Get Your D.E.A.R. On!!

D.E.A.R. is an educational acronym that stands for Drop Everything and Read.  It’s much frothier than the dated S.S.R. – Silent Sustained Reading, which sounds a bit torturous to even the most avid reader.

April 12th is the official National D.E.A.R Day.  It is the birthday of the beloved author Beverly Cleary who created one of my all-time favorite childhood characters – Ramona Quimby.  On National D.E.A.R. Day, families are encouraged to read together while promoting books as an integral part of daily life.

So how will you be celebrating D.E.A.R. Day?  Fun activities to do with family, friends, or an impassioned book club include making bookmarks, reading favorite passages, and acting out scenes.  Character charades, anyone?  While April 12th is official D.E.A.R. day, every day is a great day to Drop Everything and Read!  So – drop those agonizing bills, take a break from Facebook, and get your read on!

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Celebrate National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world.

Why should we devote an entire month to honor words written in verse?  Because poetry is the language of the soul.  When life drowns us with its dark moments, poetry throws us a raft – a verbal sanctuary of healing and beauty.

So I urge you to release your inner poet and succumb to the sensory language, rhythm, flavor, call and response of poetry.  Feel the human spirit and universality of life's shared stories in a stanza.  Read or write a poem this month.  Restore your spirit.  Restore your soul.

Ten Favorite Poems

1. “Sick” – Shel Silverstein
2. “Phenomenal Woman” – Maya Angelou
3. “Annabel Lee” – Edgar Allan Poe
4. “Oranges” – Gary Soto
5. “The Road Not Taken” – Robert Frost
6. Sonnet 130 – William Shakespeare
7. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” – Robert Herrick
8. “The Kiss” – Sara Teasdale
9. “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” – Dylan Thomas 
10. Fragment 31 – Sappho

April Challenge:  Write a Cinquain

A cinquain is five line poem that follows this lyrical pattern:

1) a word for the title
2) two adjectives
3) three verbs
4) a phrase
5) the title again – or synonym

Example:

Chocolate

Dark or milk

Smooth, silky, sweet

Best thing ever

Yum! 

Eyes

Large, mysterious

Watching, rolling, blinking

Tell more than words

Soul-windows

Cinquain

Short, sweet

Five, simple steps

Maybe not so easy…

Voila!

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