The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets

The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets

Scoring a goal against your own team. Copying a classmate's schoolwork. Accepting a dare to jump down the stairs . . . and getting hurt. This engrossing poetry anthology explores making mistakes and learning from them. Twenty brave poets―Linda Sue Park, Margarita Engle, Allan Wolf, David Elliott, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Lacresha Berry, George Ella Lyon, Jaime Adoff, Vikram Madan, Kim Rogers, Douglas Florian, Tabatha Yeatts, Jorge Argueta, Jane Yolen, Charles Waters, JaNay Brown-Wood, Irene Latham, April Halprin Wayland, Darren Sardelli, and Naomi Shihab Nye―share real-life mistakes they made as young people . . . and what happened next. Edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, with brilliantly evocative illustrations by Mercè López, this is a book for all who are growing and discovering and still figuring out who we are. (Which is to say . . . all of us!) "The strength of this collection comes from the authors admitting their mistakes and going on to explain the value of the resulting learning opportunities. A gentle reminder of the stepping stones making up the path to growth, discovery, and creativity."―starred, Booklist "Dynamic mixed-media artwork from López ( Sylvie and the Wolf ) offers energetic visual support for each poem in an anthology packed with a broad spectrum of human emotion and experience."―starred, Publishers Weekly "The collection is an excellent resource for teaching self-acceptance and discussing mistakes or perfectionism. Reviewer Rating : 5"―Children's Literature "The poems themselves are narrative snapshots, sometimes rhyming, often in free verse, and rich in emotion and introspection. Illustrator López creates entire, emotive scenes with expressive faces, poses, and repeating motifs in the mixed-media art."― Horn Book Magazine "An engaging, emotionally honest collection of poetry that offers children a comforting glimpse of adults and their imperfections . . . This accessible, well-tuned collection of poetry will reassure and delight young readers in equal measure."― School Library Journal "Comforting reminders that nobody's perfect, infused with lessons large and small."― Kirkus Reviews Irene Latham is the author of more than a dozen current and forthcoming works of poetry, fiction, and picture books. Her work includes Charlotte Huck Honor Book and ALA Notable Children's Book  Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship (co-written with Charles Waters) and the Caldecott Honor Book The Cat Man of Aleppo (co-written by Karim Shamsi-Basha). In 2016 she won the ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award. Visit her at www.irenelatham.com. Charles Waters is a children's poet, author, anthologist and actor based in Georgia. His book Mascot (co-written with Traci Sorell) has received an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor and a Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor. His other books (co-written with Irene Latham) include: African Town (winner of the 2023 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction), Dictionary For A Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A―Z , Be A Bridge, and the Charlotte Huck Honor book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship . You can visit him at: www.charleswaterspoetry.com Mercè López is an artist and illustrator who lives in Barcelona, Spain. Her illustrated work includes  I Am Smoke  and  Big Problems Little Problems .