25th August Charles Ghigna (1946) Lane Smith (1959)

Two birthdays of note today as well as Ian Falconer who I wrote about last year. It is American poet Charles Ghigna's birthday and American illustrator/author Lane Smith's birthday too.

Charles Ghigna (aka Father Goose) is the award-winning poet responsible for some absolute favourite children's poems...

What's A Poem?

A whisper,
a shout,
thoughts turned
inside out.

A laugh,
a sigh,
an echo
passing by.

A rhythm,
a rhyme,
a moment
caught in time.

A moon,
a star,
a glimpse
of who you are.

Wild Romance

I love ewe.
I'm not lion.
I really gopher you.
I never gnu this would happen.
You are so deer to me.
It's more than I can bear.
Let us seal our love with a kiss.
I will always bee yours.
I will never have any egrets.
You are my one and only gull.
Owl always love you.

Note all the things that can be used for teaching. The vocabulary and wordplay is wonderful.

Lane Smith is the illustrator who brought us that book that is destined to be a classic one day...It's a Book. Hopefully books won't have to fight with technology, but will continue to live alongside it, bringing pleasure to many new readers. I see this pleasure on a daily basis in the library watching my 3 to 8 year olds pore over books, carry them around, hug them and finally read them before rushing back to the library to repeat that pleasure with another book. Previous to this book Lane Smith has worked collaboratively with Jon Scieszka and other authors on many memorable books. I particularly like Seen Art? It is easy to make the focus of an art unit of work or display. And last year Lane Smith illustrated a chapter book for literary legend Judith Viorst, Lulu and the Brontosaurus.