A Jar of Tiny Stars

Bibliography

Cullinan, Bernice, ed. A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets. Honesdale: Wordsong, 1996. 978-1563970870

Review

A Jar of Tiny Stars is a collection of child selected poems by poets who have won the National Council of Teachers of English Award. The poets' poems are displayed together after a picture and personal quote.

Many of the poems have a steady rhythm such as Valerie Worth's “Giraffe” which keeps a consistent 2 beat meter for each line. In this book the reader will find poems that contain rhyme such as “Summer Song” by Josh Ciardi and others that do not have any rhyme like “Lemonade Stand” by Myra Cohn Livingston. The impact of sound in many of these poems is imperative. The onomatopoeia of “s-s-s-s-s-s-s” in “SNAKE” by Barbara Esbensen breathes life into the poem and to the surprise of the reader the sound of the snake is inherently made either aloud or in their mind. In Eve Meriam's “Gooseberry” the freshness of sound is revealed through the repetition of berry in “Gooseberry Juice berry, Loose berry jam”.

Personification is one element of figurative language that is seen many times in this book of poetry. “Mine” by Lilian Moore creates the ocean as a selfish snatcher of sand castles and sand tunnels, and Valerie Worth's “lawnmower” is viewed as a monster or animal that “grinds its teeth” and is “spitting out” grass.

The emotional impact of this collection is altogether joyful and encouraging. An “About the Poets” section is included that gives the audience a sense of who the poets are and makes a greater and more meaningful connection between poet and reader.

Poem & Connection

pebbles

“Pebbles belong to no one

Until you pick them up –

Then they are yours.

But which, of all the world’s

Mountains of little broken stones,

Will you choose to keep…”

(Worth, p. 64)

This poem can be read during an Earth Materials or Geology Unit while discussing weathering and erosion. Students can draw different particle or grain sizes such as boulder, pebble, gravel, and sand and label each. Teacher or librarian should lead discussion about how weathering affects rocks and their sizes and ask students what they think the poem means by “mountains of little broken stones”.