Poetry Month for Kids

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More About

• Denise Lanier
• Dave Eggers
• Mitchell Kaplan
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Contests and Giveaways

If you haven't watched author Dave Eggers's speech on TED.com, stop reading this and go watch it. Done? Good. Now you understand how important writing is to kids, and how awesome it is that local poet Denise Lanier was awarded one of Eggers's Once upon a School challenge prizes. Lanier is already working inside the school system to teach poetry to South Florida's youth, but now she has teamed up with Books & Books founder Mitchell Kaplan to put on two special National Poetry Month Workshops for Kids.

Lanier and her dog Luke will conduct a hands-on, fully participatory verse-writing workshop for all elementary-school-age children. Lanier's assignments put the focus on the fun of taking up the pen, teaching kids the joy of using rhyme and theme in constructing their poems. There's even a poetry contest your child can enter, conducted by Lanier.

Adult poets out there might even want to borrow a neighbor's child just to sneak in and get a whiff of Lanier's wisdom.
Mon., April 6, 2 p.m.; Sun., April 19, 2 p.m., 2009