Today’s post is a little more than a twofer as I combine the bio poem with a bookish blog hop scheduled for the first week of April with other wonderful book bloggers and all the April month long challenges! Feel free to check out relevant sections of the post or the whole post. It is all fun!

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The Bio Poem Featuring the Bridgertons!!

So my poetic form for the letter B is the Bio poem. Just like with Ars Poetica, this is not technically a form since there is no rules or restraints for rhyme and rhythm. Instead, it is what the poem is about – a biography of a person (real or imaginary).

I went through a few iterations because I kept changing my mind about the person(s) I wanted to write the bio poem about, and not because I wanted to improve upon my poem 🙂 From Betty White and Barack Obama to Bheem (from the Pandavas in the epic Mahabharata) and Boba Fett (I watch it for Grogu; who am I kidding, I watch it for the Mandalorian!). I finally settled on the Bridgertons as a family (who can blame me, I love the books and have read the series a few times over and now am binge-watching season 2).

About the Bio Poem

The Bio poem, or biography poem, is an invented form most likely created as a classroom teaching tool. It is a summarized description of a fictional or famous person in a list format. The bio poem does not have any restrictions of rhyme or meter, which are left to the poet, and follows a predictable pattern. I saw various different templates of this poem (similar yet a little different from each other) and have linked or added them below; you can pick any one that fits your purposes best.

It is ideal as an ice-breaker for first days of school for younger students (and even older) by allowing them to introduce themselves through the Bio poem (in this case, an Autobio poem!). These poems can be used to talk about someone real or fictional, be biographical or autobiographical, and also be an additional fun exercise while researching important personalities.

The Bio Poem: Templates and Samples for Inspiration

• Check out this template of eleven lines (the most popular one, looks like) at PoetsCollective
• ThoughtCo. includes three wonderful examples of the Bio poem here
• Unique Teaching Resource’s template for an All About Me poem is perfect for young students for an introduction activity on the first day of school
• More Bio templates for students here

Example Template

You can adapt this theme to suit your purposes. Most bio poems seem to follow a similar format of about eleven lines, rhymed or unrhymed, metered or not, with first name for line one and last name for the last line, and various personality traits and descriptors contained within.

L1: The person/character’s first name
L2: Four words that describe the character or person
L3: Brother or sister of…
L4: Lover of…(three ideas or people)
L5: Who feels…(three ideas)
L6: Who needs…(three ideas)
L7: Who gives…(three ideas)
L8: Who fears…(three ideas)
L9: Who would like to see…
L10: Resident of
L11: His or her last name

My Bio Poem

I took some liberties with the basic format to fit the subject of my poem!

The Bridgertons
Bridgertons
Darlings of the Ton
Attractive, Beloved, Charming, Delightful,
Eight siblings named from A through H, (9 would have been a house too full?)
Raised by a mom: strong, independent, wise
Who feel marrying for love is the best prize
Whose talents range from pall-mall to art
Who hold each other close to their hearts
Who believe in family, friendships, forever, et al
Live in London, and well,
Also are the Bridgertons of Aubrey Hall
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Basho’s Haiku Journeys

Book Info

My Thoughts

While I did not intend for this to happen, Basho’s Haiku Journeys is kind of a bio poem of sorts; describing the five great journeys that the poet Basho undertook in his life. He explored Japan and wrote about his travels extensively, and is well known today as a true haiku maestro as well as for his travelogues.

This book shows its readers the hows, whys, whens, and wheres of his travels exclusively through haiku. I love the concept, the haiku range from sublime to humorous to deeply reflective, and the artwork is stunning and detailed. A book that is sure to inspire readers to learn more about Basho, his journeys, the places he traveled to, and of course, to write and read more haiku themselves.

In Summary

A beautiful book indeed, in words and artwork!

Get it here

Time Traveling in Blog Hops

The Bookish Blog Hops gang is back with a new hop running from 1st -7th April. Yesterday’s stop featured books with food on the cover and you can check it out at Jo Linsdell’s blog here. Today, we are featuring books containing time travel.

Check out this interesting article from NASA: Is Time Travel Possible? It offers fascinating things to consider and of course cool facts as well to chew on, and wonder if you might have possibly traveled in time already. Well, as the article says, we all do travel in time all the day every day at the general and similar rate of one second per second…

So until we can do all those fascinating things that happen in Back to the Future or The Outlander, let us savor each of those seconds and minutes that we travel together.

My Selection

Louisa Smith @ Epic Book Society

The Midnight Library is one of the most inspiring books I have read this year. It tells the story of Nora, a woman who has gone through it all – losing her job, her brother, her cat. It all got a bit too much for Nora, so she decides to take her own life. She ends up in The Midnight Library, where she has the chance to do everything again. She then journey’s into different lives that she could have lived, sometimes back in time, sometimes forward in time, sometimes the same time. Everytime she feels dissatisfied with her new life, she is sent back to the library to find a new life. 

Matt Haig writes with profound philosophy that makes you think of life in a different way. As you follow Nora through her journey, it’s hard not to reflect on your own life and to think about your own regrets, and how things might have been different if you didn’t have them.

Though it has some dark underlying connotations, the overall message is clear – that regrets are really just goals you haven’t completed yet, and no matter what happens in life, you will always find something to be disappointed in, so just live your life the way you want to. If you’re someone who wants to think more positively about the world and change your mindset, this book will enlighten you.

Leslie Conzatti @ The Upstream Writer

I’m very excited to talk about a time-travel book in particular that I loved–in fact, there’s a whole series! The Time Tree Chronicles by Lisa Rae Morris follows two characters from vastly different time periods. In the modern day, we meet Iris, a twentysomething college graduate who is trying to find a decent and steady job. She answers an ad for a nursing home event coordinator, and meets the eccentric residents there, ranging from sweet and docile to rambunctious and surly. Then it travels back to the mid-eighteenth century Scotland, where Angus is a young carpenter looking to make something special for the lord of the manor who hired him for his services, hoping that his work would be recognized and he’d be able to earn enough money to pay his father’s debts and keep his mother from losing their home.

The two characters’ paths cross in a most unexpected and time-twisty way, and while Angus gets more than he bargained for due to a branch from a tree possessing supernatural properties, Iris is plunged into the intrigue of hidden identities, secret societies, and impossible situations when one of the residents turns out to be more than he seems. 

I’ve only read the first book but I adored it, and I own the entire trilogy and I can’t wait to read them all! It’s good, clean, delightful time-travel, for certain!

Becki Svare @ A Book Lover’s Adventures 

This one is for all the Jane Austen fans out there. I read this book a couple of years ago. It was so fun to read about Jane Austen in a completely different way. If you’ve ever wanted to meet Jane Austen, wonder what her life may have been like, or wonder why she died so early you’ll enjoy this book!

Summary

London, 1815: Two travelers—Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane—arrive in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money. Turned away at a nearby inn, they are forced to travel by coach all night to London. They are not what they seem, but rather colleagues who have come back in time from a technologically advanced future, posing as wealthy West Indies planters—a doctor and his spinster sister. While Rachel and Liam aren’t the first team from the future to “go back,” their mission is by far the most audacious: meet, befriend, and steal from Jane Austen herself.

Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, disaster-relief doctor Rachel and actor-turned-scholar Liam have little in common besides the extraordinary circumstances they find themselves in. Circumstances that call for Rachel to stifle her independent nature and let Liam take the lead as they infiltrate Austen’s circle via her favorite brother, Henry.

But diagnosing Jane’s fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the continuous convolutions of living a lie. While her friendship with Jane deepens and her relationship with Liam grows complicated, Rachel fights to reconcile the woman she is with the proper lady nineteenth-century society expects her to be. As their portal to the future prepares to close, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history intact and exactly as they found it…however heartbreaking that may prove.

Kriti @ Armed with A Book

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I would recommend checking out Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald. Time After Time is a touching tale about a girl stuck in time. Nora Lansing died in an accident at Grand Central station in the 1920s but something about the station and Manhattan seems to bring her back. She meets and falls in love with a leverman at the station named Joe. What follows is a poignant yet heartwarming story about love that transcends time, set in the backdrop of the Second World War and the rustic and amazing world of Grand Central station.

Why I Loved It

I enjoyed this book for many reasons. One of them was Nora herself. As a girl from the 1920s, after the Great War, her perspective allows the reader to contrast the role and attitudes of young women from 1920s to the end of the 1940s. The love for travel and art is deeply ingrained into this book.

Nora is an ambitious young woman and her eye for natural beauty and keen observations helps depict a rich world. She may not be able to go far but she takes full advantage of the place she inhabits. To me, she symbolises passion, the pursuit to live with freedom even if it is within some constraints. Her love for travel and art and her unique situation allows her to connect with Joe in an emotional manner in the last part of the book that I don’t think he would ever completely understand, having always had the choice to live and do what he pleases.

Joe is a loving character. I enjoyed the relationships around him in his roles as a brother, brother-in-law, uncle and lover. Since time for Joe moves like it does for everyone else, I learned a lot through his perspective of the story. The struggles of living through the Great Depression, the tug of war around whether America was going to be able to enter the Second World War, the aftermath of Pearl Harbour, the responsibilities of taking care of family, picking up the pieces and rebuilding life when the war was over. I loved reading about the changes that happen to Grand Central through both the characters, particularly through Nora’s multi-decade experience.

Nora loves Joe dearly for who he is and he loves her because she is unique, kind and refreshing. What a beautiful tale with a spark of life that is unforgettable! I will reread this book time after time.

Check it out on Goodreads; emotions all the way through!

Valerie Lester @ Cats Luv Coffee  | Twitter

Can we really talk about time travel without mentioning Outlander? I just finished Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone. Boy, this book has polarized readers but it’s too easy of an answer to choose as my book. 

Instead, I’m picking Only a Monster by Vannesa Len. Sixteen-year-old Joan is sent to London to her mother’s family. Girl falls for cute boy, cute boy is a monster hunter, girl’s family are monsters. Wait, that’s not quite how that goes, is it? I know, I know, you’re thinking, yeah that’s great, but where’s the time travel? It comes about in a very unexpected way, but you’ll have to read it to find out more! 

Read the blurb and peep the gorgeous cover on Goodreads.

Now It Is Your Turn

Let me know what you would pick for this prompt – a book featuring or about time travel – and I can add it here! If you want to join in on the fun of the bookish blog hop in the next round, check out our FB group here. And do join us each day as we continue this blog hop.

• 1st A book with food in the title
• 2nd A book that contains time travel (here)
• 3rd A book by or about a political figure (Robin )
• 4th A “how-to” book (Becki Svare @ www.abookloversadventures.com)
• 5th A book set in the past (Leslie Conzatti @ www.upstreamwriter.blogspot.com)
• 6th A book you haven’t read yet by an author you love (Valerie @ Cats Luv Coffee Www.catsluvcoffee.com)
• 7th A book with non-human characters (Louisa @ Epic Book Society Www.epicbooksociety.com)

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, as always, I look forward to your comments and thoughts on this post. Who would your bio poem feature? And what is your favorite time travel book? Also, have you tried writing haiku before? Or reading them? Either way, don’t forget to check out the featured book. It is worth a read!

Previous posts for this challenge are in links below.

Day 0 Day 1 – A

Linking up to BlogChatterA2Z, Blogging from A-to-Z April Challenge, NaPoWriMo, and the Ultimate Blog Challenge