Dear Carol Diggory Shields,

Congratulations on winning The Tinkerbell Award for Excellence in Children's Poetry. Although this is not a nationally recognized award, this is a very important award in my Language and Literacy Education class. My name is Katie Boal and I am a student at a Penn State Altoona. For my class, we had to create an award on any topic of our choice and then our classmates nominated books for us to read that were relevant to our award topic. From these books, we had to select one which we thought represented our award the best. One of my classmates nominated Almost Late to School for my award, which you have received. The criterion for my award is as follows:

"The Tinkerbell Award for Excellence in Children's Poetry is about books that contain stories written through the use of poems. Poetry is not commonly used in classrooms and maintains a negative connotation among children of all ages because it requires the reader to think outside of the box and acquire an interpretation of their own. Children should not think of poetry as boring, but as an exploration into a world of emotions and feelings that bring sounds of rain or laughter flooding onto a page of words. This award acknowledges books which include poetry that entice children's interest and allows the reader to make their own interpretation of the text furthering their growth as a reader. Books nominated for this award should be creative picture books of any genre, but allow the reader to understand poetry and the emotions it represents. The selection should be geared towards children age seven until twelve and as previously recognized, be picture books only."

I chose this book because I feet it allows children to look at poetry as entertaining and not boring. As a future educator, there are numerous ways to use this book as a learning tool to engage the readers in the lesson being taught. Children will look at this book and enjoy the humor within the poems. I think it is important for them to understand that it is okay to make fun of school and will give the students ideas for their own poems to create. There are also numerous kinds of poems within the book, which show children that poems can be what they want them to be. Thank you for creating such a wonderful book and congratulations once again!

Sincerely,

Katie Boal

The Tinkerbell Award for Excellence in Children's Poetry is about books that contain stories written through the use of poems. Poetry is not commonly used in classrooms and maintains a negative connotation among children of all ages because it requires the reader to think outside of the box and acquire an interpretation of their own. Children should not think of poetry as boring, but as an exploration into a world of emotions and feelings that bring sounds of rain or laughter flooding onto a page of words. On page seventy-four of Interpreting Literature with Children, Shelby Wolf states that poetry is "known for rhythm, rhyme, structured sound patterns, figurative language, and even shapes that deliver evocative images and emotional intensity in a highly compact form." This award acknowledges books which include poetry that entices children's interest in poetry and allows the reader to make their own interpretation of the text furthering their growth as a reader. Books nominated for this award should be creative picture books of any genre, but allow the reader to understand poetry and the emotions it represents. The selection should be geared towards children age seven until twelve and as previously recognized, be picture books only. Please submit nominations by February 19th, 2008. Thank you.