MAKE POETRY HAPPEN!
Deadline: April 1, 2008

HELLO TEACHERS, SCHOOL LIBRARIANS and MEDIA SPECIALISTS—

Ever since the Poetry Foundation designated me as our nation’s first Children’s Poet Laureate, I’ve been thinking of ways to promote children’s poetry among educators. I think that there’s no such thing as too much poetry, and would be delighted to see it in schools everywhere. To encourage the reading, writing, reciting, and study of poetry in your classes, I’m offering modest stipends to facilitate these efforts.

It’s simple! Just email me a paragraph or two telling me how you want to enrich your students’ lives with poetry. Make it short. Your plan should not occupy more than a single page. This is a wide open challenge. Your ideas can be anything from starting a special poetry collection, to putting on a stage production in verse. Your methods may incorporate any media: art, music, theater, CDs, or simple pen and paper—it’s all up to you. It’s my hope that your projects will be part of your curriculum in April, National Poetry Month.

[Helpful Hint: If you’re listing specific poems or books in your project, I’ll be interested in how you’ll use the works of my colleagues—not necessarily my poems.]

Your ideas must be submitted by APRIL 1st of this year. I’ll select the ten ideas that I like best. The educators who submitted them will receive my check for $250.00, plus an autographed copy of each of my two newest books—

MY DOG MAY BE A GENIUS
PIZZA, PIGS, AND POETRY

and an autographed copy of my book about “poemstarts”—

READ A RHYME, WRITE A RHYME

I’ll need the following details from you:

Your name, and the grade you teach. If you’re the school librarian or media center specialist, please indicate that.
Name of your school and school’s postal address.
Your school’s email address.
Your contact phone number.

Selections will be made by April 9th and winners will be notified by email
immediately. The checks and books will be sent soon after.

WINNERS! I’ll be announcing your names and schools on my website. If I can
figure out how to post your projects on this website, I’ll request your permission first.

Jack’s email address...
makepoetryhappen@jackprelutsky.com

...or snailmail (must be RECEIVED by April 1st):
Jack Prelutsky’s “Make Poetry Happen” Project
PMB 431
321 High School Rd., NE
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110