Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for April 23, 2024

 This English author/illustrator born in 1886 attended MIT and settled in New York, but in World War I he joined the British army. While serving in Flanders and France, he wrote stories to send back to his children in the US about a kindly veterinarian who could communicate with animals. An author friend convinced him to turn the stories into a book, which became a popular series. As times changed, some of his illustrations and descriptions of Black people were seen to be racist, and later editions were rewritten to eliminate the offending material. His series of books has been made into several movies. This is Hugh Lofting and his series chroinicles the adventures of Dr. Doolittle.

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for April 9, 2024

 This authhor/illustrator was born April 3, 1953 and grew up as a Quaker in Philadelphia, attending Germantown Friends School and later, Yale. She studied drama at Berkely, and later described her writing as "the culmination of a lifetime spent joyfully squandering an expensive education on producing works of no apparent significance." Her writing and illustrating career began with greeting cards, and her "Hippo Birdies, Two Ewes" birthday card has sold over 10 million copies. She moved on to board books, featuring whimsical hippos, cows, chickens and more, and has turned several of her books into songs. This is Sandra Boynton, and she is currently working on a Christmas album called Cows and Holly which will feature Lyle Lovett, Yo-Yo Ma, and others.

Madness Poetry returns!

 I always love this contest, where the judges are kids and fellow writers. The event is now in it's 11th year, so the application poem had to relate to the number 11. This is my entry:

The One After Ten
The 11th commandment should be maybe...
"Thou shalt not wake a sleeping baby."
"Throweth no shoes over telephone wires,"
"No tissues or crayons in washers or dryers."
Or "Liveth ye not beyond thine means,"
Or "Feedeth not thine chihuahua beans."

Tuesday Kidlit Trivia for April 2, 2024

This Chicago native wrote songs for Johnny Cash ("Boy Named Sue"), Loretta Lynn ("One's On The Way"), Dr. Hook ("Cover of the Rolling Stone") and the Irish Rovers ("The Unicorn"). His cartoons appeared in the military publication Stars and Stripes and also in Playboy. He played guitar, piano, saxophone and trombone, but it was his talent in writing poetry for children that endeared him to elementary school teachers and their students. This was Shel Silverstein, and his most famous collection is called Where the Sidewalk Ends.