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Copyright © 2004 by the National Council of …

12/2/2003 4:05 PM Page 254. PROFILE A POEM IS A HOUSE FOR WORDS: NCTE PROFILES MARY ANN HOBERMAN. Shirley B. Ernst and Amy A. McClure 254. Mary Ann Hoberman is the 13th winner of the presti- that led to her selection by the Committee for the NCTE. Profile gious NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. While some might not consider the number 13 to be Although Mary Ann was born in Stamford, Connecticut, auspicious, when we called to tell Mary Ann of her se- her father changed jobs often, and so the family moved lection as the 2003 award winner, she was delighted to to New York, New Jersey, and then to New Haven, Con- become part of such an august group of poets.

Mary Ann Hoberman is the 13th winner of the presti-gious NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. While some might not consider the number 13 to be

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1 12/2/2003 4:05 PM Page 254. PROFILE A POEM IS A HOUSE FOR WORDS: NCTE PROFILES MARY ANN HOBERMAN. Shirley B. Ernst and Amy A. McClure 254. Mary Ann Hoberman is the 13th winner of the presti- that led to her selection by the Committee for the NCTE. Profile gious NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. While some might not consider the number 13 to be Although Mary Ann was born in Stamford, Connecticut, auspicious, when we called to tell Mary Ann of her se- her father changed jobs often, and so the family moved lection as the 2003 award winner, she was delighted to to New York, New Jersey, and then to New Haven, Con- become part of such an august group of poets.

2 Necticut. When she was five, they retuned to Stamford Mary Ann has published over 30 children's books, where her family still lives. She has lived in Greenwich, mostly in rhyme. Some are collections of verse while Connecticut for the past 45 years. others are picture books or picture book editions of On a mild January day, we drove to Greenwich where single rhymes. Her poems ring with the sounds and Mary Ann lives with her husband, Norman, and their rhythms of children's everyday lives while also giving two dogs, Pico and Maria. When Mary Ann gave us the fresh insights into the world.

3 She draws from her per- directions, she said we couldn't miss the house the only sonal childhood memories as well as the experiences of contemporary house on the street. What she didn't say her own children to inform her work and to ensure that until our arrival was that Norman had designed their her images are truly from children's perspectives. home and that it is a haven for the various sculptures, One of Mary Ann's most well-known and well-loved ceramics, and other art forms that he is either working books is A House Is a House for Me (1978). Winner of the on or has completed.

4 The garden includes the stone National Book Award, this book uses repetitive rhythm walls so prevalent in New England and was designed and phrasing along with a consistent rhyme scheme to and built by Norman, along with a pond and a teahouse. describe all kinds of houses in creative ways, including a Their four children enjoyed playing there while growing glove is a home for a hand, a husk is a home for an ear up, and now they, along with five grandchildren, jour- of corn and a pen is a house for ink. The book contin- ney from their New York City homes for visits.

5 It is easy ues to be quite popular with young children, generating to see the match between Mary Ann's home environ- much talk as they listen to the musical text and pour over ment and the textural sensations in her poems. the pictures, often inventing new homes. Parents tell how Mary Ann says that she has always been a storyteller. the book was so loved in their families that it was one As a child, she made up stories for her younger brother of the few they didn't discard when their children grew up. and an imaginary playmate named Billy. She has Young readers love to hear the descriptions of different always loved books.

6 Growing up in the Depression, she kinds of houses for a variety of animal inhabitants had few books in her home and so her favorite child- (1978, excerpt): hood excursion was to the Stamford's public library, a place that had an aura of rich, ripe sweetness, of dark A hill is a house for an ant, an ant. juicy savor for her. The sidewalk running from home A hive is a house for a bee. to the library along Broad Street was literally my life- A hole is a house for a mole or a mouse. And a house is a house for me! line, nourishing my mind and spirit, stimulating my imagination, leading me directly to my life's calling.

7 All We might think, however, of adding a line to this poem of those books that I carried back and forth every describing another kind of house. Mary Ann, after all, morning, that I read and often reread and sometimes builds poems, and a very fitting addition to her list of eventually knew by heart, were written by authors. An- houses might be a poem is a house for a thought and other magical word. When I grew up, I would be one for playing with words. Playing with words is, indeed, too! The children's librarian in Stamford, who was a what she does, and it is her skill and ability at wordplay wonderful storyteller, was a major influence on her love Language Arts, Vol.

8 81 No. 3, January 2004. Copyright 2004 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. 12/2/2003 4:05 PM Page 255. of books. This childhood spent devouring and cherish- them off to Little, Brown Publishers. Following the accep- ing books certainly influenced her poetry. tance and publication of this volume, she began writing Mary Ann has other detailed memories of childhood. She for children in earnest. remembers having non-structured time, except for her Mary Ann doesn't typically set aside a specific time piano lessons, that allowed her opportunities to play and every day to write.

9 Rather, she creates many of her to imagine. She played with her dolls, ran an animal hos- poems as she's walking or driving. A line will just come pital, and invented games. And when she began to make to me and that starts the pearl in the oyster (1993, her own little books and newspapers, her father got her a p. 52). She also doesn't compose on the computer, using child's printing press. Later on, she worked on the high 255. it only to type the finished product. Rather, she uses a school newspaper and was editor of the yearbook. fountain pen and a yellow legal pad because these mate- rials stimulate the creative juices that have resulted in Profile Mary Ann also remembers the influence of her mother's two brothers.

10 One was a musician and the other, Uncle many well-crafted poetry collections for children. Phil, went to Yale Among these collections is Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, and talked to her Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems (1991), an inclu- about books. He sive celebration of family diversity illustrated by Marylin was a major con- Hafner. From the first poem, What Is a Family? which tributor to her love explores all sorts of family configurations, to the last of books and words, poem, Our Family Comes from Around the World, this and she still has collection highlights family interactions that resonate one of the books he with children.


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