Poetry Friday: In Church, a haiku

In Church

When she gave the eye
and her hair was sharp and fierce,
every fidget died.


Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the full roundup with Carol Wilcox at Carol's Corner.

I'm in D.C.!

Really! I'm in D.C.! See.

More soon! (All you robbers out there, if you are reading this, I have a fierce housesitter. Go get a job.)

Poetry Friday: The Runt, a haiku

photo by Marlisa Dickinson

The Runt

Small enough to curl
in a warm, sleepy circle,
a palm of puppy.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the full roundup with Brian Jung at Critique de Mr. Chompchomp.

What a Girl Wants: The Books We Can't Forget

Colleen has posted the first entry for "What a Girl Wants." The entry is "The Books We Can't Forget" to introduce the roundtable participants. The answers are as varied as the ladies Colleen has corralled for the project. Here's my entry which was fun to write. Be sure to check out the full roundup!



Lorie Ann Grover:

When I am asked this question, immediately Island of the Blue Dolphins comes to mind. In 1961, Scott O'Dell won the Newbery Medal for Island of the Blue Dolphins. I was born in 1964, so the work probably came to my attention near 1976 when the Children's Literature Association named the novel one of the 10 best American children's books of the past 200 years.

O’Dell was inspired by a 12 year old girl left behind on an island off the coast of CA as the Ghalas were evacuated. She jumped from the ship to return to her brother who had been left behind. He soon died, and Karana lived there alone for 18 years.

Karana testified to me that a girl can survive by herself. She can face wild dogs, enemies, sea elephants, and the death of a loved one. She can clothe and shelter herself, and find some measure of joy. I believed it knowing O’Dell based the work on truth. This gave me independence and challenged me to be resilient. When my father left our family, I knew I could stand. I was motivated to be like Karana as School Library Journal summarized in their starred review: “A quiet acceptance of fate characterizes her ordeal." I would call it providence, but this is how I have hoped to live, quiet acceptance while wholly active.

5th Avenue Theatre Awards

I wanted to share a few photos from the 5th Avenue Theatre High School Musical Awards. Ellen didn't win in her category, but we discovered she was a nominee for her role as Berthe in Pippin from 8,000 students! And she had a glorious time on stage. What a night to remember!


She entered through this door! Woohoo!


Here she is in costume as Berthe from Pippin before the current world premiere poster of Catch Me If You Can, now playing at the 5th Avenue.


An alley full of actors were waiting to take the stage!


El and I after her performance.


There were awesome presentations and performances!


Ellen represented Sumner High School with the dance captain, Brian, and she was surprised to see her Berthe boys had come to support her.


Thanks to the generosity of Justina Chen Headley, El's friend Beth was able to attend.

It was a beautiful night full of talent. Congrats to all the honorable mentions, nominees, and winners! "There's no business like show business."

What a Girl Wants, Chasing Ray

Colleen Mondor of the esteemed blog Chasing Ray is launching a series titled What a Girl Wants.

Here's her intent:

"(W)what I'd really like to hear now is what other people think about the current status of books for teen girls and what it says about both what they want to read and what publishers think they want to read. Now here's the cool part - the list of the authors who agreed to take part in an occasional round of questions about girls and reading. They are all fabulous and they all have opinions and they all were once teenage girls (that part was kinda critical). Starting next week on a varying schedule I'll be posting a single question and then their answers as we talk about what a girl wants - and what she gets - when it comes to reading."

The posts will include authors:

Margo Rabb,
Sara Ryan,
Jacqueline Kelly,
Loree Griffin Burns,
Zetta Elliott,
Beth Kephart,
Laurel Snyder,
Mayra Lazara Dole,
Melissa Wyatt,
Kekla Magoon,
Jenny Davidson,
and me!

Go, Colleen. I can't wait to participate in this summer project!

Poetry Friday: Possibilities

This is a photo I took on my last writing retreat. This morning, this haiku came to me. Happy Poetry Friday!

Possibilities

Balanced on the lip
of my coffee cup is a
craggy mountain range.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the full round up with Sara Lewis Holmes at Read Write Believe