Thank you,  Laura Purdie Salas for being today’s guest poetry poster!
Follow Laura on Facebook here
I love poetry! I’ve published more than 100 books, mostly nonfiction, but if I could build a career just out of poetry, I would! I love to write poems, connect kids with poems, share poems with people, get teachers excited about poetry—it’s all great! However, I’m not that great at reading it aloud. That’s sad, because of course poetry is perfect for sharing out loud. When I do school visits, I have a great time doing interactive readings with the kids.
But just me in front or a room?
Gulp.
Me in front of a camera?
Double gulp.
Recently, blogger Renée LaTulippe (best name ever!) at No Water River invited me to record myself reading a poem to share on her blog. I swallowed my pride and did it. And it wasn’t too horrible! My reading wasn’t great, but I have low expectations:>) And it wasn’t as hard or as nerve-wracking as I expected.
So I just did another recording on my iPhone. This is one of my favorite poems from my newest poetry collection, BookSpeak! Poems About Books. When I was a kid, I didn’t even know real live people wrote books. Then as an adult, I figured the writer was the only creator of a book. Now as a writer, I’m amazed by how many smart, creative people it takes to get an idea from a writer’s head to a reader’s hand. This poem is a tribute to some of those people (I still had to leave some out!).
Here’s the video of me reading “This Is the Book.”

 
I hope you like it. And if you’re nervous about recording yourself doing a reading, take heart. It doesn’t have to be perfect or ultra-professional. It just has to be you. At least, that’s what I’m counting on!
A LEAF CAN BE… (Millbrook Press, 2012)
BOOKSPEAK! (Clarion, 2011) Finalist, 2012 Minnesota Book Award
STAMPEDE! (Clarion, 2009) Finalist, 2010 Minnesota Book Award
and many other books for young readers