April 2 is International Children's Book Day, so what better way to celebrate both Poetry Month and International Book Day than by reading a poem about books? Read the poem "I Opened a Book" by Julia Donaldson. Then, think of one of your favourite books you've ever read. Can you write a poem about what it was like to enter into that book, that story, that world?
Born in Vancouver, BC, Wayde Compton has been an active part of the black writing community in that city since the mid-1990s. He is the co-founder of the first black-oriented press in Western Canada, Commodore Books, as well as of the Hogan’s Alley Memorial project, concerning the historical black neighbourhood in Vancouver. He teaches Creative Writing at Douglas College and his publications include poetry, short stories and non-fiction. This poem, from his collection Performance Bond, reckons with the troubling legacy of Canada’s immigration policies.
What is the history of one of your communities in your city or town? What interesting stories can you find there to write about?
We don’t always fit in. Sometimes we look different, sometimes we sound different, or smell, or see or even taste differently than others. And sometimes we try so hard to fit in, that we can bamboozle others that we do. Yet at the end of the day, even the strongest metal bulletproof shell hosts a beautiful human soul, unique and special in its own right. Laura Mucha - in her own words - I’m an ex-lawyer turned award-winning poet, author and children’s advocate. Some of my writing is funny (or at least I hope it is…), but some is serious and addresses important things that aren’t always talked about. I often think about how we live and what we can do to make our lives, and the lives of others, a little bit better. My writing has won multiple international awards and been featured on TV, radio and public transport, as well as in hospitals, hospices, prisons, books, magazines and newspapers around the world, including virtually every newspaper in the UK. My books include Rita’s Rabbit, Dear Ugly Sisters, Being Me, and We Need to Talk About Love / Love Factually (which Richard Curtis describes as ‘much better and more useful than my film’). I’m currently working on several books for children and adults (due to be published by Walker, Nosy Crow, Bloomsbury and Audible). When not writing, I spend my time visiting schools around the world, teaching creative writing and working with organisations such as the such as the National Literacy Trust, Royal Society of Medicine and UNICEF to try to improve the lives of children.
In The Skin You Live In, author Michael Tyler and illustrator David Lee Csicsko use powerful rhythms and rhymes to talk about the importance of loving ourselves no matter what we look like on the outside.
Imagine you woke up one day and discovered your skin had changed. Maybe it changed colour, texture, or thickness. Maybe it grew fur or scales! Write a story about what happens the day you have a new skin. How did others react? Did they treat you differently? Were you able to get your old skin back?
Justyce McAllister, the main character of this novel, experiences the discrimination one can face based on their race, when he finds himself in handcuffs. Even though he's a good student who's on the road to an Ivy-League school, he still finds himself the victim of racial profiling. As a reader, you get to see the story Justyce goes through, and his realization and understanding of what it means to be an African American child in America, as he experiences further micro-agressions and discrimination and navigates his life at his predominantly White school.
In October of 1991, the United States government announced a discovery of terrible and moving import in New York City. While digging the foundation of what would eventually become a Federal building in Manhattan, workers discovered—or rather, rediscovered—an intact burial site that proved to be an African American slave burial ground from the earliest days of New York’s history. Over 400 souls were buried on the site, which was later built over and forgotten. In response to community protests and organizing, the site has become a National Monument and can be visited. Yusef Komunyakaa’s provocative poem chronicles this site, imagining the forgotten dead below the hustle and bustle of modern New York. It reckons with America’s ghosts, and with their legacy.
Imagine what history and mysteries lie beneath your feet in your hometown. What about the past your community’s past might turn up if you started digging?
Arree Chung’s book Mixed: A Colorful Story shows how beautiful it is when different colours mix together instead of staying apart. It reminds us how our world is happier and healthier when people from many different cultures can mix together in friendship.
Arree Chung is a Chinese-American author and artist. He has written many picture books and runs a company called Storyteller Academy, which helps other people become authors too!
Write a story about two very different people, animals, or objects who become friends in the end.
The poem I Am Enough uses rhythm and rhyme to make us feel joyful and strong, no matter our skin colour, language, or body type. It was written by Grace Byers, an actress and author who lives in Los Angeles. As a kid, Grace was often bullied because both of her parents were deaf. I Am Enough reminds us that no matter what bullies say, we are wonderful and powerful--we are enough!
Write a poem, story, or letter to lift the spirits of someone who has been bullied.
Leanne Dunic is a BC-based poet and winner of the Alice Munro Short Story Contest in 2015. She is both a songwriter and a poet, and her most recent collection, “One and a Half of You,” was published by Talonbooks in 2021. It is a poetic memoir chronicling a child of biracial origin growing up in British Columbia.
Dunic’s work is deeply connected to the place she grew up. What part of your and your personality are a result of the place you’ve grown up?
Lucy and Linh tells the story of Lucy, a Vietnamese-Australian high school student on scholarship at a fancy new private school that offers her an escape from the poverty of her home neighbourhood. The three most popular girls at her new school, The Cabinet, welcome her in and soon Lucy is at risk of losing her connection to Linh, the only remaining link Lucy has to her past self and life. [Content Warning: Mature themes and mature language]
A former teacher, Alice Pung is also a solicitor and a former Artist in Residence at the University of Melbourne. Lucy and Linh is the western adaption of her original novel, Laurinda, published in 2014. Lucy and Linh was selected as an NPR Best Book of the Year as well as a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection.
Have you ever experienced a time where you did not like the person you were becoming?
What changes our mind? Our hearts?
Starfish tells the story of Kiko Himura, a half-Japanese high school student in Grade 12 who struggles with self image and self worth while growing up in a town without many other Asian people. When she is rejected by her dream art school, Prism, she is crushed, but decides to spend her summer touring art schools on the West Coast with her friend in order to escape a traumatic family incident from her past. [Content Warning: Mature language throughout and mature themes including abuse and attempted suicide]
Starfish is Akemi Dawn-Bowman's first novel and has garnered numerous accolades and praiseworthy reviews, including being a 2018 William C. Morris Award finalist and the 2020 Winner of the MeMo Award for Best Teen Novel. It reminds the reader of the importance of accepting yourself for who you are, despite what others are thinking
Have you ever had trouble accepting yourself for who you are?
Samara Cole Doyon hails from Maine, descended from Haitian migrants to the United States. This beautiful poem articulates the author's hope that "all children [can] embrace and celebrate the many vibrant pieces of themselves". The poem is made even more moving through lovely, exuberant illustrations by Kaylani Juanita.
Prompt: With what colour do you most identify? Why? What does your favourite colour say about you?
American Born Chinese is a graphic novel that does a great job of showing three different perspectives of what it's like to be Chinese. Following the only Chinese-American in a new school, the renowned Monkey King - subject of many Chinese fables, and a character who represents all of the classic negative Chinese stereotypes, Gene Yang shows three different stories that ultimately lead to each other at the end of the novel.
What do you think it would be like to be the new kid at a school where you didn't know anyone?
Cecily Nicholson is the recipient of the 2018 Governor General's Award for poetry.
Write about your favourite activity, with a focus on sensory details and imagery.
Brown earned a PhD from the University of Houston, an MFA from the University of New Orleans, and a BA from Dillard University. He is the recipient of the Whiting Writers’ Award and fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Brown is an associate professor and the director of the Creative Writing program at Emory University in Atlanta. Historical context: The current movement fighting police brutality against Black American citizens.
Write a poem about a social, cultural, or legal issue that you think needs addressing.
Elizabeth Alexander’s careful, precise poetry and her awareness of history, especially African American history, as well as her personal friendship with the Obamas, made her a natural choice as President Obama’s inaugural poet. Alexander became only the fourth poet ever asked to read at a presidential inauguration, and her poem, “Praise Song for the Day” was heard and watched by billions worldwide. Based on traditional African praise songs, which commemorate the life of an individual in an incantatory call-and-response, Alexander’s poem focused less on President Obama and more on ordinary Americans, attempting to describe the details, languages and encounters that shape their lives. Alexander gestured toward the history of the Civil Rights Movement and its importance to the occasion—“Say it plain, that many have died for this day”—but also attempted to summarize a national journey. The poem helped make Alexander one of the most publically-known and respected poets writing today.
Following the form and purpose of Alexander, compose a praise poem.
This book, written by Barack Obama, former president of the United States, recognizes significant Americans and their contributions to America's history. He speaks on how he sees their traits in his daughters and in the rest of the children of America as well.
What is a trait of a noteworthy person that you feel you have within yourself.
Warning: racist language.
Historical context: The desegregation of the American school system and specifically The Little Rock Nine which was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas.
Write about an injustice you would like to see addressed from the point of view of the victim(s).
With imagery that evokes the bravery of African-Americans in the face of slavery and discrimination, You Too Can Fly by Zetta Elliot is a powerful reminder to find hope in the darkest of moments.
Zetta Elliot is a black, feminist writer who was born and raised in Canada, and now lives in the United States. You Too Can Fly is featured in the powerful anthology, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices.
Write a poem that will give others hope when they are frightened or about to give up.