More Reviews
http://blog.imaginechildhood.com
http://thepoetrystore.net
Ordering Information
RIP THE PAGE! can be ordered directly from www.shambhala.com, www.indiebound.org, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com or from any bookstore (preferably an Independent bookstore, because I don’t want them to go away!). Teachers receive a 50% discount when ordering 14 or more copies at a time. Contact kdesorcy@shambhala.com for more info.
Links for the Press
RIP THE PAGE! Facebook Page (click here)
Author Photo (click here)
RIP THE PAGE! Press Release (click here)
Praise for RIP THE PAGE!
“Alive with ideas, playful, encouraging, and full of heart, RIP THE PAGE! will help you uncover stories of inner treasure and express it in a fresh new way.”
– Susan Wooldridge, author of POEMCRAZY: Freeing Your Life With Words
“Every page springs the imagination into freedom, eagerness, curiosity, the spirit of experimentation, and the power to express the abundant possibilities of both words and world.”
– Jane Hirshfield, poet & author of NINE GATES: Entering the Mind of Poetry
SISTER can be ordered from my hometown bookstore, The Depot, www.depotbooks.com or directly from me, if you’d like it signed.
Sample Q & A:
Q: How did you get the idea for Rip the Page! Adventures in Creative Writing?
A: As a Poet in the School for almost 17 years, I was swimming with file folders filled with all these great writing prompts and definitions and student poems that were begging to be collected in some way. I went to the Childrens Room of my local library—one of my favorite places—in search of a book of word lists, writing ideas, definitions and notes of encouragement from poets and writers. I couldn’t find the book I was looking for so decided to write my own.
Q: Do you have a favorite grade or age of student you like to work with?
A: I’ve been in love with third grade for a long time. I even wrote a poem titled “Third Grade.” But I also really love the 2nd graders, the mystics as one of my colleagues calls them. 4th and 5th grade students are also a blast, and I just led a workshop to this great group of 6th graders whose question poems (after Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions) found their way into a section of RIP THE PAGE! More than anything it’s the classroom teacher who sets the tone for a great class and then, of course, the personality of a group that I’ll tend to call a favorite.
Q: So do you write with pencil and paper or directly on to a keyboard?
A: I love sharp pencils and white unlined paper. Fine-line black pens are also high on my list.
Q: Julia Alvarez, the author of How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and Return to Sender calls your book “sassy and zany…and a great resource for writers of all ages who want to put the zing back in their writing.” What’s one of your zaniest writing prompts?
A: I have so many, but one that comes to mind is where I have the kids mix and match animals with weather patterns. I think I was inspired from the picture book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. From a list of animal and weather combinations kids come up with zany titles or the first lines to a story or poem. “Sunny with a Downpour of Frogs.” Or “Mule Fog With a Chance of Grasshopper Rain” come to mind. I love this one from a student named Maddie who wrote “The snow roams wherever you take it and lightning flares pointing its index finger.” There’s a hint of concern about what global warming is doing to the planet and the animals, etc. in this experiment, too, I realized after I created it… but mostly it’s just another way of inviting kids to play on the page and not worry about their combinations having to lead somewhere. We can get sooo concerned about the final poem or story as the be all to end all. Sometimes we just need to fool around with words and not worry where we’re going. This is a way to mix and match words for the sheer pleasure of playing with images. OK, sure, and perhaps introducing personification too.
Q: What are you writing now that you’ve finished Rip the Page! ?
A: I wrote two picture books prior to starting Rip the Page! so I’m putting the final edits on those. I also have a full length poetry collection that I keep trying to tame and name and get into the mail. Mostly, though, I’m leading workshops and getting the word out about my new book. I also like to sneak in writing time while my students are writing. It’s good for them to see me sit their and scribble feverishly, look out the window, and then write some more. My students are also my greatest teachers for what I write about.