What on earth is a concrete poem? Well, for one thing, it's a lot more playful than a regular poem. The arrangement of letters or words, or the way the type--and even blank space--is placed on the page, or the typefaces chosen... all of these things can contribute to the creation of a concrete poem. In this marvelous collection selected by Paul B. Janeczko (Very Best (Almost) Friends, etc.) and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Chris Raschka (Yo! Yes?, etc.), you never know what might happen from page to page. In John Agard's "Skipping Rope Spell," for example, the words are shaped into four spirals, representing the motions of hands as they turn the jump rope. "A Seeing Poem," by Robert Froman, is printed in the shape of a light bulb. The words of the poem in conventional order go like this: "A seeing poem happens when words take a shape that helps them to turn on a light in someone's mind." And Monica Kulling's "Tennis Anyone?" covers two pages. The poem is split down the middle, so readers must swivel their heads back and forth as if they were watching a match! Raschka's unique, terrifically captivating illustrations, done in watercolor, ink, and torn paper, are a perfect match for the wackiness and joy of the poetry. (Ages 5 and older) --Emilie Coulter

A Poke in the I

paul-b-janeczko

Scholastic. Inc.

The thumping of your heart in your chest. A pit in your stomach. A blush. These are the symptoms of love sickness, and if you've ever experienced them, this book is for you. Critically acclaimed poet and anthologist, Paul Janeczko has turned his attention to a new compilation of love poems for teens that collects the most poignant and moving musings about love from a diverse group of classic poets and writers like Shakespeare, Dickinson, Whitman, Millay, Angelou, and many more.

Blushing Expressions of Love in Poems & Letters

scholastic

Grade 3-9-Following on the heels of their delightful introduction to concrete poetry, A Poke in the I (Candlewick, 2001), Janeczko and Raschka now join forces to explore poetic forms. An introduction presents an easy-to-swallow rationale for the many rules to follow, likening the restrictions to those found in sports: in both cases, rules challenge the players to excel in spite of limits. The repertoire then unfolds to showcase 29 forms, one to two poems per spread, building from a couplet, tercet, and quatrain to the less familiar and more complex persona poem, ballad, and pantoum. The selections are accessible without being simplistic; they span an emotional range from the tongue-in-cheek humor of J. Patrick Lewis's "Epitaph for Pinocchio" to Rebecca Kai Dotlich's moving "Whispers to the [Vietnam] Wall." Each page is a tour de force of design, the pace and placement of art and text perfectly synchronized. Raschka's characters and abstractions emerge from torn layers of fuzzy rice paper, intricately patterned Japanese designs, and solids, decorated and defined by quirky ink-and-watercolor lines. The expansive white background provides continuity and contrast to the colorful parade. The name of each form resides in the upper corner of the page, accompanied by a wry visual. A definition (in an unobtrusive smaller font) borders the bottom; more detail on each form is provided in endnotes. Readers will have the good fortune to experience poetry as art, game, joke, list, song, story, statement, question, memory. A primer like no other.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library

A Kick in the Head

Candlewick Pr.

The Dark Game

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems

Loads of Codes and Secret Ciphers (Dragon Books)

Children's Books

Carnival

How to Write Poetry

This text provides practical advice with checklists on the art of writing poetry.

Bt Bound

Pssst! Inside these TOP SECRET files is everything sneaky young agents need to know about making-and breaking-their own secret codes. Do you know the difference between a code and a cipher? Can you tell a St. Cyr slide from a Cardano grille? Did you know that a substitution cipher caused Mary Queen of Scots to lose her head? Donâ€™t look now, but packed into this practical field guide is everything a young person needs to know about the art of concealment â€” making and breaking codes, mastering cipher systems, and experimenting with secret writing. Offering plenty of hands-on practice sessions, tips for creating a code-making kit, sidebars on secret codes in history, and an amusing pair of spies to illustrate techniques, Paul B. Janeczkoâ€™s tantalizing TOP SECRET wonâ€™t stay a secret for long.

Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers, and Secret Writing

Paw Prints

Finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults! From clothesline codes to surveillance satellites and cyber espionage, Paul B. Janeczko uncovers two centuries’ worth of true spy stories in U.S. history. (Ages 12 and up)
Ever since George Washington used them to help topple the British, spies and their networks have helped and hurt America at key moments in history. In this fascinating collection, Paul B. Janeczko probes such stories as that of Elizabeth Van Lew, an aristocrat whose hatred of slavery drove her to be one of the most successful spies in the Civil War; the "Choctaw code talkers," Native Americans who were instrumental in sending secret messages during World War I; the staggering engineering behind a Cold War tunnel into East Berlin to tap Soviet phones (only to be compromised by a Soviet mole); and many more famous and less-known examples. Colorful personalities, daring missions, the feats of the loyal, and the damage of traitors are interspersed with a look at the technological advances that continue to change the rules of gathering intelligence.

Dark Game, The

Candlewick on Brilliance Audio

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by paul-b-janeczko. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by paul-b-janeczko