Details

Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 02 April 2026

Thank you to our witty and wonderful Poetry Friday host, Matt Forrest Esenwine! Please visit Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme for this week's round up and a book-anniversary celebration for A Universe of Rainbows.

Today, we welcome Suzy Levinson, children’s poet extraordinaire! She is here to ring in National Poetry Month with us. You can find Suzy on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzylevinson/ and at her website: https://suzylevinson.com/

TK: Suzy, so wonderful to talk with you. I first heard your name several years ago when you judged a poetry contest that I entered (with a very forgettable poem!). Our paths crossed again when you co-taught the Lyrical Language Lab with Renée LaTulippe, and nowadays, I see your name pop up in connection with poetry everywhere—including your November interview with Buffy Silverman.

Let’s dive into your latest book: Dinos that Drive!

There is so much humor in this collection. The narrators are a riot and the ongoing T. rex bit adds another amusing layer. You are a naturally funny person! Please tell us about your process for incorporating humor into your writing. Does it spill out in the first draft, or do you build humor through revision?

SL: I wouldn’t say I intentionally incorporate humor into my work. Rather, I’ve come to recognize that when I write, funny things just happen, so I lean into that. It’s interesting, because I’m not exactly the class clown in real life. I bet 95% of the people I’ve met would not describe me as funny (although the remaining 5% think I’m hilarious). I guess it’s about feeling comfortable. When I go into creative mode, I just loosen up and worry less. Then I can play around with the element of surprise—which, let’s face it, is at the core of all humor. Carefully setting up the bowling pins, only to zap ’em with a space laser.

I think that’s perhaps the coolest part about writing: discovering and cultivating our own personal strengths. Surprising ourselves sometimes!

TK: KA-POW! Your creativity in action! Wonderful!

Every time I look at Dinos, I pick up another witty tidbit incorporated by illustrator Dustin Harbin. Some of my favorites: Rexxon Future Fuel, the Asteroid Pops ice cream truck, the camping dino reading How to Discover Fire! Dustin used the incongruity between dinosaurs and technology to add even more humor. The illustrations call to mind the detailed drawings of Richard Scarry. Were you surprised by the complexity of the illustrations?

SL: To be real with you, no. I was delighted, but not surprised. I took a good look at Dustin’s portfolio before he agreed to illustrate the book. I don’t remember precisely what I said to my editor, but it was something to the effect of, “If Dustin doesn’t do this project, I’ll die.” He’s a genius. He can draw anything, he’s an awesome world-builder, plus he’s got that dry edge. Long story short, I knew he’d nail it!

As a huge illustration geek, I can’t believe I get to work with such brilliant artists. It’s the best.

TK: It’s a tough choice, but I think my favorite poem in this collection has to be “Iguano-Gone: A Sad Country Song.”

Your creative voice shines through so clearly: “Iguanodon, I mean, come on, you’re tearing me apart!” Which was your favorite poem to write, and which was the most confounding?

SL: “Iguano-Gone” is my favorite, too. It was so fun to write a fake country song—and later work with a musician to turn it into a real country song!

As far as confounding…oh! Maybe not confounding, but there was one downright terrifying moment with “Lots of Aquilops.” I originally wrote the poem thinking that the stress fell on the first syllable (A-quil-ops), when it actually falls on the second syllable (a-QUIL-ops). Thank goodness for the sharp eyes at Tundra Books! When my editor gently pointed out the mistake, I was mortified. I wound up rewriting the poem fairly quickly, but can you imagine if the first version had been published, with messed-up meter?! I’m sweating just thinking about it!

TK: Oof! The rhyming poet’s worst nightmare!

It’s an unfortunate misconception that writing children’s poetry is easy. Aside from the technical aspects of writing poetry, I imagine you also had to do a lot of dino research. What was the most challenging aspect of creating this collection?

SL: I think the most challenging aspect was getting over the intimidation factor, right at the start. I knew the collection was only going to work if there was some weird internal logic to it, so that meant research—just one trait connecting each dino to each vehicle, but still daunting! Plus, I knew that incorporating dinosaur names like Pachycephalosaurus into metrical rhyming verse might be a smidge tougher than, say, cat.

But at some point, fun outweighed intimidation—for instance, when I learned that Brontosaurus’s name means “Thunder Lizard,” the perfect biker name, I couldn’t resist at least trying to write this thing.

TK: What were some differences in your writing journey to create Dinos and that of writing your earlier collection Animals in Pants?

SL: Oh, I learned so much from Animals in Pants! For that one, I mostly focused on writing enough poems to make up a full collection. It was only after I sold it that my editor at Abrams/Cameron Kids quite rightly suggested that it needed more structure, which hadn’t even occurred to me. The book was never going to have a traditional story arc, but I was able to give it a bit more shape by adding a simple intro and outro, plus shuffling poems around. Lots of trial and error before we had the final product (which I love).

It was because of that experience that I was far more intentional about structure while writing Dinos that Drive. From the get-go, I included intro and outro poems. I clustered the poems more strategically. I peppered the four short T. rex poems throughout the collection, to serve as a bit of a refrain while also building momentum. Even the two little fact-spouting sidebar dinos, who came later in the process, contribute to moving things along as they chat away.

But of course, the biggest difference between the two collections was the inclusion of facts in Dinos that Drive. Totally unavoidable. While there was no need for me to explain dogs sleeping or kangaroos jumping in Animals in Pants, it would’ve felt pretty odd for me not to explain why certain dinos migrate or swallow rocks.

TK: Without giving away too much, can you talk about how you came up with the idea for Dinos’ unexpected ending?

SL: The ending’s fun, right? I love dry humor in children’s books, but I also love hope and heart. So how was I going to imbue the ending with hope and heart when dinosaurs went extinct? And how was I going to do that while also mentioning driving? In rhyme? It seemed almost impossible, but hey, that’s the beauty of writing with constraints; sometimes if you give yourself enough problems, you wind up with only one solution!

TK: How can people get a copy of Dinos that Drive?

SL: I hope you’ll all pick up a copy of Dinos that Drive, wherever books are sold! Here are some options on my website. And if anyone wants a signed bookplate, just message me and I’ll pop one in the mail, easy-peasy.

TK: Thank you for that kind offer and for spending this time with us and sharing your wonderful journey to create Dinos that Drive, Suzy! We wish you great success!

SL: Thanks, Tracey! Happy National Poetry Month!

Details

Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 26 March 2026

Happy Friday, and better yet, Happy POETRY Friday! Want to know more about Poetry Friday? Check out: What in the World is Poetry Friday.

We are lucky to have the talented photographer, author, and poet Marcie Flinchum Atkins hosting this week. Please visit her blog Marcie Flinchum Atkins for the latest on her book When Twilight Comes: The Animals and Plants That Bring Dawn and Dusk to Life.

Speaking of all things crepuscular, during a recent camping trip through the southeastern US, we stayed at a campground loaded with sprawling banyan trees. Each one brimmed with activity at twilight (and probably all day for that matter!). Being from the Northeast, I’ve never had the opportunity to explore these enthralling behemoths of the plant world.

The banyan, also sometimes referred to as a strangler fig, starts life by wrapping vines around another tree, eventually killing it. The banyan reaches out spaghetti-like whiskers and builds columns, layer after layer, expanding its limbs and trunk. When an arm grows too heavy, the Banyan builds its own crutch. When a limb dies, it feeds the insects.

The banyan specializes in architecture, especially columns and arches, but sometimes an elephant (can you spot one below?).

What lived within this banyan fascinated me as much as the tree itself. Home to things earthly and human-made, this tree housed peepers and creepers, hosted morning lizard meetups, collected trash, and coddled young palm trees (at least for the moment).

A symbol of both life and death, the banyan holds significance in many religions. Below is my reflection about the banyan's methods in the context of today's politics. Please excuse the focus on the darker aspects of this miracle of nature!

Regime

Strangling a sapling,
Banyan rises from death.

Desperate for more,
always more,
he reaches, grabs, chokes,
roots, builds, layers.

He busies himself
with expansion plans,
indifferent to the little ones
clinging to his limbs:
peepers,
creepers,
chameleons,
a sapling.

© Tracey Kiff-Judson 2026

Details

Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 05 February 2026

Happy Poetry Friday! Thanks to Molly for hosting this week! Please visit Nix the Comfort Zone for Molly’s Wendell Berry prompt as well as this week’s Poetry Friday roundup. Want to know more about Poetry Friday? Check out: What in the World is Poetry Friday.

I am truly enjoying the postcard swap with Poetry Friday friends. Thank you so much for celebrating the year of the Fire Horse by sharing such gorgeous artwork and poetry. Tabetha, Linda M., Mary Lee, and Patricia - you are each an inspiration!

Thank you also to Eerdman’s Books For Young Readers for sharing an advance copy of Poems for Every Season by Bette Westera with illustrations by Henriette Boerendans, translated from Dutch to English by David Colmer. This gentle collection wanders through the year from spring through winter with reflections on a quaint farmhouse and woodland creatures in their seasonal finery.

Each season rolls in on a delicate haiku and meanders through the months with a variety of poetic forms. I spotted a few forms that our Poetry Friday friends have previously posed as writing challenges – such as the month of June's pantoum. A favorite form of mine is, of course, the double dactyl. Because it’s difficult to maintain rhyme, and especially meter, in translated works, David Colmer acknowledges taking some liberties with the translations.

The woodcut illustrations and the beautifully muted color palate capture the mood of each poem. I particularly love the distressed-denim textures of February’s “Frozen Buds.”

Poems for Every Season will be available for purchase on February 17, 2026 online or at a bookseller near you. If you’re looking to buy from a female-owed, indie bookstore, a favorite of mine is Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA.

Details

Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 08 January 2026

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Thank you, Ruth, for hosting Poetry Friday this week. Please visit her blog for a bowlful of Soulful Warming. To learn more about Poetry Friday, see What in the World is Poetry Friday.

It has been a challenging year, so I am trying to start 2026 with a new outlook. I am thinking of REFRAME as my OLW. I want to seek out the opportunities that lie within challenges. I need to believe possibilities always exist, even if they are difficult to spot at first glance.

I am feeling a little Rolling Stones - You Can’t Always Get What You Want…

or perhaps it is more Patti LaBelle - New Attitude…

or perhaps this poem by Jorie Graham captures it:

Prayer

By Jorie Graham

Over a dock railing, I watch the minnows, thousands, swirl   

themselves, each a minuscule muscle, but also, without the   

way to create current, making of their unison (turning, reinfolding,

entering and exiting their own unison in unison) making of themselves a   

visual current, one that cannot freight or sway by   

minutest fractions the water’s downdrafts and upswirls, the   

dockside cycles of finally-arriving boat-wakes, there where   

they hit deeper resistance, water that seems to burst into   

itself (it has those layers), a real current though mostly   

invisible sending into the visible (minnows) arrowing motion that forces change—

this is freedom. This is the force of faith. Nobody gets   

wat they want. Never again are you the same. The longing

is to be pure. What you get is to be changed. 

… read the rest here.

I’ll leave you with two quotes from Albert Eistein:

• We can't solve today's problems with the mentality that created them.
• Imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination is the language of the soul. Pay attention to your imagination and you will discover all you need to be fulfilled.

Hmmm, maybe REIMAGINE is even better. What do you think?

Wishing you all a wonderful 2026!

Details

Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 08 November 2025

Thank you to Charlesbridge Publishing for sharing these gorgeous books with me from their Fall, 2025 release list.

I adore each one.

• I love the STEAM aspects of Cesar’s Cerulean Surprise.
• Sticky Hermana and Found You! will be relatable to so many kids.
• Between you and me, I predict that Charolotte’s New Moccasins is going to start a moccasin craze.
• Owl’s Fall Feast really spoke to me personally, as I will be hosting a family reunion for Thanksgiving this year.
• I am partway through The Golden Necklace and enjoying learning about Nepalese culture in Darjeeling while trying to solve the mystery of the stolen jewels!

I truly appreciate Charlesbridge’s generosity in sharing these stories with me, and I applaud them for the diverse and relatable stories they put into the world. I hope that many children feel seen in these books.

Thank you, Charlesbridge!

Details

Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 23 October 2025

On Saturday, October 18, my husband and I participated in the No Kings protest in Hartford, CT at the state capitol building. As we wandered through the crowd, I started to cry, and I asked myself: Why is this water leaking from my eyeballs?! 😊

I’ve often cried out of sorrow, anger, or frustration (man, I am sounding like a constant weeper here!), but that day, I found myself crying out of relief…

• relief that there are people who see what I see,
• relief that there is a movement to resist the decline of democracy, and
• relief that people still can find humor in critical situations.

People took action with their presence AND their words. Looking around at the clever, punchy, or poetic sayings that people had crafted and stuck to a stick was awe-inspiring. Although I don’t generally favor signs with personal attacks, this one made me smile: I’ve Seen Smarter Cabinets at IKEA.

It’s funny how events sometimes connect. The next day, I reviewed Valerie Bolling’s new picture book biography A Flea for Justice: Marian Wright Edelman Stands Up for Change.

Valerie deftly leads us on the journey of Marian Wright Edleman’s campaigns for social justice. As a child, Marian had a strong sense of fairness in a time when blatant unfairness permeated her everyday life. She was determined to irritate those in power to change, and she devoted her life to creating a more equitable world. TeMika Grooms’s illustrations expertly use light and color to convey emotion and propel the action forward in Marian’s story. TeMika and Valerie’s expert telling of key events and accomplishments in Marian’s life creates opportunity for readers to discuss parallels to today’s world. I hope that children see themselves in Marian’s story and understand they have the power to change the world for the better. As Valerie quoted Marian, “Enough fleas biting can make the very biggest dog uncomfortable.”

Because I often struggle with how to take action, I love that Valerie’s book shows us examples of how a person can make change. Books that illustrate examples of social engagement can provide a wonderful guide for both adults and children.

Valerie has another book coming out in January, 2026 that shows one girl’s journey on a protest march. I can’t wait to read that one as well!

Thoughts of social justice always bring to mind Maya Angelou’s Caged Bird.

Caged Bird

By Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind 
and floats downstream   
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and   
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   
with a fearful trill   
of things unknown   
but longed for still   
and his tune is heard   
on the distant hill   
for the caged bird   
sings of freedom.

Read the rest here.

Thanks to Patricia Franz for hosting Poetry Friday! Please visit Patricia’s blog for a lovely seasonal tanka and this week’s Poetry Friday roundup. Want to know more about Poetry Friday? Check out: What in the World is Poetry Friday.

Details

Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson & Renee LaTulippe

Category: Blog

Published: 25 September 2025

Today, I’m pleased to welcome a teacher and friend, Renee LaTulippe. I have known Renee for a couple years, but it feels like even longer through her online videos. [Note to readers: If you have questions on writing in verse, check out Renee LaTulippe's website for answers to all your nagging questions on meter and more.]

Let 's get right to it!

TKJ: Renee, I am so excited about your forthcoming book Limelight: Curtain Up On Poetry Comics! It's truly unique with bits and bobs of comic book, graphic novel, and poetry collection. The subtitle says it all: curtain up on poetry comics! Did you envision a comic format from Limelight's inception? Why is the format important?

RL: Thanks for having me, Tracey! 

I definitely did not envision a comic format for Limelight! To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what I had created with this manuscript, or for what age group, so it was hard for me to imagine what shape it would take. Luckily, I had a visionary editor—Yolanda Scott—who did a lot of that noodling for me and eventually suggested the poetry comics format. Once that idea was out there, I had a much clearer vision of what I wanted—and it was very painterly, to be frank. After exploring that rather austere path a bit, Yolanda suggested this more kid-friendly graphic novel style. I admit it took me a minute to come around to the idea, but soon enough I realized she was absolutely right!

In fact, this format helped define the audience for the book, and even the book’s purpose and place became so much clearer to me. Making poetry engaging and accessible and simply interesting to a wide range of kids still seems like a tall order, and this format helped do all those things. I could not be more thrilled with the whole process and how Yolanda’s vision—and Chuck Gonzales’s illustrations—brought the manuscript to life. 

TKJ: How interesting that the art style helped define the purpose of the book after the text was written!

Read more: Limelight

Details

Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson

Category: Blog

Published: 08 August 2025

Grief is the rawest emotion. What's lost will never return.

Grief means living in the after, knowing there’s no path back to the before.

I won’t welcome grief. Not yet.

painting source: Mezma and Azzayal

Dragonfly Grief

Dragonfly dances,
lake-bound,
skimming midges.

Does she know
grief,
loss,
sorrow?

When she draws
her last tiny breath
and sinks
into blue,
gives up 
all she knew,
does she exhale
satisfaction
or relief?

© Draft, Tracey Kiff-Judson

photo source: Glaminati.com

An exchange of blog comments with Margaret Simon inspired this poem.

Without You

I cling to
cool cotton pillows,
firefly flashes,
summer-sweet
plums.

Comfort comes
in small doses.

© Draft, Tracey Kiff-Judson

Please visit our Poetry Friday host Molly at Nix the comfort zone for this week’s round up. To learn more about Poetry Friday, please check out: What Is Poetry Friday? by Renee LaTulippe.