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Please Rid us of These Fleas - for Katanga from Josie |
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By Josie
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08 May 2008 |
Self-explanatory - see the children's section. I would like to encourage some of you who have never tried it, to come to the children's section of GW. We do have lots of fun - - - really! ha ha. We're working on "mini-beasts" at the moment if you like to contribute.
Little Susie Spider said
“Just what is there for dinner?
My little tummy’s rumbling
And I feel I’m getting thinner.”
“There’s a poem on Great Writing
The subject? Tasty fleas.
Susie spin a web for us
And catch them if you please.”
There's another little poem
(We try to please you all)
Susie's made a web of silk
So come and see her crawl.
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Here! Here!
Written by Katanga (209 comments posted) 8th May 2008 |
Tell you what - there's more wisdom in the 'For Kids' section than one might ever believe.
Do believe me.
Some of my own darkest and, yes, happiest moments have resulted in a poem or short story for children.
I have no children of my own, so I'm no expert, but I remember being six to ten or so.
Writing for adults is very complicated - they carry so many suitcases of love, death, betrayal - you name it, they've been there and are hard to impress.
Children? Usually much less baggage - the joy they get from a well-constructed ditty . . . Wow!
It makes writing worth it.
So - hey - join Josie and me in the 'For Kids' section and join the party!
I mean it!
Cheers!
John X |
Written by Josie (2144 comments posted) 8th May 2008 | | My plea is that GW members at least come and give the writers of children's work a review. There are many on here who have never given any of my work a review in the children's section and I have found it just as difficult to write, guaging the right age level, as any work I have done on the adult side. A lot of my work goes into schools and more will soon, and I think it is good to be able to give something of yourself for the benefit of the next generations. However, I again emphasize that it is difficult and challenging, which is what you may not think. I see many have tried and pulled out again. Yes, you migh t think my Susie spider was easy, but I actually spent quite some time going over it after I wrote it to change vocabulary, adjust the rhythm etc. |
Written by WeeAnn (24 comments posted) 8th May 2008 | I like it.It's neat and snappy.
I don't know about me writing for children. Are they really so easy to please?
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Written by Bottleblondesurfer (2962 comments posted) 9th May 2008 | You know I'm a long time fan of your childrens' poems.You don't patronise them but just appeal to their sense of fun and I agree that writing for children is very demanding [and often overlooked here]
Here's a quote you [and Katanga] will agree with.
"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children"- Madeleine L’ Engle |
Written by Josie (2144 comments posted) 9th May 2008 | | Jane, you are quite right. I go into the schools and not only read to the children, but encourage them recite poems in many different ways - from single reading, dramatized poems, done as rap etc, The children will tell you what they like and they also tell you what they do not like, and younger children do not like poems that don't have a rhyme or rhythm and they've told me this. They said: "We don't like strange poems". I didn't understand this and asked them, and when they showed me in a book the poems they didn't like, I have to admit that they were strange to me also - unrhymed and without a story and void of fun in any way. Children are not like adults, politely saying they like something when they don't. But it's very rewarding to write for them. It's a shame, though, that some people on this website don't bother to give reviews which encourage children's writers, but thanks a million to those who do. Children's writers are important. They should be lighting the fires of imagination from the millions of sparks that children give out. Miss this in the early years and you've lost a generation of story-lovers/poetry lovers/readers. |
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