Author Study: Diane Siebert, Master of Poetry Presented by Jennifer K. Aune Author Study: Diane Siebert, Master of Poetry Presented by Jennifer K. Aune

All of Diane Siebert’s works were inspired by her life experiences. She grew up in Chicago, Illinois, where she cultivated her love for America’s “heartland”.

Ms. Siebert and her husband have traveled all over the United States and Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spent several years touring the country on her motorcycle. Her interest in various forms of transportation as well as the varying landforms and natural elements of the United States inspired many of her books.

Ms. Siebert likes to hike, run, and camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. She has lived near the mountains and the Mojave Desert. These locations inspired several of her books. Ms. Siebert currently resides in Oregon.

Diane Siebert’s Books Truck Song (1984) Mojave (1988) Heartland (1989) Train Song (1990) Sierra (1991) Plane Song (1993) Cave (2000) Mississippi (2001) Motorcycle Song (2002) Rhyolite (2003)

Diane Siebert’s Books Theme: Transportation Theme: Natural Resources Theme: Natural Features All of these are poetry books!

Would you like to visit a real ghost town??

MOJAVE

Classroom Activities  After reading the books on natural elements of the United States, students could conduct research projects on the various features and geographical regions of the country (deserts, mountains, plains, caves, rivers, minerals). This research could be presented by making posters, power points, writing reports, or making a class book (depending on the grade level of the students).  After reading the books about different forms of transportation, students could write a story about going on a family vacation. They would need to indicate which mode of transportation would be the best for their particular destination and give specific reasons why others would not work as well.  Because these books are all poems, reading them would be a great launch for a poetry unit. Students could write their own poems using the themes in Diane Siebert’s poetry or they could just use her books as models for using descriptive language.  Students could complete a language chart comparing and contrasting Diane Siebert’s books. Although there are many similarities, different types of transportation and geographical features are mentioned, as well as different types of wildlife.  These poems are great to read aloud. Students could each practice reading a few pages of selected texts aloud, and as a class, we could “perform” a few poems for other classes or even parents.  Diane Siebert’s books are full of figurative language, rich descriptions, rhyming words, details, and tons of other literary elements that could inspire writing lessons related to those topics.

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