The Best of Today's Little Ditty: 2017-2018

Today’s Little Ditty is more than a children’s poetry blog, it’s a poetry playground. Each month, a lively community of writers, teachers, librarians, and poetry-appreciators gathers to take part in the Ditty of the Month Club (DMC). Writing to prompts by successful authors and editors, they participate for the camaraderie, and for the joy and craft of writing poetry.

In The Best of Today’s Little Ditty: 2017-2018, twelve “ditty” challenges by contemporary children’s authors, including Naomi Shihab Nye, Nikki Grimes, Jane Yolen, J. Patrick Lewis, Helen Frost, Julie Fogliano, and others, have inspired these 96 poems, deemed “best” by their peers. They range from lighthearted to thought-provoking and appeal to a wide audience, from children to adults. Join the fun at michellehbarnes.blogspot.com.

What people are saying about Today’s Little Ditty and the Ditty of the Month Club:

Today’s Little Ditty—such a humble name for what has become a powerful force in children’s poetry, offering poets a place to work and play together, stretching our muscles and perfecting our craft. This book is a gift to the children’s poetry community.

– Helen Frost, celebrated author of novels-in-poems and picture books for children

Almost four decades ago, Dear One Lee Bennett Hopkins asked: "Do you know what day tomorrow is?" Michelle Heidenrich Barnes answers in reply: “It can be a day for writing, inspired and informed by invitations offered and modeled by mentor poets.” As a secondary English teacher, I look forward to reading Today's Little Ditty online, and the anthologies that are created from these become an almanac for the room. I know the work within has been created by poets who write and this work is curated by one with a poet's heart.

– Paul W. Hankins, Silver Creek High School