Simple, direct, and intense, haiku are descriptive nature poems written in the present tense (here and now). They contain a fleeting natural image and an aha! moment when something unexpected happens – a surprise ending. The goal is for the reader to experience the moment in a new way. A haiku consists of three phrases that include a seasonal reference (kigo) and are joined with a ‘cutting word’ (kireji). The form was popularized by the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694). One of the most famous haiku poems is Bashō’s Frog Haiku. There are many English translations of the poem; here are th ..read more

Hello, Word Wonder-ers! I am a huge fan of witchy books so for today’s interview on Finding Inspiration, I summoned Gayle C. Krause, author of the newly released picture book, ZADIE AND THE WITCH’S TEA. Welcome, Gayle! How did you find the inspiration for your spooky, kindness-centered Cinderella retelling? Gayle: My sisters and I tease each other about our “witchy” powers. (When one calls, the other already has the phone in her hand, or when one is thinking about the other one, the phone rings.) To celebrate our sisterhood and our sibling thought-waves, (which we got from our grandmother) we ..read more

Hi, WONDERers! Have you missed us? We may not be blogging as much lately, but all of us here at Wonder of Words are still reading as many amazing children’s books as we can. For today’s interview on Finding Inspiration, I spoke to Roxanne Troup, author of the newly released picture book, MY GRANDPA, MY TREE, AND ME. Hi, Roxanne. Congrats again on your picture book release! How did you get the inspiration for your story? Roxanne: A couple years ago, I discovered a new publisher looking for agricultural books, and since I grew up in an agricultural community, I thought it might be a good fit. I ..read more

Hello readers, and welcome back to our WONDERful blog! It’s time to share the results of our last Pitch it to Me Challenge. I know more than a few months have passed, so thanks for be patient with me. I’ll come back to the reasons for that and plans for future posts in a moment, but first let’s find out who won. Fabulous author Judy Shemtob pitched her story, COME BACK ZIEFER, to guest star Candace Spizzirri and me to see what magical words we could spin. Each pitch had quite a few votes, but only one could take first place. Here is the winning pitch: “Zach loves nothing more than the stuffed ..read more

Hello, Word Wonderers! Kidlit writers know that the best way to write for children is to think like a kid and what better way than to explore your own childhood memories? It’s a great way to tell the story that only you can tell and today we have guest author, Candace Spizzirri, on the blog to share the inspiration behind her debut picture book, FISHING WITH GRANDPA AND SKYE. Welcome, Candace! Candace With An A: Thanks so much for having me on your blog today, Candice! I’m delighted to be here. In 2018 I participated in StoryStorm, a month-long story brainstorming event run every January by a ..read more

Welcome, Word Wonderers! So much of creativity is the ability to make space for yourself. It’s too easy to talk yourself out of an exciting project before you even begin because someone else has already accomplished it. The ability to push that mind trap aside and allow space for your creativity to bloom is why I was immediately interested in this picture book debut by another Alabama author, Shae Owens Holley. Welcome to the Wonder of Words, Shae! What inspired you to write Rue the sparrow’s story, IT’S ALREADY BEEN DONE BEFORE? Shae: I wrote “It’s Already Been Done Before” around 9 years ag ..read more

Today we have a special guest, friend and critique partner, Yvona Fast. She shares the emotional story of her mother’s childhood experiences during the Holocaust in her upcoming middle grade book, GOOD IN THE MIDST OF EVIL, with Clear Fork Publishing. Dana Fast is one of many whose personal experiences during such a horrific time, have given her the strength she has today. TS: Welcome, Yvona! I am so excited to read your book and hear about how your mother’s important story came to be. Her experiences help us understand our world’s history, especially such difficult times. AF: Thank you, Tina ..read more

Usually, when it’s my turn to do The Wonder of Words blog post, I do a book review. In this post, I slip sideways into a short-story review and a conversation about voice. In the latest WordPress newsletter, they introduced the Monthly WordPrompt. This month’s WordPrompt is BRIDGE which brought to mind the short story that’s the topic for this post. The story I always think about when I hear the word bridge is ‘The Bridge-Builder’ by New Zealand author, Margaret Mahy. ‘The Bridge-Builder’ is a short story originally published in 1988 in The Door in the Air and Other Stories, a YA collection o ..read more

We are long overdue for a new Pitch it to Me Challenge and we welcome you all back for another exciting game. This time we have author Judy Shemtob stepping up to the plate with her picture book manuscript, COME BACK ZIEFER. Judy has quite a list of writing credits (which you can discover in her bio below), and a new women’s fiction novel due out later this year. We are excited to have her here and to support her writing journey! Joining us for the challenge is author Candace Spizzirri, whose debut picture book, FISHING WITH GRANDPA AND SKYE (Spork), is set to release this April. (Candace also ..read more