New Children's Poet Laureate Announced: Mary Ann Hoberman

The Poetry Foundation has just announced that Mary Ann Hoberman will be the new U.S. Children's Poet Laureate.  The beloved and prolific author of more than 45 children's books, will succeed Jack Prelutsky--the nation's first Children's Poet laureate. The prestigious two-year post comes with a purse of $25,000.   Hoberman, who hails from New England and has lived there all her life, has been writing verses that embody many of the very best qualities of that region's poetic traditions: simplicity, economy, directness, and honesty.  Her poems continue to resonate for young readers even as the country has undergone great cultural changes from the fifties--when Hoberman first began writing--until today.  Like a stalwart New Englander she's remained true to her core approach to children's poetry, never getting thrown off-course by short-lived trends in kids lit.  Some of Hoberman's best known titles include The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems (1998), You Read to Me, I'll Read to You (2004), and A House is a House for Me (1978), for which she won a National Book Award.   But Hoberman isn't one to rest on her laurels, she's got a new book of poetry, All Kinds of Families, coming out in 2009.  --Lauren