Module 5 - Sidman Poetry

Photo Source:  Barnes and Noble Website. 2011.  www.barnesandnoble.com  (accessed March 25, 2011).

Summary: This Joyce Sidman book of poetry was written in 2007.  The name alone describes the book: This is just to say: Poems of apology and forgiveness. I must admit the book was a little confusing at first because it states in the Introduction that it is a book of poems written by children of the Florence Scribner School.  The Introduction is written by a student, Anthony K., who describes himself as “editor” and explains how the first part of the book is a collection of poems written by the students wherein the students apologize for various transgressions.  The second part of the book is the responses to those poems from the person to whom they were written.  The Introduction is so convincing that I had to re-examine the title page because I thought perhaps this was a collection of poems put together by Ms. Sidman.  Ultimately I realized that Ms. Sidman was writing these poems as fictional characters. 

Quality:  One is immediately drawn into the life of these students writing the poem.  It is easy to believe they are a group of elementary students who are apologizing for various misdeeds.  The words they use in their apology poems are easy to understand and very “childlike”.  The topics of the poems are very much what school children might be apologizing for.  For example:

This is Just to Say (To Mrs. Garcia in the office; by Thomas)

I have stolen

the jelly doughnuts

that were in

the teachers’ lounge

and which

you were probably

saving for teachers

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so gloppy

too bad

the powdered sugar

spilled all over my shirt

and gave me

away

Appeal:  This book will appeal to children of all ages.  It touches upon some funny topics (like the donut stealing mentioned above) but also on some very serious subjects that students deal with.  For example, “Not Really” and “A Waste of Heart” deal with boy-girl relationships.  Actually, these poems are not gender specific, which I think is a positive.  I refer to them as boy-girl relationships because that is a shortened way to describe the content of these poems.  The poems could actually be appealing to students in same sex relationships.  There is also the poem “It Was Quiet” which is about the death of a pet.  The response to this poem, “Losing Einstein” is a touching response from an adult to a child about the feelings of losing a pet.  These would be wonderful poems for a counselor to read to a student during a time of hurt. There are also apology poems and response poems between siblings and the child and parent.

 Use: As mentioned above, I think this book would be a terrific one for a counselor to keep handy.  Many of the poems deal with real life situations and sometimes a short poem showing a student he or she is not alone might be helpful. There is also a “pantoum” poem in this book.  That is a poem where the 2nd and 4th line of the first stanza becomes the 1st and 3rd line of the next stanza.  I had never seen this type of poem and it could be used as an example for students to try this kind of poetry writing.  Here is a short example from the poem:

Spelling Bomb (by Anthony to his mother) - First 3 of 5 stanzas

I can’t believe I lost

I know I disappointed you

Do you really think I don’t care?

I know how important it is to win.

I know I disappointed you;

I saw it in your face when I misspelled.

I know how important it is to win;

I studied hours and hours.

I saw it in your face when I misspelled.

I saw you turn away from me.

Even though I study hours and hours.

I never seem to be your champion.

This book should definitely been in everyone’s collection.

References:

Sidman, Joyce. 2007. This is just to say: Poems of apology and forgiveness. Ill. Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 978-0-618-61680-0

Module #5 - Hopkins Award Winner

Photo Source:  Powell Books Website. http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781590784402-0 (accessed March 25, 2011).

Summary:  This book is the most powerful book I have read this semester. I can certainly see why it won the 2008 Hopkins Award for Poetry, an award given to the most outstanding new book in children’s poetry published the previous calendar year (Vardell Lecture Notes, 2011).  It is a short but succinct free verse poetry book told from the perspective of a ten year old girl who, during 1963, was arrested for marching in a civil rights protest and who witnessed the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama and the death of four young black girls at the hands of southern racists.

Quality: The book is printed in grayish, sepia tone color.  The photographs included are of life as it existed in 1963.  The photographs are real and there is adequate citation to the photos at the back of the book. There is also an Author’s note that gives historical reference information about the actual events that are depicted in the book. The vocabulary used in the book is easily understandable by children ages 5th grade and above.  I especially like that the author incorporated a memorial, of sorts, to the four girls killed in the bombing. It simply adds to the quality of the book by identifying real people who were part of this horrible event.

Appeal: This book will appeal to anyone who is old enough to understand the circumstances of the Civil Rights movement.  The older and more knowledgeable a reader is about this time in our history, the more appealing this book will be. 

Use: This book begs to be used in the teaching of the Civil Rights movement.  Any social studies teacher should have a copy of this book in his or her room.  This book does not need anything special.  It simply needs to be read, out loud, to students in a voice that reflects the solemnity of the events described within.  An extension activity could be to have students to image themselves living during this time period.  They could write letters to say good-bye to the girls killed in the bombing.  They could write letters to those responsible for the bombing expressing their outrage at the events that occurred.  They could write a letter to the Birmingham newspaper expressing their views.  The options for extended writing are limitless, it seems.  For example, from the following excerpt, students could make a diary entry as if they were a child being kept indoors on the evening of September 15, 1963:

By evening, stoning, shootings, and fires broke out.

Keep our children inside, the police warned.

I wondered if I could ever play outside again.

I prayed myself to sleep that night.

Please protect my family, Lord.

God, give four angels wings.

I do think the use of the book is more limited in the elementary school and would recommend it more for the middle and high school age group.

References:

Vardell, Sylvia. 2011. TWU LS 5663 "Evaluating Poetry" Lecture Notes.

Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2007. Birmingham, 1963. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong. ISBN: 978-1-59078-440-2.

Module 4 - Poetry and Science

Photo Source:  Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/ (accessed March 20, 2011).

Summary & Quality:  This book of science riddles is one that children will love and teachers will find useful for the introduction of science topics.  It has a Table of Contents in the front and “Notes” in the back.  The Table of Contents simply lists the titles of the riddles and would be much more helpful to teachers if it also listed which topic the poem relates to.  For example, the riddle Buggety Buggety Boo!” is a riddle about germs, not insects.  The “Notes” provide both teachers and students with scientific information about some of the riddles.  For example, “Gee!” is about gravity and the “Notes” gives a definition of gravity.

Appeal: The words are simple and the illustrations are colorful which makes this book appealing to children. Additionally, the illustrations provide visual images of scientific concepts that might be difficult for students to understand.  For example, “Push Me, Pull Me” is a riddle about magnets, describing the pushing and pulling that occurs between magnets and their polar ends.  The pictures are of magnet people, one boy and one girl, who finally come together when they figure out they must attach their opposite poles.

One of my favorites is:

Shhhhhhhhhh!

I am expressible

only by decibel:

10 is a whisper,

30 is crisper,

60, in relation,

Is normal conversation.

80 is traffic and telephones.

120? The Rolling Stones

130 is a cannon Shot!

150 is … what?!

Answer:  Sound

Use:  The riddles in this book are all descriptive poems.  This book would be a good example to students of how to write riddles about scientific topics (or any other topic).  Students could write their own riddles and share them with other students.  Illustrations could also be added to help explain difficult concepts.

References:

Lewis, J. Patrick. 2004. Scien-trickery. Ill. Frank Remkiewicz. Orlando, FL.: Harcourt.

Module 4 - Biographical Poetry

Photo Source:  Amazon. www.amazon.com (accessed March 16, 2011).

Summary: This is one of the most amazing books I have read in any of my classes at TWU.  I am so glad I was exposed to this unique piece of literature. I am not alone in thinking it is awesome.  This book was a 2002 Newberry Medal Honor Book and was a 2002 Coretta Scott King Award Honor book.  The book begins to explain Carver’s life when he is an infant (1864) and ends when he is an infirm, old man (1943).  I admit to not knowing much about George W. Carver’s life but this book teaches me a lot.  For example, he had a brother named Jim, he believed in God and reincarnation, his nickname was Doc, and much, much more.

One very helpful aspect of the book is the photographs that often appear at the end of a poem.  These photographs provide a timeline of the events of George W. Carver’s life.  Additionally, they provide information to help clarify a poem which might otherwise not make sense to someone unfamiliar with Mr. Carver’s life.

Quality: The book consists of poems that are free verse, for the most part.  There is not a lot of rhythm or beat to the poems but such is not necessary for the enjoyment of this book.  I assume most of these poems were stand alone poems when originally published but Ms. Nelson has woven the poems together in such a way I have a hard time imagining the poems on their own. All of the poems are of great quality with vocabulary that can be easily understood.  As an overall book, I was very impressed with the poem quality for children from grades 4 and up.  I was, however, disappointed that one particular poem, “Goliath”, was included in the book.  The addition of this poem makes it difficult, if not impossible, to recommend this book to younger children.  This poem vividly describes the lynching of a black man where his penis is cut off and stuffed into his mouth. This creates a mental image that is simply too much for young children, in my opinion.

I wish there had been more information about each of the poems and how the concept of this book came about.  It is hard to determine if this is merely a compilation of poems by Ms. Nelson or if it is a partial compilation with original poems written to “fill in the blanks” to create a full biography. There is a list of poems in the back of the book along with a statement of when various poems were first published.  From this, I can determine that 36 of the 59 poems in the book were previously published.  One would assume that any of the poems not previously published are written by Ms. Nelson but some of the poems indicate that the author might be someone else.  I wish Ms. Nelson had written a preface to the book to explain more about the origin of the poems and which, if any, of the poems are written by her. This would be the one thing that could have made this great book even greater.

Appeal: This book will appeal to students who are reluctant readers in the same way verse novels appeal to these students.  There is a lot of white space so it will appear to students to be easier reading.  It provides a lot of information in a limited amount of words.  It will appeal to teachers because it provides so much more information about George Washington Carver than the typical biography that seems to focus only on his work with peanuts.  This book provides the true picture of the man as well as those around him.  One poem, “My People”, gives the reader a good visual description of George Washington Carver.  It also tells the reader how others felt about him and the prejudice that he must have lived with.  Here is only the first portion of the poem.  It is my favorite in the book.

My People

Strutting around here acting all humble,

when everybody knows

he’s the only one here

got a master’s degree

from a white man’s college.

Everybody knows his salary

is double ours. He’s got two singles

in Rockefeller Hall; the rest of us

bachelors share doubles. The extra room

is for his “collections.”

A pile of you-know-what,

if you ask me.

All that face politeness, that white accent.

He thinks he’s better than us.

Wears those mismatched suits every day, too:

white men’s castoffs with the sleeves too short,

the trousers all bagged out at the knees.

Use: In addition to using this book for a biography report, a teacher could use this book during any units on subjects such as slavery, civil rights, black history month, and famous American scientists.

• An entire class could do choral reading of the entire book with students being given one or two poems each to read aloud.  A class discussion could follow many of these readings.
• Students could follow each reading but placing pins on the map where certain events took place.
• Students could do additional research about various topics mentioned in the poems, such as research into the Ku Klux Klan, Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee Airment, Chicago’s World Fair, and other things
• It would be a great challenge for high school students to create a book similar.  They could write a book of poems describing their own lives.  They could do interviews with grandparents or other individuals and write a poetry book describing the lives of those individuals.  For the really bright and bold, students could attempt to find other poetry to be woven together to tell the biographical story of some historical figure.

References:

American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/emiert/cskbookawards/recipients.cfm (accessed March 18, 2011).

Nelson, Marilyn. 2001.Carver: a life in poems. Ashville, NC: Front Street. ISBN: 1-886910-53-7.

Module 4 - Poetry and Social Studies

Photo Source:  Scanned image of cover of A revolutionary field trip: poems of Colonial America.

Summary: This is a wonderfully written and illustrated book for younger students learning about Colonial America.  It takes students on a field trip with a teacher, Mrs. Brown.  While reading this book, I was reminded of field trips I have actually taken to historical sites where the people are dressed in period clothing and are recreating the daily lives of people who lived during that period of time.  Students who have never been on that type of field trip will miss that connection with previous events in their lives but the book will be meaningful to them nonetheless.

The book begins with a table of contents that is very helpful for a teacher looking for one or two poems about specific events in colonial life.  The first poem, “The Revolutionary Mrs. Brown”, lays the foundation of the book; that is, the idea that the students in the book are going on a field trip with their teacher, Mrs. Brown.  The remainder of the book does not appear to have any sort of special order to it, with the exception of the last poem, “History”.  The poems are simply ones that delve into the daily lives of people living during the early part of our American history. “History” wraps it all up in the last line by stating in the words of a student “I’m ready to go back again!”. 

A wonderful feature of the book, especially when thinking of this as a book that will support the curriculum, is the glossary at the back of the book.  It contains over 75 definitions for words used in the book.  The glossary will be an invaluable tool for students using this book.  Many of the words are unknown to students.  For example, “scuppernongs” is native grapes.  Who knew?

Quality: All of the poems have a good rhythm to them that children will like.  For the poems that rhyme, the rhymes seem natural, not forced.  There is more than rhythm and rhyme in these poems. There are actual sounds that students will recognize and enjoy.  Some examples include:

• “Clang, clang!  the anvl rings.” from “Blacksmith Shop”
•  “to drum rat-ta-tatting, up and down--“ from “The Revolutionary Mrs. Brown”
• “boom    boom    boom    boom” from “Powwow”

Appeal: This book will appeal to teachers and students alike.  Teachers can use it as a teaching tool and children will enjoy the poems that take them on a mini adventure.  With the help of the glossary for unfamiliar words such as “pickadill” and “flummery”, the language of the poems will be understood by children.  The meanings of words children are unfamiliar with can be decoded by focusing on the accompanying illustrations as well. An example is found in “Ann at the churn”.  Most children will not know what it means to churn butter.  The illustrations showing the children churning the butter will be sufficient to give students the information they need to truly understand the poem.

The poems will especially enhance the knowledge of the students.  For example, the students will learn from reading “Signing the Declaration” that writing with quills was difficult.  They will learn from “Searing Poor George” and “Sarah Spins” that Colonial people had to get the wool from sheep and spin it into yarn in order to have yarn to make garments.  All of the poems in the book provide some information about Colonial life that children can learn from.

Use: When reading this book, I littered the pages with sticky notes and suggestions of ways teachers can use this book.  My first sticky note was placed on the poem “Wooden Horse”.  In this poem there is a line where Mrs. Brown says “I wonder what this horse has seen”.  The children then respond with a few ideas.  I can just envision a teacher bringing in a toy horse of some kind into the classroom at the end of a unit on Colonial times and asking students to pretend this horse was a toy during that time period and asking students to write a paper on what they think this toy horse has seen.

Other examples of ways teachers can use this book:

• Using “Blacksmith Shop” to introduce vocabulary words like anvil, blacksmith, forge, bellows and poker. 
• Combining “Corn Planting” with other Native American poetry or pulling it from this book as a stand alone poem to use during a unit on Native Americans.  It could also be used with a unit on spring planting.
• “Muster Drum” with its strong sound of the drums going “Rat a tat tat RAT TAT” simply screams out for a choral reading while “Dream Catcher” screams out for an art project - dream catchers, of course.
• “James Eats Chomp” would be a wonderful poem to use to finish up a unit on Colonial American life.  The teacher can bring it various foods mentioned in the poem such as snickerdoodles, hush puppies, scuppernongs (grapes), and pemmican (jerky).

Overall, I think this is a wonderful book.  I don’t have it in my library but hope to add it soon.

References:

Katz, Susan. 2004. A revolutionary field trip: poems of Colonial America. Ill. R. W. Alley. New York: Simon  Schuster. ISBN: 0-689-84004-7.

Module 3 - 2011 Poetry Book

Photo Source: Center for the Art of Translation Blog. 2011. http://www.catranslation.org/blogpost/introducing-cyclops-wearing-flip-flops (accessed March 2, 2011).

Summary

Cyclops wearing flip flops is the eighth book of poetry published by the Center for the Art of Translation’s program known as Poetry Inside Out. Poetry Inside Out (PIO) is a 16-session school program where students are taught poetry through the translation of foreign poems. It began in 2000, “bringing the poetries of Spain and Latin America to Spanish bilingual and immersion classrooms.” It has now expanded into 19 languages and is taught to elementary, middle and high school students.

The book contains the poetry of the PIO students in a session-by-session look at how the PIO program works. The information given about each session is fascinating and provides just enough information to make an educator want more. Specifically, the book leaves the reader wanting to see the Translator’s Glossaries, referred to throughout the book as being integral to the program. If the Translator’s Glossaries were readily available, a teacher could re-create the project without the need of the PIO professionals. Instead, it appears the only way to get the information necessary to teach the program would be bring the PIO residency program to your school or attend Professional Development and/or workshops presented by PIO.

Quality & Use

This book is different from the other books I have reviewed. This is not a book I would recommend for reading among the general student population. I see this book as being on the “Professional” shelf in a school library for teachers to use as part of their own professional development. Even without the benefit of the Translator’s Glossaries, the book contains ideas that a teacher would be very useful. If it were to be read by the general student population, I believe it could be used as a good example of how student’s poetry writing can evolve over the course of time.

 Before talking further about the great qualities of this book, I must comment on one area that I found disappointing; that is the book’s table of contents. The table of contents is broken up into five sections. While these five sections are designated in the book, it is the session-by-session concept that I noticed most. The table of contents lists these sessions but does not identify them as such. For example, Session 6 is titled “A Nest Built of Lines”. It is in the second section of the book titled “Building a House of Words”. The entry in the table of contents is:

                II. Building a House of Words

                A nest built of Lines: Quatrains 46

                El nido 48

                Alfredo Espino (Spanish)

I believe it would be an improvement if the table of contents stated:

                II. Building a House of Words

                Session 6: A Nest Built of Lines: Quantrains 46

                El nido 48

                Alfredo Espino (Spanish)

I realize this is a minor change but in my opinion the session information is so important to the book that the lack of the information in the table of contents is a major drawback. I believe such an addition would make the book more user friendly.

Except for the table of contents, I found this book to be of good quality. There is so much information about poetry and how to help children evolve in their writing of poetry. It also gives great definitions of different types of poetry as well as examples of ways to engage children in the poetry writing experience. One example I particularly liked is found in Session 9: Renga Round the World which has students writing a “collaborative series of tanka”, known as renga. In doing so, one student writes a traditional haiku 5-7-5 syllable poem then passes his or her paper to another student. That student then adds two seven-syllable lines to finish the tanka and then starts another new tanka (by writing a 5-7-5 haiku). This new tanka is then passed along to another student. This renga can go on and on this way. Prior to reading this, I had never heard of the poetic forms of tanka and renga. Even if I had known about this type of poetry, I would not have thought about using it in this round the world format. This type of information is a perfect example of why this book should be on the school libraries professional shelf.

Appeal

The poetry itself is very appealing. Since the translated poems are all written by children, the language contained in them is very child friendly and speaks to things children know. The book also provides a good example to teachers as to how students can transform their work over the course of a semester. Teachers could certainly share this poetry with their students to provide them with examples of how capable students at their grade level can be if they work at their poetry week after week. For example, an original student poem in Session One of PIO is very much a translation of the original poem, Ciudad de cielo, a las cuatro by Maria Luisa Artecona de Thompson:

Fire and Water

Translated by the Author, Luana Cardenas, 4th grade (who wrote original in Spanish)

For a minute, I am fire

For an instant, I am water

For a second, I am no one’s

If they shut me down, if they turn me on

For a moment, I am air

For a moment, I am dirt

For a moment, I am no one’s

If they leave me, if they free me

For a second, I save in my memory

The forgotten dream, if it passes

Through the inferno while the sky

Waits for me impatient.

By Session 16, the students are translating the Sonnets of William Shakespeare and are writing wonderful sonnets of their own, such as this one:

Cold Breezy Nights

Stacy Hu, 4th grade

Cold breezy nights are abandoned

Trees are lazily blowing in the crisp breeze

Branches are breaking off of oaks

Tsunamis are swimming to shore

Nature is in the bearing cold world

Winds are forming up in the pretty sky

Suns are beaming bright rays on earth

Imagination is swirling everywhere in your mind

Ships are bringing goods to places you’ve never visited

People are in lost forests, like being in mazes

Plants are growing in the Autumn

Rivers are ending at endless waterfalls

Clouds are raining puddles

But last, nothing is doing nothing at all

Although these poems are written by different students, they are both written by students in 4th grade. The transformation of the skill in poetry writing from the first session to the sixteenth session is inspiring.

References:

Center for the Art of Translation. 2011. Cyclops wearing flip flops. 2011. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-1-931883-18-4.

Center for the Art of Translation Blog. 2011. http://www.catranslation.org/blogpost/introducing-cyclops-wearing-flip-flops (accessed March 2, 2011).