Why are booksellers afraid of children's poetry?

Teachers, parents and poets alike know how children thirst for poetry. Now it's up to booksellers and publishers to save it from extinctionChildren dive into poetry with the same natural ease as swimmers into water, climbers into trees and sleepers into dreams. I've seen this alchemy at work on countless visits to schools, visits which have convinced me that poetry's narrative, rhythm and vibrant imagery is the real language of childhood. But poetry written for children is in danger of dying out, of sliding into fossilised irrelevance, cut off from modern verse. A classic such as Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses may be lovely, but it can't sustain the vital connection between children and poetry. Children also need poets who are still breathing.The delicate machine which brings poetry books into the hands of children is in desperate need of repair. I used to help choose the poems for the Children's Poetry Bookshelf, the Poetry Book Society's book club for ages seven to 11, and I watched with horror as the submissions from publishers gradually dried up. Starved of funding and support, the club had to stop taking on new members in 2011. As PBS director Chris Holifield said, it seemed that "children's poetry in book form was close to extinction, with just a small number of new titles being published and not much backlist being kept in print." Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #vital connection #book form #small number

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Why are booksellers afraid of children's poetry?

Teachers, parents and poets alike know how children thirst for poetry. Now it's up to booksellers and publishers to save it from extinctionChildren dive into poetry with the same natural ease as swimmers into water, climbers into trees and sleepers into dreams. I've seen this alchemy at work on... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #vital connection #book form #small number


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[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-30 19:09:45 UTC ]
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The Poetry Archive launches children’s poetry website

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-02 22:39:54 UTC ]
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Fall Regional Bookselling Shows 2015: Children’s Authors Appearing at the 2015 Regional Bookselling Trade Shows

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Gill pens YA poetry collection for Macmillan Children's Books

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Children's Institute 9: Indie Bookselling in a Post-Pandemic World

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Bookselling Profile: Hipocampo Children’s Books

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Children's booksellers across UK report solid sales after reopening

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-09 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Biddulph outlines #DrawWithRob success at Bookseller Children’s Conference

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-30 21:07:16 UTC ]
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Barbara Marcus to headline Bookseller Children’s Conference

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-09 20:51:08 UTC ]
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Don’t be afraid to let children read graphic novels. They’re real books.

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Row as Barnes Children's Literature Festival chooses Waterstones as official bookseller

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2019 SIBA Is Sweet for Children's Booksellers

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Bookseller Children’s Conference full line-up revealed

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[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-03 21:26:28 UTC ]
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