Keila V. Dawson has partnered with fellow creatives Jeanette Bradley and Lindsay Metcalf to tell the stories of young activists through the power of poetry. No Voice Too Small, No World Too Big, and No Brain The Same feature kids and teens making a difference for our planet. Keila and her team picked a different poet to celebrate this extraordinary individuals and the results are incredibly moving. (And we learned so many new things!)

A poem may seem like a quiet way to express oneself, but in the hands of these talented writers, the poems in this series of books speak up in ways you won't forget any time soon.

Listen in to discover:

• Where the original idea for these poetry anthologies came from
• The influence her work as an educator, activist, and genealogist had on this project
• How they sold the first book on proposal
• The process used for matching poets to their subjects in each book
• How they ended up with different types of poems in each book
• The design of each page and it houses the poem, a sidebar of more biographical information, and a quote from each subject
• The types of backmatter included—from a glossary to types of poems to author bios
• Additional facts the illustrations provide
• How the sequels came to be
• What they hope kids get out of these books
• A peek at a poem in the newest book in the series
• How to be included in a poem anthology
• Poetry resources
• Poetry practice
• How Keila came to write a poem for the second book
• The difference between a poem and a picture book

Books mentioned in this episode*:

• No Voice Too Small edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley
• No World Too Big edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley
• No Brain The Same edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley
• King Cake Baby by Keila V. Dawson and Vernon Smith
• Yumbo Gumbo by Keila V. Dawson and Katie Crumpton
• Opening the Road by Keila V. Dawson and Alleanna Harris
• Coming in the future: How We Got Here: Conversation with United States History and Annbelle's Beignet Cafe, a sequel to Yumbo Gumbo
• The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld

Get 25% off Janet Wong's Poetry in Picture Books webinar HERE.

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*At no additional cost to you, 12 x 12 may earn a commission on books published through the links in this post. (Links go to Bookshop.org when available.)