Happy Poetry Day, everybody!
Tomorrow, I'm going to
SCBWI Mid Atlantic's annual fall
confere
nce. The keynote speaker is
Jane Yolen. She's written so many wonderful children's books. One of our favorites is "Sleeping Ugly" -- a great twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.
In her poem "Fat is Not a Fairy Tale,"
Yolen jokingly and scathingly critiques the fairy tale genre. What a powerful message for kids...
Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale
Jane
Yolen
I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Cinder Elephant,
Sleeping Tubby,
Snow Weight,
where the princess is not
anorexic, wasp-waisted,
flinging herself down the stairs.
I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Hansel and Great,
Repoundsel,
Bounty and the Beast,
where the beauty
has a pillowed breast,
and fingers plump as sausage.
Read the rest of the poem here:
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/056.html (Poetry 180 has poems for every day of the high school year -- check it out!)
Writing Exercise: Write your own fractured fairy tale. Another poet to check out --
Anne Sexton, who rewrote several fairy tales (darkly) in her book Transformations.
The Poetry Friday round-up is at
Big A, Little a this week.
Happy Poetry Day, everybody!
Tomorrow, I'm going to SCBWI Mid Atlantic's annual fall confere
nce. The keynote speaker is Jane Yolen. She's written so many wonderful children's books. One of our favorites is "Sleeping Ugly" -- a great twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.
In her poem "Fat is Not a Fairy Tale," Yolen jokingly and scathingly critiques the fairy tale genre. What a powerful message for kids...
Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale
Jane Yolen
I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Cinder Elephant,
Sleeping Tubby,
Snow Weight,
where the princess is not
anorexic, wasp-waisted,
flinging herself down the stairs.
I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Hansel and Great,
Repoundsel,
Bounty and the Beast,
where the beauty
has a pillowed breast,
and fingers plump as sausage.
Read the rest of the poem here: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/056.html (Poetry 180 has poems for every day of the high school year -- check it out!)
Writing Exercise: Write your own fractured fairy tale. Another poet to check out -- Anne Sexton, who rewrote several fairy tales (darkly) in her book Transformations.
The Poetry Friday round-up is at Big A, Little a this week.
Oh! That's lovely. It made me a wee bit teary-eyed.
ReplyDeleteOH, I love it!
ReplyDeleteWe don't call her Our Lady Jane for nothing. My goodness, that was good; thanks for the cover shot of the book, will be looking for that one.
ReplyDeleteLaura, thanks! This poem is yet another reason to love Jane Yolen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of your comments. I love this one especially because I was a big, tall kid.
ReplyDeleteSleeping Ugly speaks to a similar theme. You'll love Yolen's skewering of the Princess -- especially in the age of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
Can't wait to hear her speak tomorrow!
How clever (in the best sense of the word) and sharp! I think I'll have to rename one of my kids' stuffed animals to Sleeping Tubby.
ReplyDelete