Lee Bennett Hopkins: Poet, Anthologist, and Mentor

“There is something about this manuscript that cries out for publication. It may take you a while to ‘get there’ but you must.”

Noted poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins saw something in me and in my firehouse poems that was worth nurturing and encouragement. He read my work at the SCBWI Conference in LA in 2007, gave me notes like that above, and cheered me on. I’ll be forever grateful for that mentoring at an early stage of my career.

Photo by Sonya Sones

Little did I dream that “it may take you a while to get there” would be twenty years! But that’s when my firehouse-themed poetry collection, TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS, illustrated by Aaron Marin, will be published by Holiday House Books for Young Readers (fall 2026).

Today, on his birthday, I remember Lee Bennett Hopkins with gratitude and appreciation. How perfect for National Poetry Month.

 

Trucks, Boots, and Bells: Firehouse Poems

Writers often talk about the long road to publication. This is one of those stories, and it isn’t over yet!

I started writing poems about firefighting after my father died in 2006. It was a grief project, a way to feel closer to him. And it helped. I was so proud of his long career in the New York Fire Department, his years of fighting fires in the Bronx during the “Bronx is burning” days, which the FDNY calls “the war years.” 

One of the things about my father that I marveled at was his disposition. All those years of seeing and doing hard things never curdled his optimism, his kindness, or his gentleness. One of my favorite childhood memories is hugging my father when he came home from work, and the smoky smell that emanated from him when we hugged– an ever-present reminder of the dangers and the importance of the work he’d just done. 

All these years later, I get to honor that work with a children’s book. TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS: FIREHOUSE POEMS will be published in fall 2026 by Holiday House. I’ve seen a peek at the illustrations by Aaron Marin, and it’s going to be a beautiful book! It was announced this week in Publisher’s Weekly and Publisher’s Marketplace, two small but significant mile markers along the way to publication. It’s feeling more real!! 

Stay tuned for more updates on this project of my heart.

We Know How to Do This

In late 2016 I answered a call for submissions for a poetry anthology entitled IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS: POEMS IN PROTEST OF AN AMERICAN INAUGURATION. My poem “We Know How to Do This” was published in that collection, and I was honored that it was the closing poem in the book. 

I thought the book, and that poem, would be a relic of history, but here we are, so I am sharing it today… because we know how to do this. Many friends have asked me if they can share it, and I’m heartened to think it might offer a spark of hope and determination in people who are dismayed at the harm being done to marginalized communities… to us all. 

 IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS: POEMS IN PROTEST OF AN AMERICAN INAUGURATION (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017) is available at online booksellers. 

 

Joy and Inspiration at the NCTE Convention

Because I am a Literacy Coach, the writer part of my brain and the educator part of my brain are often working in concert… but going to the NCTE Convention in Boston last week brought that to a whole new level!

For four days, I learned from, collaborated with, and presented with authors, poets, and educators, thinking about how to best meet the needs of our students through literature and writing.

Some highlights:

The panel I proposed, “I Got This: Picture Books That Celebrate Agency and Taking Action” was a total delight! I presented along with authors Brittany Thurman, Vicki Johnson, Pat Tanumihardja, and Lynnor Bontigao, and the wonderful conversations that took place at the end of our session showed how much educators appreciated this topic.

I started off the conference with the panel that I moderated, about meeting the needs of readers with novels that have graphic elements and nontraditional structures. Presenting with Kate Messner, Jo Knowles, Lisa Fipps, and Phoebe Sinclair was so fun! These authors have fans and followers, and the room was bubbling with excitement!  

Finally, meeting other passionate educators, spending time with author and poet friends, and just soaking up the joy and excitement… it is an experience that I won’t soon forget.

It brought my worlds of teaching and writing together, for four days of learning and inspiration. 

Questioning our Family Stories

Hmmm. What’s the best way to set up my poem about immigration and the Statue of Liberty– a poem that was just published? Should I …

  1. …share it in light of today’s anniversary — the Statue of Liberty was dedicated on this date in 1886!
  2.  …share it in honor of my immigrant family members, since it seems to be the season of immigrant-bashing in some quarters?
  3. …share it because it’s a new poetry form I’m trying out (“the golden shovel”), a form that’s fun to play with and fun to teach.

I’ll try to roll all those elements into one intro. I wrote “Family Stories” in the voice of a teen who’s not afraid to question or challenge the family narratives about immigration. (It was fun to write, as I was a very rule-following teen!) The speaker in this poem is grappling with two clashing perspectives: one is “hey, our ancestors were immigrants who came here seeking a better life.” At the same time, the elders in the family are bashing immigration, something that’s creating dissonance for this teen.

The golden shovel is a fun poetic form to play with! The poet weaves a line from a famous/loved/other poem into a new poem… the ending of each line, when read vertically, is the line from another poem. For “Family Stories,” I incorporated a line from the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty, “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus. 

FAMILY STORIES

           ~after Emma Lazarus

You keep telling these old family stories– give

me a break. They can’t all be saints. Don’t tell me

they all had perfect immigration papers, your

family tree. This noble narrative– it’s tired.

Are you really sure that your

relatives were so perfect? They were poor,

yes, and scrappy. Maybe they had no papers, your

ancestors! Now you all watch the news, huddled

together, saying that outsiders are coming in masses.

You talk about the old days with a yearning.

But who knows if your people– our family– came to

this country “the right way?” The just want to breathe,

the newcomers. Like us, they just want to be free.

~~

“Family Stories” is now published in JUST YA, a wonderful new anthology packed full of essays, stories, and poems,  perfect for middle and high school. Each selection explores what justice means in different contexts. I chose the family context, and I honor the courage of my grandparents who made the leap and came to this country seeking a better life. 

You can read more about JUST YA here. It is available for sale at online retatilers, and also as a free download! Read more about that here, and thanks for reading!

 

Sweet Summer– Playing with Poetry

Summer is winding down! One of the sweetest treats this month was my visit to Barnstable West Barnstable Elementary School here on Cape Cod. As a Visiting Poet, I presented to a class or rising second graders in the Literacy and Arts summer program. 

We drummed along to my poem “Drum,” from the book WHAT IS HOPE? from Pomelo Books.

We acted out the poem “Maya on the Beach,” about a young beachgoer who collects a stone and shell, but leaves a snail to slide along the beach.

And the children thought like illustrators, putting their own spin on the poem “Cousins,” from the book WHAT IS FAMILY? (Pomelo Books)

Having an hour with an engaging and enthusiastic class of young readers and writers was the cherry on top of a sweet month. And the best part? The school has invited me back for another visit during the school year!

For now, I’m savoring each remaining day of summer… back to school is coming soon.

Nurturing Young Readers and Writers

It was three years ago this week that I signed my contract to become a Literacy Coach in a school district here on Cape Cod. I love working in a K-3 school, where the magic of emerging readers and writers is crackling! 

I wrote a poem about working with a struggling reader, “Still,” and it was published in the April 2024 issue of Radical Teacher.

I’m grateful to work in a school that serves young children. It fills me with hope. At the same time, this summer break is badly needed– and I have more writing time!

Here’s the poem. You can learn more about Radical Teacher here.

STILL

Let me step aside 

from the reading wars

and data sheets

and progress reports.

Let me be still,

let me be 

still,

still here

still open 

to the wonder of you,

a seven-year-old

learning to read,

making sense

of Frog

and Toad,

and their bickering way of loving.

Let me listen 

to you stumble over words,

trip on the cobblestones

of afraid and friend,

yet keep careening

down the path of 

story.

Let me be part of 

your story.

How you arrived here,

wide-eyed,

wary,

angry.

And now you read,

you laugh,

you sit, 

still,

while I bend

to tie the frayed laces

of your shoe.

Poetry (and raccoons!) in the Bronx

As the school year was winding to a close, I had the delight of returning to P.S. 86 in the Bronx to lead a series of poetry workshops. I attended P.S. 86 as a young child.

The students were all-in– welcoming, and ready to have fun!

We talked about how every writer has obsessions, favorite things in their life that spark stories and poems and other forms of art. I shared some of mine. I encouraged them to tap into their favorite things, and use their “poetry microscopes”  to notice the small details that make poems come alive.

After talking about hope in hard times, we got loud and drummed on tables to my poem “Drum,” from WHAT IS HOPE? (Pomelo Books, 2023).

We talked about noticing signs of nature in everyday moments in the city: a vine climbing up a building, a frisky squirrel, a swoop of sparrows. These are all images that appear in my poem “Glimpses of Green,” published in the amazing online children’s  poetry journal Tyger, Tyger.* The students added their own examples of glimpses of the natural world (raccoons in the Bronx!) and they each illustrated the poem in their own way.

I treasure my visits to P.S. 86. The chance to go back and get to know the students in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx brings me joy and was a great way to end the school year! Thank you, school librarian Matt Egan, for welcoming me back to P.S. 86!


*Tyger, Tyger editor Rachel Piercey recently sent out a blog post linking to a bunch of wonderful summer poems for kids– and “Glimpses of Green” is included!

My poem in Radical Teacher– “Still,” about the magic of learning to read!

I wrote a poem about the magic of teaching a child to read, “Still.” It captures why I love what I do as a Literacy Coach in a K-3 school. It’s just been published in the latest issue of Radical Teacher!

Although there are days that I wish I could stay home and write all day, my work feeds me as a writer and a human. I’m grateful for it.

On Fridays, I love taking part in Poetry Friday when I can, where writers share resources about children’s poetry. It’s been a while! This week, Irene Latham hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at her blog. Check out the celebration of poetry there today!

Wintry delights: Illustrating Poetry with Young Children

Last week I had the delight of leading a Poetry Friday lesson in a second-grade classroom. I used my poem “Skating with Dad,” featured on the wonderful poetry website Dirigible Balloon. 

After reading the chart together, we had fun using highlighter tape, finding each consonant cluster in the poem… sk in skate, gl in glove, sl in slide… they even found the cr in Cronin!

Then each child illustrated the poem in their poetry notebook. We always talk about how “thinking like an illustrator” means that every illustration in the class will look different. I love all the ways the students brought this poem to life in the illustrations…

from the close-up of the gloves,

to the child and parent skating together,

to the valentine to hockey from the young hockey player,

to the ads on the side of the rink!

Poetry Friday has come alive in my school, and it’s a delight to be a part of it.

I’m wishing all the poets and poetry lovers out there a wonderful and restful holiday break. See you in 2024!

On Fridays, I love taking part in Poetry Friday when I can, where writers share resources about children’s poetry. This week, Jone hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at her blog. Check out the celebration of poetry there today!