This Place I Know

Bibliography

Heard, Georgia. This Place I Know: Poems of Comfot. Illus. by Eighteen Various Artists. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2006. 978-0763628758

Review

This book is a collection of poems meant to comfort those who have felt loss, tragedy, or loneliness. Even though this collection was first intended for those dealing with the events of September 11, we know that many children face their own tragedies or grievances that they must work through.

The poetry selected have various meanings, some which have concrete meanings such as “Commitment in a City” (Tsuda, p. 22) or abstract meanings like “Ring Around the World” (Wynne, p. 36). Gordon’s poem on page 28 has a predictable and steady pattern with four lines: the first and third carrying four beats and the third having three. It also displays rhyme between the last words of the second and fourth lines with “stone” and “own” (Gordon, p. 28).

Sound has a great influence on poetry. The poem “Trouble, Fly” for instance uses alliteration with “fly like the whistle from a train. Fly far, far away from my family” which makes that “f” sound from “fly” and “far” resonate throughout the poem (Swanson, p. 18). Rhyme in Heard’s “Lullaby” with “tight…light” and “song…long” brings a familiarity and calmness to the poem which is the purpose of a lullaby (Heard, p. 14).

A serious and at times heartbreaking mood lingers throughout the collection of poems as with comfort we are reminded of these hard things that have happened in our lives. I believe this is an important book for every library to own, as children today need comfort with the things that are happening to their lives and around them. I felt very touched by these poems and can’t wait to pass this on to someone who is in need of comforting.

Poem & Connection

Ring Around the World

By Annette Wynne

Ring around the world

Taking hands together

All across the temperature

And the torrid weather

Past the royal palm-trees

By the ocean sand

Make a ring around the world

Taking each other’s hand;

In the valleys, on the hill,

Over the prairie spaces,

There’s a ring around the world

Made of children’s friendly faces.

(Wynne, p. 36)

Read this poem as a class with the words posted up in front of the students. Make sure to have copies of the poem and divide the lines of the poem so that each student as one line to read. After the first student reads their line they will take the person’s hand next to them, and then this student will read their line and take the hand of the person next to them until the entire poem has been recited and the whole class is united in one ring.

Salting the Ocean

Bibliography

Nye, Naomi Shihab. Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets. Illus. by Ashley Bryan. Hong Kong: Greenwillow Books, 2000. 978-0688161934

Review

This is a collection of poems selected by Naomi Shihab Nye from young poets who she has had the opportunity to work with as she traveled and taught students about the art of writing. The poems vary in length, meaning, and purpose but they all represent the thoughts of a young poet.

“The Storm in Me” by Theresa Ann Garcia has a repetitive rhythm except in between two of the stanzas is a line: “Sadness in my body” in which the whole poem seems to stop (Garcia, p. 27). This poem in particular slows the reader down as if pausing to reflect with a whisper about how she feels.

Similes can bring so much to a poem without using an abundance of words. Vargas describes “a story which gets into my heart and stays there like a diamond in a ring” that shows this boys devotion to his grandfather at keeping his stories locked up in his heart (Vargas, p. 61). The entire poem on page 60 by Ernest Beache is personifying inanimate objects and animals as the people in her family such as her dad like a “volcano”, her sister like “King Kong” and herself like “an and stuck in a coffin” (Beache, p. 60).

To evoke imagery through the senses in poetry is like breathing fresh air into a poem: it truly is living. Sound is imminently heard by the reader in the poem, “Winter” when “the coolness crackles and burns in the fireplace” (Cassidy, p. 43). Caballero describes a character in his poem as having “a voice like talking in a cave” (Caballero, p. 36) which paints a perfect picture of a large, booming, echo-like voice.

The students who wrote the poems come together to show issues that children today face and help readers to see things in different ways. Many of these poems had a true impact on me such as “Grandmother” by Sandra Scherbenske on page 75 which has a granddaughter asking when her grandmother could go out on her own and her grandmother answers that she was never ready to go into the world alone. I am truly impressed by the poetry I have read by these talented children who were expressing themselves through poetry.

Poem & Connection

My mother is a shell

And you can always hear

The ocean.

By Brenda Garcia

(Garcia, p. 69)

Read this poem aloud with students and then present them with a large conch sea shell. Have students read the poem in unison and then call on volunteers to read the poem. Let each student take a turn at listening to the inside of the shell.

Seeing the Blue Between

Bibliography

Janeczko, Paul B. Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets. Cambidge: Candlewick Press, 2002. 978-0763629090

Review

Seeing the Blue Between is a collection of poems and advice from thirty two seasoned poets. Just as their advice differs, so does their poetry and their poems’ characteristics especially meaning. “Don’t Tell Me” by Michael Dugan has a consistent rhythm of 3 beats per line and the final word in lines 2 and 4 of the stanza rhyming (Dugan, p. 16). Hoberman’s rhythm in “May Fly” contrasts this consistency by having 4 beats in a line followed by several lines with only 2 beats but varying in their pattern (Hoberman, p. 50).

Alliteration is used within Lillian Moore’s “Waterfall” with a recurring “w” sound in “warm winds” and “we waited” but other words beginning with the letter “w” are scattered throughout the poem, as well (Moore, pgs. 79-80). Moore also uses the sound effects of rhyme to complete her poem, “Poets Go Wishing” by using “fishing” and “wishing” or “match” and “catch” (Moore, p. 81) Even in the poem she talks about a poet choosing whether or not to use rhyme!

A wonderful metaphor is put forth in Jane Yolen’s “Gingerbread Boy” as she compares a person to being a Gingerbread Boy because the world is constantly trying to eat you that you are constantly running (Yolen, p. 117) “Dragonfly” by Georgie Heard on page 41 creates a beautiful metaphor by describing a dragonfly’s wings as “stained-glass windows with sun shining through”.

The mood in this collection changes depending on the author’s choice of poems and their type of advice. Some chose to be more serious while others stay light-hearted, but all give of a welcoming tone that invites young readers into their “club” of writing poetry. I feel that this is an inspiring book to children across the board about the topic of writing, from excited writers to apprehensive ones. I plan on using this in my classroom next year as I introduce writing. Hearing the encouragement of others to write who come from all walks of life is something one teacher alone cannot give a student.

Poem & Connection

Fog

By Marilyn Singer (only a portion of the poem is shown)

The fog is

A river with no direction

A dream with no doors

When it lifts without a whisper

You forget that it was ever there

Except for a tiny tickle in your mind

A trace of goosebumps

On your skin.

(Singer, 109)

Use a piece of dry ice to create a small amount of fog in the classroom or library. Pass out the poem, several flashlights, and turn out the overhead lights. Read the poem to the class and then have the students alternate reading two to three lines as you make sure that a bit of the fog as illuminated with a flashlight.

Jazz

Bibliography

Myers, Walter Dean. Jazz. Illus. by Christopher Myers. New York: Holiday House, 2006. 978-0823421732

Review

Jazz is an altogether moving collection of poems by Walter Dean Myers. The meanings portrayed in the poems vary from concrete to abstract but the key to these poems is that they are MEANINGFUL.

Rhythm is an important concept as many of the poems are a reflection of jazz music. In “Three Voices” (Myers, pgs. 36-38) the Bass and Piano have a steady rhythm displaying that they correspond in beat and in their pattern. These are able to be read in unison because of their likeness. When the third voice, the horn, is brought in however, a spontaneous, individual beat is brought into the picture.

Rhyme is seen in some poems such as “Be-Bop” (Myers, pg. 24) with words such as “playing…laying…paying…slaying” and “grinding…finding”. In “It’s Jazz” (Myers, pg. 41) a “t” sound is used with “rat-a-tatting…patting…scatting”. Assonance is also used in this poem with “of old New Orleans” being repeated. Sounds are powerful in this collection of poems.

The sense of sound is created on “Three Voices” (Myers, pg. 36-38) with the repetition of a “thum, thum, thum, and thumming” of a bass. The piano in this poem is described “like a charming angel choir” showing an example of similes used in Myers’ poetry.

The mood of this book can be described as confident and vivacious. The poems hold so much life and power and the illustrations are a perfect blend of the emotions evoked by the poems. The reader is constantly drawn into each poem and many will find a new hunger for more information about jazz and its origins.

Poem & Connection

Now I Come In

By Walter Dean Myers

(an excerpt)

This melody from memory

Makes harmonies that reach to be

So much more than a simple tune

Or rhyme

I’ll take you as far as I can go

I’ll blow as hard as I can blow

I’ll reach for the stars

Blow notes around Mars

And then you come in

And

Then

You

Come

In

(Myers, pg. 35)

Oh, No! Where Are My Pants? and Other Disasters: Poems

Bibliography

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, ed. Oh, No! Where Are My Pants? And Other Disasters: Poems. Illus. by Wolf Erlbruch. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005. 978-0688178604

Review

Oh, No! Where Are My Pants? And Other Disasters: Poems is a hilarious and sometimes cringe-worthy collection of poems with concrete meaning. Many readers will feel that they can relate to the disasters held by the characters or at least have a fear of these things happening to them. A relatable collection for any reader, young or old.

The rhythm differs in each poem some having short lines with two beats each such as “Oh, No!” (Weaver, pg. 14) or longer lines with four beats as in “Winter Rabbit” (Comora, pg. 9). The patterns in each poem are a reflection of the meaning of the poem. The aforementioned poems’ rhythms are a suggestion towards the meaning each carries: “Winter Rabbit” (Comora, pg. 9) having a sad more serious tone and “Oh No!” (Weaver, pg. 14) holding a playful, funny mood.

Similar to rhythm, the use of rhyme differs from poem to poem. “Nightmare” (Viorst, pg. 23) is one poem that does use rhyme with words such as “dressed…best…vest”. Figurative language is used by various poets to enhance the descriptions in the poems. In “Winter Rabbit” Madeleine Comora on page 9 describe the rabbit’s lifeless ears and feet “like falling velvet drapes”.

In this collection many of the poems’ words are strategically placed to add emphasis to the poem’s meaning. “Play Ball” (Hulme, pg. 17) has words that are written in the shape of a baseball diamond to help the reader visualize the batter running around the four bases. The lines in “Haircut” (Singer, pg. 20) are jagged and uneven, a perfect reflection of the girl’s horrible haircut in the poem.

The mood varies throughout the poems as these disasters cover a wide range of events: losing a pet, forgetting your pants, or stuck on a ferris wheel. As with each poet and poem the tone will vary as does the reader’s response depending on their experience or reflection on the described disaster.

Poem & Connection

Oh, No!

By Katie McAllaster Weaver

Hello apple!

Shiny red.

CHOMP. CHOMP.

Hello worm.

Where’s your head?

(Weaver, p. 14)

Read this poem slowly so that the surprise at the end of the poem can be realized. Show the poem on the board and have the class read it aloud together. Talk about what your facial expression would be like at every part of this poem and as you read each line, have the students portray the writer’s feelings by their facial movements.

Farmer's Garden: Rhymes for Two Voices

Bibliography

Harrison, David L. Farmer’s Garden: Rhymes for Two Voices. Illus. by Arden Johnson-Petrov. Honesdale: Wordsong Boyds Mills Press, 2000. 978-1590781777

Review

Farmer’s Garden is a collection of playful poems that exude concrete meaning. The dog’s voice in each poem carries a regular pattern, asking his question in a 3 line format with 2 beats, 2 beats, and 3 beats consecutively.

Rhyme is used consistently in Harrison’s poems with short sounds that early readers are able to easily identify. Examples of this are used in the poem “Beetle” with “fast…past”, “run…sun”, and “do…dew” (Harrison, p. 24). In the poem, “Corn”, the use of the letters ‘r’ and ‘o’ in “corn…row…crow” by Harrison on page 15 creates a common sound through the first half of the poem. The words seem to complement each other which is an extremely important part of poetry.

Personification is a large part of these poems as the dog approaches and speaks to not only animals and insects, but inanimate objects such as a carrot, strawberry, and corn. The foods speak to the dog just as the living things do and describe their life in the Farmer’s garden from its point of view.

Some of the food items in the poems evoke imagery through taste such as the radish “hop(ing) to go in a pot of stew” (Harrison, p. 28). The deer creates a sense of hearing in the reader when repeating “Shhh!” (Harrison, p. 30) to the dog, displaying to the audience that it is night time and silent out in the garden.

The overall mood of this book of poems is light-hearted and playful as the dog wanders from object to object curious as to what it is doing in the garden. A perfect ending is created as the dog and farmer wind up together in the garden.

Poem & Connection

Have students perform this book of poetry as reader’s theater for a class of students, giving one person the dog role, and the other students splitting the other roles. Each student draws their character and tapes it onto a Popsicle stick to be held when he or she is reading their part. An alternative to this would be dividing the students up into pairs and each pair getting one poem to perform. For example, one pair could perform “Mousey” with one student playing Farmer’s Dog and the other person playing Mousey.

Mousey

Mousey, Mousey,

why do you hurry?

Cat is coming!

I must scurry!

Cat is coming?

Hide! Hide!

His teeth are sharp!

His mouth is wide!

Where will you go?

You can’t get far.

Then I will hide

in Farmer’s garden.

(Harrison, p. 11)