Having access to the Internet is like having a printing press in your home, classroom or library. Now your children's poetic gems do not have to languish on the refrigerator door, they can be published. Family home pages and school Web sites both provide a gallery for children's work. Additionally, I've found these five sites that accept poetry from kids. Let your creativity shine!
"Kid Authors is a creative place for kids like you. Here you can share your stories and poems with people around the world, including your friends and family. You can also read stories and poems written by kids around the world." A clean interface, a good search tool, and an easy-to-use submission form make this site first class. Published works are available not only to read, but also to rate on a scale of one (okay) to five (excellent.) Top rated works get a spot on the site's front page along with the editors' top choices.
Scholastic.com presents Jack Prelutsky, author of many poetry collections for kids, including "It's Raining Pigs and Noodles" and "The New Kid on the Block." "Poetry's cool -- and a lot of fun! In this workshop, I will help you turn your words and ideas into descriptive and powerful poems. As you explore the world of poetry writing, I'll share with you writing tips that I use when I write my poems, as well as ideas for revising your work. I won't be commenting on your poems, but I'll enjoy reading them after you've posted them online."
"Welcome Poets! If you're between four and eighteen years old, we'll publish your poem in The Poetry Zone. You'll also find poems and interviews by some of the best children's poets around -- and much more." Some of the "much mores" are a Cat Poetry contest which ends May 31, 2001 (those are for poems written about cats, not by cats), poetry book reviews written by kids, and a monthly poll of favorite poetry collections. Submitted works can be read in the Poetry Gallery for about a month, and then are archived in the Old Poems Rest Home.
This marvelous site (with a yummy color scheme) accepts not just poetry, but also reviews, research papers, and short stories. Each section of the site includes some ideas to get your writing started. And being such a huge fan of reading (you must read if you want to improve your writing), I was thrilled to learn of the Book Back Chat project - email discussion groups for readers in grades 1 through 8. A calendar for upcoming discussions (starting as soon as May 4, 2001) is posted, and joining is as simple as filling out an online form.
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Claremont Review | Merlyn's Pen |
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