Poetry

Animal Ark: Celebrating our wild world in poetry and pictures photographs by Joel Sartore, words by Kwame Alexander

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Published by National Geographic

Summary:  The National Geographic Photo Ark is a project in which Joel Sartore is photographing every captive species.  Thirty two of these photos are showcased here, along with brief poems by Kwame Alexander.  The photos are close-ups on plain black or white backgrounds.  More animals appear on two sets of pull-out pages, along with their IUCN status indicating how endangered that species is.  Notes from the photographer and the writer give more information about their work, how this book came to be, and what kids can do to help the animals pictured here.  48 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Kids will fall in love with the photographs in this book, and may even be inspired to try writing haikus inspired by them.

Cons:  While Kwame Alexander calls his poetry haikus, and defines haikus as having 17 syllables in the traditional 5-7-5 arrangement, these poems don’t seem to fit the definition.

A Song About Myself: A Poem by John Keats, illustrated by Chris Raschka

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Published by Candlewick

Summary:  At the age of 22, John Keats went on a walking tour of Scotland. He wrote a letter to his younger sister describing the trip and included this four-verse nonsense poem about “a naughty boy” who travels “to the North”, and all the things he finds when he gets there.  Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka has illustrated the poem with his usual bright paintings, including a detailed, labeled map of New York City and Scotland on the endpapers.  An author’s note at the end tells more of Keats’ life and how he came to write this poem.  40 pages; grades 1-5.

Pros:  A perfect introduction to a poet who might not generally be accessible to kids.  The short lines, rhyming words, and colorful illustrations make this a good first poetry book for younger readers.

Cons:  A written explanation of the map on the endpapers would have been useful.

Keep a Pocket in Your Poem: Classic Poems and Playful Parodies written and selected by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Johanna Wright

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Published by WordSong

Summary:  Former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis has put together a collection of thirteen (counting the one on the back cover) well-known poems, along with his parodies of them.  For instance, Robert Frost’s “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” is turned into “Stopping By Fridge on a Hungry Evening”, and Emily Dickinson’s “Hope Is the Thing With Feathers” becomes “Grief Is the Thing With Tissues”. The original poem is included with the new version.  Lewis explains what he has done in his introduction, and invites kids to write their own parodies, or “parroty’s”, as he calls them.  32 pages; grades K-5.

Pros:  A fun way to introduce kids to poetry, as well as providing an extension activity for those wanting to dive deeper.  The cute, colorful illustrations include a multicultural cast of children.

Cons:  To me, the word parody denotes a certain degree of mocking the original, which is clearly not Lewis’s intention here.

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Ekua Holmes

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Candlewick

Summary:  If you’ve read Kwame Alexander’s Booked or The Crossover, it will come as no surprise that both of his parents loved words and books.  He writes in his preface of being raised on a steady diet of poetry, and he pays homage to his favorite poets in this book.  The 20 poems, written by Alexander and fellow poets Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth celebrate poets and their poetry from Emily Dickinson to Langston Hughes to Rumi.  The last six pages give quite a bit of additional information about each poet.  56 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  A wonderfully diverse collection of writers and poems, brought to life with color collages by Caldecott honoree Ekua Holmes.  The second paragraph of Kwame Alexander’s preface would make a perfect introduction to a study of poetry, and the entire book could be used as a curriculum guide to introduce students to 20 different poets.

Cons:  Readers unfamiliar with the poets and their works may not appreciate these poems on their own.

Loving Vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Shadra Strickland

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Published by Chronicle Books

Summary: This verse novel, related in the alternating voices of Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, tells the story behind the Supreme Court case of 1967, which ruled that interracial marriage is legal.  Mildred, of African and Native American descent and considered “colored”, and Richard, who was white, grew up as neighbors in a close-knit, integrated Virginia community.  They fell in love, had a child, and got married.  Shortly after the wedding, the local sheriff barged into their home one night, arrested them both, and sent them to jail.  They pleaded guilty and were given a suspended sentence.   Forced out of Virginia, they moved to Washington, D.C., where both were miserable.  Over the course of the next nine years, their case was appealed, finally going all the way to the Supreme Court.  The decision was overturned on June 12, 1967, and at last, they could move back near their families to raise their three children.  The story is interspersed with text and photos describing the history of the Civil Rights Movement during the same time period as the case.  A final note tells what happened to the Lovings (sadly, he was killed and she was blinded in one eye by a drunk driver in 1975); also includes a timeline and an extensive bibliography.  260 pages; grades 7-up (some PG language).

Pros:  A fascinating, timely book.  Kids may have seen the 2016 movie Loving about this case.  The first person narration makes it a personal story.

Cons:  Although the book has many beautiful illustrations, I would have liked to have seen some photos.

One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes

~ Janet Dawson ~ 2 Comments

Published by Bloomsbury USA Children’s

Summary:  Poet Nikki Grimes combines her own works with those of various poets from the Harlem Renaissance.  She uses the “Golden Shovel” method, in which she takes a line from another poet’s work, and uses each word from that line as the final word in every line of her own poem.  Her works focus on kids, particularly those of color, and have inspirational messages about hard work, hope, and being yourself.  The poems are illustrated by a variety of artists, including many children’s book illustrators such as Christopher Myers, Sean Qualls, and Javaka Steptoe.  An introduction gives a brief history of the Harlem Renaissance; back matter includes biographies of the poets and artists, sources, and an index.  128 pages; grades 5-9.

Pros:  Nikki Grimes was just given the Laura Ingalls Wilder award for making a lasting contribution to children’s literature, and this book continues in that vein.  Her own poetry is beautiful and inspiring, and placing it side-by-side with the Harlem Renaissance poets adds historical depth and richness.  The beautiful artwork completes the poetry.

Cons: Additional resources to learn more about the Harlem Renaissance would have been useful.

5 Favorite Poetry Books

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

I’m neither an expert in nor a huge fan of poetry, but there was a pretty good selection in 2016.  Here were five that I really liked:

Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams brought to life by Ashley Bryan.  Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Ashley Bryan really did bring these men and women to life, using historical documents as a springboard for his imagination to create lives for each of these eleven through art and poetry.

Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko by David Jacobson, Sally Ito, and Michiko Tsuboi, illustrated by Toshikado Hajiri.  Published by Chin Music Press.

A beautifully illustrated retelling of the brilliant, tragic life of Japanese poet Misuzu Kaneko, complete with translations of many of her deceptively simple poems.

Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph by Roxanne Orgill, illustrated by Francis Vallejo.  Published by Candlewick.

The history of Art Kane’s 1958 photograph of 57 jazz musicians against the backdrop of a Harlem brownstone, told with poems in the voices of the subjects and the bystanders watching them.

The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary School by Laura Shodd.  Published by Wendy Lamb Books.

Eighteen fifth graders share their hopes, dreams, and fears, as they prepare for the closing of their school in June; they use a variety of prompts and poetic forms that are explained at the end of the book.

Echo, Echo: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths by Marilyn Singer illustrated by Josee Masie.  Published by Dial Books for Young Readers.

Second verse same as the first…only backwards to completely change the meaning.  Super cool poems in two voices for Percy Jackson fans.

A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney, pictures by Lou Fancher & Steve Johnson

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Published by Viking

Summary:  Andrea Davis Pinkney’s poetic homage weaves together biographical information about Keats with the story of the creation of his most famous book.  Born Jacob Ezra Katz, the son of Polish immigrants, the artist grew up in a poor Brooklyn neighborhood with a father who faced job discrimination and a mother whose secret dreams of becoming an artist never came to fruition.  Young Ezra loved art and won an art school scholarship, but when his father died of a heart attack the day before his high school graduation, his school days were over.  He was helped by the New Deal’s WPA, and went on to become a comic book artist before moving to children’s book illustration.  When he was asked to write and illustrate his own book, he thought of a little African-American boy whose picture in Life magazine had hung on Keats’s wall for many years.  This boy became Peter and the book was The Snowy Day.  Back matter includes “Ezra’s Legacy” with more information about the books that celebrated city life and the people from different cultures who lived there, and “Keats, the Collage Poet”, explaining how the verse narrative used for this book reflects Keats’ collage style of art.  60 pages; grades 2-5.

Pros:  A beautiful celebration of a life and a book, illuminated with illustrations inspired by Ezra Jack Keats’s art.

Cons:  I find the poetic biographies are a hard sell with the elementary crowd.

 

Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko narrative and translation by David Jacobson, Sally Ito, and Michiko Tsuboi; illustrated by Toshikado Hajiri

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Published by Chin Music Press 

Summary:  Born in a Japanese fishing village in 1903, Misuzu Kaneko was fortunate enough to receive more education than most of her female contemporaries.  She worked in her mother’s bookstore and published her poems in magazines.  Then she made the unfortunate decision of marrying one of the bookstore clerks who was abusive, unfaithful, and passed on a devastating disease to Misuzu.  She divorced him, but when he insisted on full custody of their daughter (a right given to fathers only at that time in Japan), Misuzu committed suicide.  The first half of the book tells the story of her life, and the second half is a collection of her poems, written in both Japanese and English.  An author’s note and translators’ note explain the careful work and research that went into creating this book.  64 pages; grades 2-7.

Pros:  This might be the most moving book I have read in 2016.  Misuzu Kaneko’s life was ultimately tragic, but her poetry reveals a beautiful spirit who saw life and hope in ordinary objects around her.  Her poems are accessible to kids, yet infused with deeper meaning.  The gorgeous illustrations should receive Caldecott consideration.

Cons:  I was unprepared for the shock of reading about Misuzu’s suicide.

Garvey’s Choice by Nikki Grimes

~ Janet Dawson ~ 2 Comments

Published by Wordsong 

Summary:  Garvey can’t seem to please his father, who wants a football-player son, not one who struggles with his weight and hates sports.  But Garvey’s good at chess, loves to read, and is interested in astronomy.  Encouraged by his best friend Joe, Garvey overcomes his fears and tries out for chorus, where his talents really start to emerge.  He discovers he has a strong tenor voice, and he even makes a new friend, Manny, a boy with albinism who shows Garvey how to ignore teasing and be himself.  When the first concert arrives, Garvey is shocked to see his father wiping away tears after his solo.  It turns out Dad was in a band way back when, and father and son finally find a connection through music.  A note at the end explains tanka, a Japanese form of poetry used to write this story.  120 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  A brief novel in verse that lingers long after the first page.  Garvey and his family are sympathetically portrayed, and readers will be rooting for him as he slowly finds his place in the world.

Cons:  At times, Joe and Manny’s advice seemed unrealistically wise beyond their years.