Puns, Allusions, and Other Word Secrets by Jennifer Fandel

This book is part of a great new series called Understanding Poetry, and it's the best book I've seen for older kids about poetic devices. The poems that are used as examples are by some of my favorite poets: Pablo Neruda, e. e. cummings, Dylan Thomas, and William Carlos Williams, to name a few. Each book in the series tackles a different set of devices, and with the wonderful examples given it's really easy to see what they're all about.

Poetry Reading a huge success!

Over 60 people attended the poetry reading/book release party at the Westwood Library on May 30. Hats off to all those students who read their poems! Jayne Warren started the evening by reading her first published poem, The Pond, published when she was 10 years old. The 4th and 5th graders were presented with their anthologies, and most of them read their poems. The middle and high schoolers were then presented with their anthologies, and also read their poems. Jayne finished up the evening by reading her recently published poems, Chairlift at Nashoba Valley and The Night Uncle. After such a great success, we can't wait for next year! The kids were very impressive, both in the quality of their poems, and also the poise and confidence they read with.