Friday, August 17, 2012

Poetry Friday: Moving with Mary Quattlebaum!

Whenever I find a new children's poem with a dance or movement theme, I like to share it on Poetry Friday -- a weekly gathering of writers, poets, and other literature-loving people from around the blogosphere. Today I'm sharing the action rhyme "Moving Up and Down" from the June 2012 issue of Highlights High Five.

This particular rhyme was written by the lovely Mary Quattlebaum, with accompanying art by Debbie Palen and photos by Guy Cali Associates, Inc. I have to send a big shout-out and thank you to Highlights for Children, Inc. for letting me post the rhyme and illustrations on my blog!

© Highlights for Children, Inc.





























Mary Quattlebaum was actually a guest author at my daughter's preschool a couple years ago. On the day of her visit, I had the pleasure of picking her up from the Metro station and spending some time talking with her about picture books. She so kindly gave me a signed copy of her picture book Sparks Fly High: The Legend of Dancing Point, and she gave me inspiration and courage to keep trying to break into today's tough picture book market. Thank you for both of those gifts, Mary!

This week, Poetry Friday is being held at A Year of Reading, so hop on over there to read some more poetic posts. Also, you can read about more of Mary's books, including plenty of poetry, on her website. Her newest book, Jo MacDonald Had a Garden, looks especially good for promoting movement!

10 comments:

  1. Love this! :) Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Hi, Kerry! Every time I get one of your posts in my inbox, I think, now why haven't I written a dance poem yet (also considering my love of SYTYCD)? I've been looking for a topic for my first post after the summer break, and now I think I have one. Will let you know how it goes!

    Thanks for sharing Mary's poem and links, and for the inspiration!

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    1. Hi, Renee! I'm so happy to hear that you might try a dance poem soon! Isn't SYTYCD wonderful? I actually haven't seen a lot of it this season, but I do have access to some of the old shows and have been meaning to watch some of them. I love getting to know the choreographers on, too. It's so inspiring to see how they put movements together to make beautiful dances...kind of like putting words together to make beautiful poems!

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    2. Choreography is a COMPLETE mystery to me. I am always amazed and bewildered by the intricacies of it. How do they DO that? I miss Wade Robson, though - he is my favorite choreographer EVER.

      Started the dance poem, though it is now competing with a fish poem. A dancing fish then? :)

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    3. I've always loved Mia Michaels and the way she can pull so much out of her dancers. I didn't know that Wade Robson wasn't on the show anymore. Sorry you miss him :( I can imagine another poem about a fish now, though...a fish who is swishing and wishing he could be a choreographer!

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  3. Unexpected change of plans: the roundup is at A Year of Reading http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2012/08/poetry-friday-roundup-is-here.html Thanks for changing your link!

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  4. Love the illustration, too. I can see how it would be helpful to show the picture to some students that might be shy or not know how to interpret movement yet. Thanks for sharing! (Stuck it on my pinterest board too)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I agree that the illustrations help a lot. Highlights High Five actually has an action rhyme in every issue, and there are always photos to go along with them. Thanks for sharing this on Pinterest, too!

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  5. Love the connection of poetry and dance/movement!!

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