Poetry Friday… The Family Edition!

Welcome to Poetry Friday! I’m happy to host the post-Thanksgiving parade.

I hope you enjoyed a delicious meal with family and/or friends if you celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday. And speaking of family, I am thrilled to host my cousin Suzy Levinson today! I first “met” Suzy many years ago during Ed Decaria’s March Madness poetry competition. When I saw Suzy’s photo, she looked familiar and I wondered if we might be related (my dad’s mother was a Levinson.) A couple of years later Suzy and I were making introductions in an online poetry group and I asked if she was related to a Levinson that I recalled. Suzy phoned her dad, who wondered if I was Ruth and Lester’s daughter (affirmative!) and confirmed that we are indeed 2nd cousins, once removed. Does that count as family? I’m going to say yes!

In addition to being my Levinson cousin, Suzy is an award-winning children’s author and poet. Her work has been featured in numerous poetry anthologies and magazines, including Highlights and Cricket. She is the author of two picture book–length poetry collections, Animals in Pants (Abrams) and Dinos That Drive (Tundra Books), and she has more children’s books on the way! We have not yet shared a Thanksgiving or any other table, but Suzy graciously agreed to answer a few questions about writing her wonderful poetry collections. I hope you enjoy Suzy’s answers as much as I did, and that you check out her poetry.

The premise of your new poetry collection, DINOS THAT DRIVE, combines two highly appealing topics for young children. Pulling these two favorite subjects together is pure magic. How did you land on that combination?

The idea was first sparked when I bought my nephew this crazy-looking set of dino-head cars for his birthday. As I clicked “buy,” the title DINOS THAT DRIVE popped into my head and I thought, “Hmm, interesting.” First of all, taking two incongruous things and smooshing them together was already one of my go-to moves for manufacturing new book ideas. Dinos and cars…not bad! Then there was the title: DINOS THAT DRIVE—pow! I’ve noticed that when snazzy titles just present themselves like that, it’s usually a good sign that I should keep going, delve further.

Speaking of magical combinations, your first poetry collection, ANIMALS IN PANTS features (ready for a surprise, reader?) animals wearing pants. Is combining two unrelated themes the Secret Suzy Sauce?

Yeah, although it’s no secret—I never stop yammering on about it! If I’m stuck for ideas, I’ll hop over to Tara Lazar’s things-that-kids-like list and juggle items around, hoping some magic combination switches on the old light in the attic. Of course, this method doesn’t always work. Sometimes I land on what I think is the perfect combo, only for the collection to start fizzling a few poems into the drafting process. Writing’s a tricky business!

I think the true secret sauce these days is just remembering that picture books (whether or not they’re poetry collections) are tough sells, and that publishers really want to know how they’re going to market the thing. So along with good writing and authentic expression, I do consider hooks more than I used to. What’s going to lead someone to grab my book off the shelf, rather than the gazillion other books they have to choose from? What would’ve caught my eye when I was a kid? What feels fresh and FUN?

In addition to brilliant, humorous poetry, DINOS THAT DRIVE includes nonfiction sidebars presented as a conversation between a fact-spewing triceratops and a wise-cracking sidekick (is she a pterodactyl!?)  How did you land on that kid-friendly formula? And how difficult was it to pare down the dino-info to one cool fact?

Truth be told, I didn’t pare down much. Once I found one fact to tie each dinosaur to each vehicle, I was off to the races (so to speak). I think nearly all the poems in DINOS are simply me explaining the internal logic behind each pairing: why does Triceratops need to drive a roof-less jeep? Why did Spinosaurus buy that riverboat? How do all those Aquilops fit in an RV? If there were no cool facts, there’d be no cool poems!

As far as the conversation aspect goes, I wrote it after I sold the collection. My original manuscript just included facts at the bottom of each page. But then my wonderful editor suggested I give them a little more zing. After stewing awhile, I realized ah-ha! Two dinos could present the facts in speech bubbles! I love writing dialogue, so I had a lot of fun with it. And Dustin Harbin’s illustrations of the little dinos are so cute. Yes, one’s a pterodactyl…in cowboy boots!

These two characters also help bring an arc to your collection. I remember hearing Lee Bennett Hopkins say (and I’m paraphrasing from a memory of him speaking remotely at a conference many years ago, so I apologize if this isn’t exactly correct) that the arrangement of the poems in a collection is like another poem itself. Tell us about the challenge of arranging the poems in DINOS THAT DRIVE into a cohesive whole that is more than the sum of its parts.

Oy. Big question, cuz! One of the greatest challenges of writing a poetry collection is not having a traditional story arc to push things along. So yeah, strategic arrangement is key! Logical groupings help; the water vehicles going together in DINOS, for instance. A logical overall progression, if you can swing it: city-to-country perhaps, or day-to-night.

As far as rhyme scheme, meter, and number of lines go, it’s important to vary things up from poem to poem, just to avoid things sounding monotonous, flat. At the same time, I think it’s important to maintain a consistency of tone throughout the book. Writing a PB-length poetry collection is about creating a singular world, with a singular vibe, so a sharp shift in tone could feel confusing, even jarring for the reader. We don’t want that!

Having written a few collections, I’ve learned to love intro and outro pieces. Even if they’re simple, they can give the collection some shape. In DINOS, the titles of the intro and outro are linked: “Dinos…Going?” and “Dinos…Gone!” Subtle but intentional, bringing things full circle.

Then there are the four T. Rex poems I’ve peppered throughout DINOS. With their series-like titles (“Car-nivore: Part 1,” “Car-nivore: Part 2,” etc.), their consistent rhyme scheme and meter, the dino kids’ building fear of T. Rex over the course of the collection, and the satisfying conclusion, I’ve hopefully managed to create a touch of an arc there, a smidge of forward momentum.

Whew! I probably missed some stuff. Clearly, I could go on and on about arrangement and arc. Long story short, Lee Bennett Hopkins said it perfectly!

Pretend that you are speaking to a class of poetry-inclined elementary school kids. What poetry prompt might you offer? (Readers, if you take the challenge and leave a draft in the comments, I’ll be glad to add your poems to the end of this post.)

This certainly isn’t my expertise, as I’ve only done one school visit ever (mere weeks ago!), but here’s the activity I presented to those kids (grades K-2):

My (type of dinosaur) drives a (vehicle) to (a place).

What happens next?

Each kid gets to fill in their own Mad Libs–style worksheet, with the help of a word bank, then draw a fun picture. And I challenge the older kids to take it a step further, to imagine what happens next. So it’s not exactly a poetry prompt, more of an overall storytelling prompt.

I think it’s important to remind kids that if they ever daydream, or play pretend, or make up little songs or stories for their stuffies or action figures or siblings, then they’re already writers! Making stuff up is what it’s all about, and no one can make up a story exactly like they can!

What can we look forward to from my brilliant cousin Suzy in the future?

Well, my more brilliant cousin Buffy, I have a few new projects on the horizon: one poetry PB with Tundra Books (A YEAR IN CLOWN TOWN), one rhyming picture book with Macmillan/Balzer + Bray (SALVADOR SNAKE: LOOKING FOR LOVE), and one cool board book that I guess I’m not supposed to talk about since it hasn’t been announced yet. They all come out in 2027, I think? I’m so excited, I can’t believe it. I’m pinching myself daily!

And I’m always grinding away at new stuff. You know, throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something will stick. Collections, picture books…I’m even trying a novel-in-verse, eek!

Thanks for having me on your blog, cuz! I still remember the day I joined Poets’ Garage and we realized we were related. It felt like the universe was saying that this children’s poetry thing might be the right path for me, after all. 🙂

Thank you, Suzy! And thank you poetry writers and lovers for reading our conversation. I look forward to visiting your blogs today. Please leave your links here: