In Paul B. Janeczko’s latest anthology, 50 poems explore an equal number of objects from Rumi’s “just-finishing” candle to William Carlos Williams’s red wheelbarrow. Filled with expressive full-page and spot art watercolor-and-ink illustrations by the inimitable Chris Raschka, the book takes readers on a tour through 17 centuries of poetic form through the lens of these everyday items. Divided into nine sections representing the major literary periods upon which most scholars agree, The Death of the Hat (Candlewick, 2015; Gr 4 Up) offers children a means of examining historical and political change, as well as shifts in language and culture, while introducing some of the greatest poets of all time. Eloise Greenfield’s “Things” ("Went to the kitchen/Lay down on the floor/ Made me a poem....") opens this anthology. Why did you choose that poem—among what I’m sure are many personal favorites—to launch this work? It was the perfect poem to open the book. When I create an anthology, I put the first and last poems in place first. They bookend everything that comes in between. In this case, I ended with Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Famous,” a lovely poem about how we take some things for granted. How would you like young readers to experience and use this book? Most of all, I hope readers find some poems that they like enough to share with friends and family. Poetry is a sharing. My book is a sharing of the work of many poets, so I hope that readers, young and not, continue that. Do you think there’s a “best” age to introduce poetry? Not really. Because poetry is meant to be heard, as soon as a child can listen, someone should begin reading poetry to him or her. Having said that, we all know that some poems are more challenging than others. For the most part, the teachers and librarians that I’ve worked with have a good sense of which poems are appropriate for which age. I always want some of the poems to be a reach for readers…to challenge them. Because of the nature of this collection, it probably has more of those poems than some of my other anthologies. What’s your favorite…no, no, I won’t ask you for your favorite poem! That would be too cruel. What’s your favorite era? I’m quite fond of contemporary poems, and I was able to include some of my favorites: Pablo Neruda, Mary Oliver, Ted Kooser, Billy Collins, Naomi Shihab Nye. As far as an era goes, I do like the Victorian period, with the likes of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, and my favorite—Walt Whitman. Do you keep a poem in your pocket? Usually not. However, I do keep a book of poems in my backpack (currently: Billy Collins), another on my bedside table (currently: Robert Frost), and another where I do my early-morning reading (currently: Mary Oliver). And I do make a practice of sticking a poem in nearly everything that I mail: electric bill, articles to friends, and thank-you notes. And on each envelope I slap a sticker: Read a poem today. Were there any poems that you wanted to include in this anthology that you couldn’t for whatever reason? That is always the case. Always. But Richard Jackson, the first editor with whom I worked on my young adult anthologies, told me, “Don’t worry about the poems you left out. Concentrate on the ones you include in the collection. Maybe you’ll find a place for the others in the next book.” It was great advice—and I’ve followed it ever since.

In your introduction, you mention that you have a personal collection of more than 1,500 poetry books and four file cabinets full of individual poems. Have you heard of a “shelfie”? That’s when book nerds like us take a photo in front of our favorite shelves of books. Would you be willing to share a shelfie with our readers?

 

Paul B. Janeczko's shelfie