Celebrate National Poetry Month & Become A Book Spine Poet!

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidyuweb

April is a month absolutely bursting with celebrations! We frequently associate April with events like April Fools' Day, Earth Day, and the beginning of spring.  However, April also happens to be National Humor Month, International Guitar Month, & National Welding Month! 
Here at NCS, we are especially excited that April is also National Poetry Month! 


To acknowledge this month-long celebration of verse, the NCS Library is challenging everyone in our community to become book spine poets!

What in the world is book spine poetry?

 

Book spine poetry appeared in pop culture back in 1993 through American artist Nina Katchadourian’s 'Sorted Books' project in which she grouped books from various collections into clusters so that the titles on their spines could be read in from top to bottom as a sentence. The concept was further adapted by critic and writer Maria Popova who featured the idea of creating short poems from the spines of arranged book piles on her blog ‘Brain Pickings.’ 

Check out these examples of book spine poetry!

 

'Akron Stacks'-Sorted Books project by Nina Katchadourian

 

'The Spark of Love'-- BrainPickings.org by Maria Popova

If you'd like to look at further examples, check out this article on BookRiot.org or the galleries of book sprine poetry on Travis Jonker's blog 100 Scope Notes. 

 Interested in becoming a book spine poet? 

• Find some books!  You can use books from home, from a friend's home, from a public library, from the NCS Library, etc.
• Arrange the books into a stack so that the titles on the spines can be read from top to bottom as a short poetic sequence.  Arrange and rearrange books until you create YOUR poem!
• Snap a photo of your poem and email it to ncs.bkspinepoems@gmail.com.  Please include your name and your poem's title (if you wish to title it) in the email.
• Watch for your poem here on the blog and on the display screen in the NCS Library's display area!
• In May, students will vote for their favorite poems from the entries and the winners will receive exciting prizes!

We look forward to seeing your poetic book spine creations! 

Ms. Dickinson's Purple & Gold Pick of the Week: How To Say Goodbye In Robot by Natalie Standiford

Sometimes amid a flood of fantastic fantasy novels featuring dragons and superhuman abilities and heart-racing dystopian adventures full of thought-provoking doom & gloom, I crave a story grounded in our so-called 'real world.'  At the right moment, there's really nothing better than a solid piece of contemporary realistic fiction.  Natalie Standiford's lovely novel How To Say Goodbye In Robot goes beyond solid realistic fiction into the realm of brilliant stories.  Behind its quirky title and deceptively pink cover hides a raw and emotionally resonant story of two people searching for connection during that bizarre period bridging the end of high school and beginning of real life. 

When Beatrice started her senior year at a new school, she assumed she’d find friends among the many average, cheerful, and friendly girls she met on her first day. But alphabetic destiny pairs Beatrice up with the class loner Jonah—AKA Ghost Boy.  At first being assigned a locker and a seat beside the guy whose name has apparently become synonymous with 'weirdo' seems like a simple bit of bad luck.  But Bea soon discovers that she and Jonah have more in common than their ajoining positions in the class roster.

Bea & Jonah are destined to be friends. But their relationship is not going to be an average friendship, bound by shared gossip, parties, and hobbies. Bea & Jonah forge an intense connection based on secret truths, daring adventures, and late-night calls to the same old-time radio show.  As unconventional and undefined as their relationship might be, their connection is painfully, powerfully real.  It’s not quite romance—but it’s definitely love. The kind of love you never forget.

This lovely novel is both heart-warming and heart-wrenching and it stands out as one of few book that explores the tangled, consuming, wonderful, and painful realities of friendship.  I would especially recommend this novel to fans of The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and John Green's novels (especially Looking For Alaska). 

Check out Natalie Standiford's  How To Say Goodbye In Robot,  on display now in the library's fiction section!