Module 3- Verse Novel (Locomotion)

(Credit)

Woodson,Jacqueline, Locomotion. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 2003.

ISBN: 0-399-23115-3

Locomotion is a novel written in verse poetry by Jacqueline Woodson. Woodson has received many awards for her work like the Coretta Scott King Award and two Coretta Scott King honors. She is a wonderfully talented author who writes so vividly and descriptively you feel as though you are the character in her book. Locomotion has won several awards including:

National Book Award Finalist

Coretta Scott King Honor

2003 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Fiction Honor)

Horn Book Fanfare List

School Library Journal Best Book

IRA-CBC Children’s Choice for 2004

2004 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts (sponsored by the Children’s Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English)

2005 New Mexico Battle of the Books (Middle School/Grades 7-9)

2004-2005 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Master List (children’s choice award for Vermont)

2005 Kentucky Bluegrass Master List (Grades 3-5)

2006 Louisiana Young Readers Choice Award Nominee (Grades 3-5)

2004-2005 Maine Student Book Award Nominee (Grades 4-8)

2004-2005 William Allen White Children’s Book Award Nominee (Kansas children’s choice award)

To summarize, Locomotion is the story of a young boy, Lonnie or Locomotion, who loses his mom and dad in a house fire, and is separated from his sister due to foster care. We walk with Lonnie as his teacher teaches him and his less cooperative classmates how to write different types of poetry. Lonnie learns that writing poetry is a way for him to express his feelings and actually enjoys himself. This story is deeply personal and offers a wide variety of moods for the reader to be immersed in. I felt like I knew Lonnie, like he was a friend of mine. I hurt when we hurt, I laughed when he laughed. Woodson really grabs the reader with her relatable content and as odd as it may seem, she had such good placement of her lines that it set the mood of the poems.

This is such a fast read! It’s very interesting and I am positive that children, about 5^th grade and older would really enjoy this book. There are poems about playing basket ball, losing friends, finding a girlfriend, and deeper stories about loss and raw, uncontrolled emotion. The poetry is delivered in many different forms like haiku, sonnets, epistle and list poetry. Another reason Locomotion is a great teaching tool! There are a wide variety of examples of poems.

The inside cover of this book describes Woodson’s voice as “lyrical”. I agree, very much! There is something about her dialog that is smooth and flowing. Many times with verse novels, the content is choppy and difficult to follow in a story format but in Locomotion, it was just the opposite, very smooth and easy to enjoy. Overall, I thoroughly enjoy this novel and would really encourage everyone to have a copy or two of this on hand. The content can be a little heavy in places but I would still, highly recommend it!

As for its use with children, I think it would be more appropriate and better used with older children. The content is not graphic, but there are many ‘moments’ in this novel that some younger children just will not understand. I would love to work on writing activities using this book. Lonnie is very self conscious about his writing. He doesn’t want to share his works with anyone because he keeps his memories private. Hakiu Poem is a great example of this on page 59:

                                                                                                                                    Haiku Poem

Ms. Marcus wants to

see all my poems. No way.

Some things just your own.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that students are very sensitive about their work. Although they know I love them and am trying to help them, they still feel attacked, like they just didn’t live up to their expectations. It breaks my heart to correct their work via one on one conferencing! I would like to share this poem with students and show them that it’s okay to be private about your writing!

Module 3- New Poetry Book (A Stick is an Excellent Thing)

 (Credit)

Singer, Marilyn, A Stick is an Excellent Thing. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2012.

Illustrations by LeUyen Pham

ISBN: 978-0-547-12493-3

This book is a collection of poems ‘celebrating outdoor play’. Singer created poetry based on games that children play outside like bubble blowing, jacks, first one out, and barrel rolling. My favorite aspect of this book is that it is relatable to students. Children are professionals at playing outside! I’m sure that reading a book about playing would be enjoyable to them. The author, Marilyn Singer, is a children’s author that has written a variety of children’s genre’s like biographies, nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Some of her poetry works include: Follow Follow, A Strange Place to Call Home, and The Superhero’s Employment Agency.

Unlike Guyku, Singer lays her poetry out in different ways. Some poems are staggered down a page, some poems are in stanzas and some slant down the page. This really keeps the reader engaged in the poem. Every poem is immersed in the illustration of the page. Though the illustrations are gorgeous, they are sometimes distracting to the poetry.  The mood of all the poems read at all one level. Given, this is a book of poetry intended for children, but it lacks variety. I believe that imagination is not overly stimulated but may inspire students to play outdoors and try new games.

There are not a lot of text features in this book. A table of contents would be really beneficial given that there are more than fifteen poems in this book. There are headings which helps guide the reader through each poem. These really help the flow of each poem because they are a part of each picture it can sometimes be difficult to see when a new poem begins.

Overall, A Stick is an Excellent Thing is a book of poetry that offers familiar content for children to enjoy. I do think that some aspects could be added like a table of contents or a clearer space for the poems. I would add this to my collection.

Singer has created a book full of actions with A Stick is an Excellent Thing. I would love to introduce a poem and have students list verbs that I could think of about a certain activity. For example, using the poem Barreling:

This hill is small. The grass feels fluffy,

            Mama sayd in called a knoll.

We’re glad our clothes are old and scruffy,

            When we go down, we never stroll—

                        we roll!

Wonder how many VERBS (action words) we could list about rolling down a grass hill?

Module 3- Poetic form (Guyku)

(Credit)

Raczka, Bob, Guyku. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010.

Illustrations by Peter H. Reynolds

Guyku is a book of haiku’s intended specifically for boys. These poems tell about those special times you have as a boy that you always manage to forget about! These memories are given in order of season- spring, fall, winter, and summer. We can read about times you built snowmen or went finishing with hot dogs as your bait! Raczka does a wonderful job of using vivid descriptions to take the reader back to old memories as a boy!

Guyku has great overall appeal. The main point of this book is to recall memories from a young boys childhood so its content is very relatable to a wide variety of children. The illustrations have a very subtle theme. Each illustration is centered in the middle portion of each page. They are all on a grey/black scale and look exactly like sketches. The season that the poem is about will determine what color the illustrator pairs with the grey and black  drawings. For example, a poem about building a snowman is draw in black, with a hint of blue. Blue is the color used in this book for winter. It’s very interesting and creative!

As a teacher, I find Guyku a ‘must’ have book of poetry. It is difficult to find poetry specific for a gender and not only has Guyku mastered this put it’s content is extremely appropriate and interesting for young children! I could really use these poems, which are recollection of childhood memories as a taking off point for writing. Personal narratives can be difficult for students, especially older students. They claim they have ‘nothing to write about’. Guyku does a quality job of recalling memories and giving students idea’s to write about. For example, with a group of younger students I would read the poem about snow days:

How many million

flakes will it take to make a

snow day tomorrow?

We would then quick write. In a quick write, students are timed for two minutes and would brainstorm as many words and idea’s that they could recall about experiences they’ve had on a snow day. After a quick write, we can share students can compose a personal narrative about a snow day using the ideas they brainstormed.