PET CRAZY: A Poetry Friday Power Book is a story in poems and a writing journal that contains twelve PowerPacks with creative activities to get your children (K-3) thinking, drawing, reading, and writing about cats, dogs, lizards, rabbits, and more! Resources for children (as well as parents, teachers, and book club leaders) include “Hidden Language Skills” to sharpen language learning even further, recommended reading lists and websites, tips for reading aloud and writing, talking points, and places to publish. The book features the work of the dynamic team of Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, illustrator Franzi Paetzold, and 12 poets: Kristy Dempsey, Helen Frost, Janice Harrington, Eric Ode, Laura Shovan, Eileen Spinelli, Elizabeth Steinglass, Don Tate, Padma Venkatraman, April Halprin Wayland, Carole Boston Weatherford, and Tamera Will Wissinger. This book will get your kids barking up the WRITE tree!
CBC Featured Book - PET CRAZY is a Children’s Book Council “Hot Off the Press” selection for August! Only 30 books chosen out of hundreds as “Featured Books” by CBC. To find out more information about the award, check out the CBC website!
Also, HERE WE GO landed on this terrific Social Justice Book List!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Author Bio
Sylvia Vardell is Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University and has taught graduate courses in children's and young adult literature at various universities since 1981. Vardell has published extensively, including five books on literature for children, as well as over 20 book chapters and 100 journal articles. Her current work focuses on poetry for children, including a regular blog, Poetry for Children, since 2006. She is also the regular “Everyday Poetry” columnist for ALA’s Book Links magazine. Sylvia Vardell’s other professional books include: Poetry Aloud Here: Sharing Poetry with Children (2012) and The Poetry Teacher’s Book of Lists (2012).
Janet Wong is a graduate of Yale Law School and former lawyer who switched careers and became a children’s poet. Her dramatic career change has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN’s Paula Zahn Show, and Radical Sabbatical. She is the author of 30 books for children and teens on a wide variety of subjects, including writing and revision (You Have to Write), creative recycling (The Dumpster Diver), diversity and community (Apple Pie 4th of July), cheating on tests (Me and Rolly Maloo), and chess (Alex and the Wednesday Chess Club). Janet Wong’s poetry books for children include: TWIST: Yoga Poems (2002) and Good Luck Gold (1994).