The Books Have Arrived!

A surprise arrived in yesterday's mail: two large books in cardboard mailers. I was rather puzzled, knowing that I hadn't ordered anything for school yet, nor have I succumbed to half.com lately. Then I saw the return address and realized that they were HERE! The poetry book that three of the four kids had poems printed in. J was the only one whose poem was NOT chosen, but as he's living it up in Hawaii with my parents, he won't mind awfully. Plus I can make a big deal out of my published poets without J feeling left out. Here are the books:



I was surprised to receive two books, and opened the smaller one first. It contains all of the younger poets' work, grades K-3, for the whole country. The larger book was the California edition of the 7-9 and 10-12th grade poets' writings. We immediately checked the index in the back and located the kids' poems. It was really cool for them to see their poems printed on the page, along with their grade and school name.



E and T pose with their book -- E's is on page 87 and T's on page 152.



B has his own book where his poem is one page 124.



B points to his own poem, very proud of seeing his words and name in a real book. :)

Yes, I know that these books are made just to make $$$ selling the books to proud parents and grandparents. But they do select less than half of the poems they receive for publication, and they award monetary prizes for the best poems in each grade level (1st-3rd; 4th-6th, 7th-9th, 10th-12th grades). And the books weren't too awfully expensive -- $25 got us TWO books which isn't too bad.

And it showed the kids that their writing matters, that other people will read it, and that pride in their own writing makes the entire writing process so worth it, no matter what the assignment now. It's a real confidence-builder, so it's definitely well-worth the $25 in my not-so humble opinion.

There are more contests going on through Creative Communications, both for poetry and for essays. The last deadline just passed for this spring, but another one will be coming up in August. You can follow this link for more information if you're interested in entering your child's work, a cinch to do online. Really.

So congrats to E, T, and B! Good job, guys! Your mum is VERY proud of you three! (And J -- have fun in Hawaii for me, okay? Too bad your suitcase was too small for me to stow away in!)