Poetry Friday: Electing a President

Hi, poets and poetry lovers!We have two big events coming up in the next few days. Tomorrow is Halloween. (Check out this Baltimore Sun article about how Halloween was celebrated during the 1918 flu pandemic.)And, of course, Tuesday is Election Day. After the 2016 presidential election, I signed up for election judge training. It's fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes at a local polling place. Elections are a true community effort.Since we're electing our country's new president this year, let's get into some presidential reading for kids. I've got a historical fiction book series to recommend, and some poetry to pair it with.Deborah Kalb is the author of an early middle grade series, THE PRESIDENT AND ME from Schiffer Kids. The first two book are George Washington and the Magic Hat (Deborah and I talked about this book in 2016) and John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead.The third book in this time travel series is just out, Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat.Here is the official book description:After almost six months in Maryland, fifth-grader Oliver still misses his friends back in New Jersey. But things start to change one day, when his neighbor—and possible new friend—Sam lends Oliver a magic hat that takes him back to the 18th- and 19th-century world of Thomas Jefferson. Oliver and his sisters—Cassie, the nice one, and Ruby, the annoying one—end up learning more about Jefferson than they'd expected. And Oliver finds that his new neighborhood might not be so terrible after all. Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat is the third in The President and Me series that began with George Washington and the Magic Hat and John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead. This new adventure brings back previous characters Sam, Ava, J.P. (blink and you might miss them, though!), and of course the cantankerous talking hat itself.And Deborah adds:The books combine time travel, history, and present-day issues. In this new book, fifth grader Oliver, the new kid in town, borrows his friend Sam’s magic hat and goes back to the 18th and 19th centuries, where he encounters Thomas Jefferson at various points in his career, including writing the Declaration of Independence, fleeing from the British during the Revolutionary War, and serving as the country’s third president. Another main character is Madison Hemings, the son of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Alexander Hamilton also makes a cameo appearance, as do characters from the first two books in the series.Deborah and I chatted about poems to pair with her books about a modern day kid who travels back in time and meets our country's early leaders. Here are some of the things we came up with:

• Did you know Thomas Jefferson wrote poetry?The Library of Congress has a Presidential Poetry series of posts on the LOC website. Here, you can read Jefferson's poem "To Ellen" -- and see a draft in our third president's own handwriting.
• Kenn Nesbitt's President's Day PoemsIt's Election Day, not President's Day, but poet Kenn Nesbitt has "Six Great Ideas" for writing your own poems about U.S. presidents.
• "The Renaissance Man"The website ClassroomPoems.Com has a page dedicated to writing about Thomas Jefferson. It includes the poem "The Renaissance Man" by Denise Rodgers and Jefferson facts that kids can use to compose their own Jeffersonian verse.

The Renaissance Man(A Thomas Jefferson Poem)

History and botany,languages, theology,chemistry and politics,anatomy, zoology,the orators and law.He read so much and oftenthat it almost was a flaw.His interests were so wide and strong,played violin three hours longand still had time to pluck his garden weeds.Collected some six thousand books,would read them, and take second looks.Thom Jefferson had many varied needs.Read the rest of Denise Rodgers' poem here.

• Marilyn Singer's RUTHERFORD B, WHO WAS HE: Poems about Our Presidents.The second poem in this funny, smart book is a debate between presidents 2 and 3, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who went from friends to political enemies, back to friends across their lifetimes.

One last thing, everyone. Be sure to VOTE!