Author presentation
- 1. KRISTINE O’CONNELL GEORGE AUTHOR PRESENTATION
- 2. KRISTINE O’CONNELL GEORGE • Born in Denver, Colorado • Inspired by nature and often finds inspiration in her own backyard • Principle voice in contemporary children’s poetry • Received the Claudia Lewis Award from Bank Street and was named an ALA Notable, School Library Journal Best Book, and Bulletin Blue Ribbon for her most recent book, Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems • Currently resides in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California with her family
- 3. THEMES • Nature • Animals • Special moments • Everyday objects • Relationships
- 4. TECHNIQUES • Lyrical • Playful • Imagery • Imaginative voice • Point of view
- 5. PLAYFUL Kristine O’Connell George creates silly and playful poetry.
- 6. TREE TRAFFIC Major tree traffic today— commuters in both directions, rippling up and down, tails unfurled. The treeway is heavily squirreled.
- 7. VOICE & POINT OF VIEW George utilizes different ‘voices’ and points of view within her poetry, most specifically from the point of view of trees.
- 8. OLD ELM SPEAKS It is as I told you, Young Sapling. It will take autumns of patience before you snag your first moon.
- 9. IMAGERY Kristine O’Connell George creates beautiful imagery within her poetry through the use of descriptive language and rhetorical devices such as similes.
- 10. POLLIWOGS Come see What I found Chubby commas, Mouths round, Plump babies Stubby as toes. Polliwogs! Tadpoles! Come see What I found! Frogs-in-waiting— Huddled in puddles, Snuggled in mud.
- 11. RECYCLED
- 12. PUBLISHED WORKS • Book! • Hummingbird Nest: A • The Great Frog Race Journal of Poems • Old Elm Speaks: Tree • One Mitten Poems • Up! • Toasting Marshmallows: • Fold Me a Poem Camping Poems • Emma Dilemma: Big • Little Dog Poems Sister Poems • Little Dog and Duncan • Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems
- 13. CLASSROOM CONNECTION • Encourage students to find some aspect of nature that interests them and write a lyrical, imagistic poem about it. • Allow students to create their own poems about: • Nature • Animals • Special moments • Relationships • Everyday objects • Read Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems and discuss with students the importance and effect that ‘voice’ and point of view gives to poetry. Allow students to experiment with writing poetry from different perspectives and with different voices. • Give students a random object and have them write a poem about it that gives it both importance and meaning.