NCTE Award for Poetry for Children

2000 Poetry Winner

X.J. Kennedy

X.J. Kennedy is the 12th winner of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. See the article by Daniel L. Darigan which appeared in Language Arts, Volume 78, Number 3 in January, 2001.  (PDF)

X.J. Kennedy's combination of nonsense and serious poetry appeals widely to both children and adults. He also writes poetry for novels and textbooks. His style has been described in seemingly contradictory ways as engaging, witty, chaotic, traditional, intelligent, experimental, obsured, and fun. Most of all, X.J. Kennedy has been credited with and admits to addressing his audiences—both adults and children—as intelligent, creative people who are a fine match for his wordplay.

X.J. Kennedy has won several prestigious honors for his poetry, including a Guggenheim fellowship, Shelley Memorial Award (shared with Mary Oliver), Golden Rose, an NEA grant, and the Bess Hokin Prize of Poetry magazine. He has been Phi Beta Kappa poet at Tufts, Brown, and Bates universities, and received honorary degrees from Lawrence University and Adelphi University. He won the Michael Braude Award for Light Verse given by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters to an English-speaking poet of any nation. He also won the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry from the University of the South and The Sewanee Review. The Texas Review Press has established an annual X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, and Paintbrush magazine (Spring 1999) devoted a 192-page special number to "The World of X.J. Kennedy."

In addition to the 2000 NCTE Poetry Award, X.J. Kennedy has received three other awards from NCTE for The Forgetful Wishing Well Poems for Young People; Brats; and Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry, an anthology X.J. Kennedy edited with his wife, author Dorothy M. Kennedy.

Visit the Kennedy's website at:  http://www.xjanddorothymkennedy.com/

Children's Books by X.J. Kennedy

One Winter Night in August and Other Nonsense Jingles.Illustrated by David McPhail. McElderry Books/Atheneum, 1975.

The Phantom Ice Cream Man: More Nonsense Verse. Illustrated by David McPhail. McElderry Books/Atheneum, 1979.

Did Adam Name the Vinegarroon? (verse). Illustrated by Heidi Johanna Selig. Godine, 1982.

Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry (with Dorothy M. Kennedy). Illustrated by Karen Ann Weinhaus. Little, Brown, 1982.

The Owlstone Crown (novel). Illustrated by Michele Chessare. McElderry Books/ Atheneum, 1983.

The Forgetful Wishing Well: Poems for Young People. Illustrated by Monica Incisa. McElderry Books/Atheneum, 1985.

Brats (comic verse). Illustrated by James Watts. McElderry Books/Atheneum, 1986.

Ghastlies, Goops and Pincushions: Nonsense Verse. Illustrated by Ron Barrett. McElderry Books/Macmillan, 1989.

Fresh Brats (comic verse). Illustrated by James Watts. McElderry Books/Macmillan, 1990.

The Kite That Braved Old Orchard Beach: Year-Round Poems for Young People. Illustrated by Marian Young. McElderry Books/Macmillan, 1991.

Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-me Book of Poems (with Dorothy M. Kennedy). Illustrated by Jane Dyer. Little, Brown, 1992.

The Beasts of Bethlehem (verse). Illustrated by Michael McCurdy. McElderry Books/Macmillan, 1993.

Drat These Brats! (comic verse). Illustrated by James Watts. McElderry Books/Macmillan, 1993.

Uncle Switch; Loony Limericks. Illustrated by John O'Brien. McElderry Books/ Simon & Schuster, 1997.

The Eagle as Wide as the World (novel). McElderry Books/ Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Elympics: Poems. Illustrated by Graham Percy. Philomel, 1999.