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March 5, 2010 by Travis Jonker

Poetry Friday: Spiny

March 5, 2010 by Travis Jonker   21 comments

Poetry. Not really in my wheelhouse. I appreciate good poetry and applaud those who write it, but it’s not a genre that I feel very comfortable in.

The other day, I came across a type of poetry I’d never seen. It isn’t written, but chosen and arranged using the titles of books. Check out the remarkable work of Nina Katchadourian:

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I can get into this. Below is my children’s book attempt:

Want to give it a try?

Snap a picture of your book spine poem and post it on your site, or email it to me at scopenotes@gmail.com. If there are some takers, I’ll post a gallery of your work on the next Poetry Friday.

Be sure to visit Teaching Books for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kelly Fineman says

    March 5, 2010 at 8:52 am

    Brilliant. Made me laugh aloud!

  2. Natalie says

    March 5, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    You are a true poet! This is an excellent form of poetry – but one that is far beyond my capabilities. I hope to see more, though!

  3. Mary Lee says

    March 5, 2010 at 2:35 pm

    I’m off to the bookshelves to see what I can find! Fun fun fun!

    • Travis says

      March 5, 2010 at 2:45 pm

      I think you’ll have fun with it. It’s pretty cool how you can’t go in with an idea of what you want – it comes as you try different books. Thanks for giving it a go – I’m looking forward to what you come up with!

  4. Sara C. says

    March 5, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    The Toothpaste Millionaire! I forgot all about that book! Thanks for the reminder.

  5. Laura Evans says

    March 5, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    What a hoot! I had heard of “found poems” before, but never using a book spine. Thanks!

    Laura

  6. bluerabbit says

    March 5, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    That’s fantastic! I just love it!

  7. Stacy Nockowitz says

    March 5, 2010 at 8:45 pm

    I LOVE this! Thanks for the wonderful idea!

  8. Sheryl says

    March 6, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    What a wonderful idea! Here’s my first attempt: http://lightairspirit.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/book-spine-poetry/. I can’t wait to try it with middle schoolers and YA titles.

    • Travis says

      March 6, 2010 at 7:56 pm

      That turned out great!

  9. Andromeda Jazmon says

    March 6, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    Ha! I am going to have to try this one. I love reading the spines of books.

  10. Laura Purdie Salas says

    March 8, 2010 at 9:24 am

    Oh, this is fun! I’ve written centos before (poems made of book titles), but with some extra words added, too, as transitions. Here’s one I posted: http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/35494.html

    I guess if I tried this book spine method, I’m not gonna be able to cheat and add words!

  11. Ed Spicer says

    March 8, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    Travis,

    Great job. You are doing spine tingling poetry and Cindy is doing reversos. I am feeling the pressure! My students are at a special and this is my planning time–can’t wait to get home to check out all the hidden poems hiding on my shelf. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm maybe I will have to try to do a reverso with spines. That will take some backbone. Back to work!

  12. Cindy Dobrez says

    March 9, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    Can’t wait to try this at school tomorrow. I also have to do some digging. Somewhere I have a found poem I made from catalog cards before we automated. If I find it I’ll post it.

    • Travis says

      March 9, 2010 at 10:07 pm

      Thanks for giving it a shot. The card catalog poem has me intrigued.

  13. PiLibrarian says

    March 31, 2010 at 11:08 am

    LOVE it — and now I have both an April display AND student participation activity. Thanks for passing the idea along.

    • Travis says

      March 31, 2010 at 11:27 am

      Let me know how it goes! Feel free to send some examples, and I’ll add them to the gallery.

    • PiLibrarian says

      March 31, 2010 at 11:45 am

      I did it! The post with my first effort is at http://reticulatedpithon.blogspot.com/2010/03/poetry-on-edge.html

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    May 11, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was curious what all is required to get setup? I’m assuming having a
    blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100% positive.
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Trackbacks

  1. Book Spine Poetry « Blog Archive « A Certain Quality of Spirit says:
    March 6, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    […] stumbled upon book spine poetry through  Travis Jonker’s children’s literature blog, 100 Scope Notes.  Travis borrows the idea from Nina Katchadourin, who has some wonderful compositions in her […]

  2. ALSC Blog » Blog Archive » Celebrate Poetry Month with Book Spine Poems says:
    March 30, 2010 at 10:51 am

    […] decided to share it on my children’s literature blog, 100 Scope Notes, and challenge others to give it a try. There […]

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