When I lead a poetry workshop in an elementary classroom, I often read my poem “Firefighter Face,” and I share with students the steps I took to create this poem. “Firefighter Face” appears in the poetry anthology Amazing Faces (illustrated by Chris Soentpiet, from Lee & Low, 2010), edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, and every poem in that book is a gem! Then I guide students in writing about an “amazing face” from their own life. 

At a recent visit to the Eddy School in Brewster, Mass., this project unfolded beautifully! Not only did the fourth-grade students write about a beloved and familiar face from their own life, but they also created personalized frames for their poems in a wonderful hallway display!

Many poems were accompanied by photos of those amazing faces. The poetry, the photos, the frames… it all added up to a display of love and connection, sparked by poetry and the book that Lee Bennett Hopkins created — Amazing Faces.

I smile when I think about what those poems will mean to family members and other loved ones, special people the students wrote about. Amazing, indeed!

Thank you, Eddy School, for hosting me.