THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY
April 12, 2016

Friday, October 24, 2008

It's Poetry Friday

Happy Poetry Day, everybody! Tomorrow, I'm going to SCBWI Mid Atlantic's annual fall conference. 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.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh! That's lovely. It made me a wee bit teary-eyed.

shelburns said...

OH, I love it!

tanita✿davis said...

We 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.

Christina said...

Laura, thanks! This poem is yet another reason to love Jane Yolen.

Author Amok said...

Thanks for all of your comments. I love this one especially because I was a big, tall kid.

Sleeping 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!

Yat-Yee said...

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.