Photo Source: Barnes and Noble. http://www.barnesandnoble.com (accessed April 10, 2011).
Summary: This collection of poems by Naomi Shihab Nye is very personal. It is a collection of poems from 100 poets who were children when they wrote the poetry. Ms. Nye was a writer-in-the-schools in 1974. This was a position funded by the Texas Commission on the Arts. According to the poet information on the book Jacket, Ms. Nye has continued in this capacity at least until 2000 when the book was published. The poems are selections chosen from poems Ms. Nye had collected over the course of 25 years working with students in grades 1 - 12. There is a very interesting “Forward” and “Afterward” in the book that will interest all who reads the book. Also very interesting, is the snippets of information found in the Index to the poems. These snippets containing a look into some of the students and teachers Ms. Nye met during the time she was a writer-in-the-schools.
Quality: The poems are good quality. The print is nice and large which will encourage reluctant readers and will be helpful to younger readers. Unfortunately, there are no illustrations which might cause some students not to read this book. The vocabulary is easy and references are made to things children are familiar with. Some of the poems are light hearted while others deal with things we wish children didn’t have to deal with, such as loneliness and a violent household. The imagery is very vivid in some of these poems. It is somewhat difficult to gage the quality of these poems because there is no clear indication of the age of the poet. It would be helpful if the age or grade information was given, in addition to the name of the poet.
Appeal: The poems are written by children so are in language that will be familiar to children. Additionally, the subjects they discuss are familiar to children. For example, poet Jeffrey Trevino writes about things he would like to do, including collecting rocks on Venus (pg. 4). An additional example is the poem by Rachel Dealy where she describes her “Mimi” as one who never gets mad and smelled of perfume (pg. 72).While the quality of the poems is not that of an older, perhaps professional poet, many are amazingly complex and thought provoking. My favorite poem is by Bill Collins and is found on page 66. It has no title, but is as follows:
When I used to go to the beach
my mother would take a saltshaker
and make the water salty
With great expertise
she would taste, salt, taste
and salt again
five minutes or so
until she decided it was right
Then I would go swimming
thinking my mother
salted the whole ocean
however large it was
I now know
my mother isn’t responsible
for the salty ocean
It takes some of the fun
out of going to the beach
Use: Often children think they can’t write poetry; that it is too hard. I would use this book as an example to students of how good children’s poetry can really be. I would use it, along with the information I’ve learned from Georgia Heard’s For the Good of the Earth and Sun: Teaching Poetry to teach children how to see the images of what they are trying to say and write those images down. I would use the poem “In the Morning” by Mary Gutierrez (p. 64) as a perfect example. It says, in part:
I wake up
5:30 am
to a silent house
in a silent room
to a silent morning
--- wake up
5:30 am
leave the house
6:20 am
before the yelling
before the screaming
before the pain
Any use for these poems would a to discuss with students how illustrations can add interest to poems. Students could choose various poems from the book to illustrate.
Finally, this book might be useful to a counselor when dealing with students who are having troubles like those mentioned in the various poems.
Heard, Georgia. 1989. For the good of the earth and sun: teaching poetry. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 2000. Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets. Ill. Ashley Bryan. New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books. ISBN: 0-688-16193-6.
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