies and poetry anthologies. I’m going to check them out.
This book needs to make its way to our rural schools so the children of our own farmers can grow up proud of their heritage and excited to carry on family businesses!
Wasn’t it a terrific workshop? Thank you for sharing this book. We need to remember the farmers.
Hi Janice! The anthology workshop was awesome! I also enjoyed attending! Thanks for sharing this book. Water conservation is so important today. I think that having a child character interested in clean and accessible in this book is an awesome way to model it for other children. I share your hope it gets into classrooms and libraries all over! Thanks!
It was an amazing workshop! It was great to see you there.
Thanks for highlighting this book! I look forward to checking it out.
This is such a lovely book-thanks for sharing it!
I’m on the hunt for this book now, Janice. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention. Sylvia and Janet’s workshop sounds terrific, and Melissa always has wonderful advice and information to share. Cheers!
Thanks for all, Janice – I didn’t stumble onto the workshop info until it was over, but it sounded fantastic. Your dedication to your craft shines throughout this post! And what a great-looking/sounding book by those two creative voices – and the illustrator’s, too – loved being introduced to it here.
Huh. To think that “Farmer” is an insult. What backwards thinking that is. But, I understand…I grew up in a very rural area. There was a bit of pride in being unsophisticated. I’ve had my eye on that book–haven’t gotten to it yet. I aim to!