 | From left to right:
Chisha Nwobilor, Ross Baldwin,
Elijah Phipps, Dekeidra Austin, Judith Thomson. photo: K. Kroboth
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Kids are natural authors in the sense that they are authorities on themselves and their feelings. Fifth-grade students at the University of Memphis Campus School have spent many weeks (and several Saturday mornings) honing their skills in the composition of original poems. The writing developed as part of a Junior League of Memphis grant received by Judith Thomson, who teaches at the School and has a passion for poetry. In fact, the project is called "Peddling Poetry" and its design is to send about 110 meaningful missives (poems, in the present case) to service men and women aboard an aircraft carrier deployed to the Middle East.
The poems touch on a wide range of subjects, such as lemonade, nationalism, peonies, music, and elements in nature. There is so much of the children in their writing, and the vocabulary and images in the poems are sophisticated and compelling. Mary
Larrick, the Campus School art teacher, helped the poets illustrate their work. Ms. Thomson offered this: "Once a child deals with the frustration of the blank page and commits himself as a writer by putting thoughts on paper in a certain way, he is hooked. He'll never forget what that feels like. It can cause a kid to glow from the inside out."
During May, 2005, poetry written by fifth-graders at the University of Memphis Campus School will be on display on the second floor of the Ned R. McWherter Library, University of Memphis Campus. The young poets will read aloud from their work in the rotunda of the Ned R. McWherter Library.
The campus community and the public in general are warmly invited to view the children's poetry and to hear the readings by the poets.
For more information please call Mr. Tom Mendina at 901-678-4310 or Ms. Klaudia Kroboth at 901-678-2209.
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