PROJECT UPDATE: Morse Pond Students Welcome Poet Kwame Alexander
By Gene M. Marchand, Falmouth Enterprise
Newbery Award-winning author and poet Kwame Alexander fist-bumped and selfied his way through a crowd of excited 5th and 6th graders at the Morse Pond School in Falmouth last Tuesday, May 24, leading them in a spirited back-and-forth shouting match of nonsensical words before getting down to the serious business of inspiring the next generation.
His message to not give up was illustrated by the personal story of the repeated rejections he received from publishers on the way to finally deciding to self-publish his first book for middle school students before it was finally picked up by Houghton Mifflin.
After being told that the book, written in verse about a pair of brothers who play basketball, wouldn’t sell because girls aren’t interested in basketball and boys aren’t interested in poetry, “The Crossover” was awarded the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award in 2015. The book has since been released as a graphic novel and turned into a television series on Disney Plus.
Mr. Alexander has written more than a dozen books for young adults, ranging from picture books to novels. His new book for middle school readers, “The Door Of No Return,” will be released in September.
A charismatic speaker, Mr. Alexander told the students that “noes” are a part of life but that they don’t have to define you.
“Once all the noes come to your party, eat all your food and leave and go home, who’s left at the party?”
The audience of 11- and 12-year-olds deftly and loudly answered, “The yeses!”
“And how many yeses do you need?” “One!” “Begin by saying yes to yourself,” he advised.
When asked by one student which book of the many he’s written was Mr. Alexander’s favorite, the author explained that whatever book he’s currently working on is always his favorite. When asked if he had a favorite book that never got published, Mr. Alexander said he had a story idea about making a kale smoothie that he thought “was hilarious.”
The list of authors and poets who inspire him range from Mo Willems to Langston Hughes.
Mr. Alexander spoke about his love of poetry and spoken word, reciting the first poem he ever composed, written for his mom on Mother’s Day when he was 12 years old.
Mr. Alexander was surrounded on all sides by the students, who sat on the floor of the gymnasium rather than in the bleachers, making the whole presentation an interactive one for the youngsters, who were encouraged to shout out answers to questions and to finish rhyming patterns. “Say it like you mean it!” he extolled.
Mr. Alexander recited passages from his books in the sing-song style that is indicative of hip-hop and also engaged the students by asking and answering questions. At one point he made a question about his age into a math problem for the students (Mr. Alexander is 53 years old); in response to another question he asked the students to guess how tall they thought he was (Mr. Alexander is 6 feet, 4 inches tall).
Mr. Alexander had the students repeat his personal mantra several times in hopes that they would commit it to memory:
“I am the greatest. Not because I’m better than everyone, but because no one is better than me.”
The author was introduced to the students by school library teacher Elizabeth Abbott, who thanked the Falmouth Education Foundation for its help in bringing Mr. Alexander to the school.
