Module 4 (Science Poetry)- Spectacular Science

(Credit)

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, Spectacular Science: A Book of Poems. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1999.

ISBN: 0-689-81283-3

I seem to have a large collection of Lee Hopkins Bennet resources! This just goes to show how versatile and wonderful of an author he is. Spectacular Science is a fun collection of poems chosen by Bennet. The poetry in this collection focuses on different topics in science. For example, the reader can read about topics like seeds, microscope, and magnetism.

The illustrations are by Virginia Halstead. Oh my gosh, they are amazing! The colors are bright with lots of yellows, oranges, and teals. I really love how resilient she made them. These illustrations make reading about science even more interesting! My favorite characteristic of Halsteads work in this book, aside from the colors, is that she stretches her illustrations across several pages. This really draws interest to the topic being discussed.

Spectacular Science is one of my favorite books of poetry thus far in our class. The reason being is that it is so very interesting for children. I can imagine my 8 and 9-year-old students reading through these poems and loving the illustrations. I think reading a poem to students and having them illustrate the poem could be a fun activity! I could also see having a scavenger hunt and ‘doing’ the activities described in each poem. Overall, Spectacular Science is a must have in any collection, especially science. I would highly recommend this Bennett classic!

Poem:

The Seed

Aileen Fisher

How does it know,

this little see,

if it is to grow

to a flower or weed,

if it is to be

a vine or shoot,

or grow to a tree

with a long deep root?

A seed is so small,

where do you suppose

it stores up all

of the things it knows?

Module 4 (Biographical Poetry)- Lives: Poems about Famous Americans

(Credit)

Hopkins, Lee Bennet, Lives: Poems about Famous Americans. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1999.

ISBN: 0-06-027767-X

This collection of poetry describes the lives of fourteen people who are famous to American history. Through this collection we learn about people like Eleanor Roosevelt, Langston Huges, and Harriett Tubman. These people left such a major impact of American culture. Hopkins, along with a few others did a great job of highlighting these accomplishments. Each poem is roughly about 5-8 stanza’s long and gives a short recap of an important accomplishment. It is a very readable collection of poetry for young adults. I really like that there is a table of contents and a type of glossary! Students can really use these type of text features in order to better understand these poems content.

The illustrations are by Leslie Staub.  Every illustration sits opposite it’s poem. The illustrations are portraits of the subject of each poem. Staub does an amazing job using narrow lines and a lot of bright color that really cause the pictures to come off the page and seem as though the constituents had never aged!

Overall I felt that this book of poetry would be an asset to any collection. First, biographical pieces that are worth their salt can be difficult to find, let alone biographical poetry. Bennet is well known for wonderful poetry for young adults and I am always impressed with his work. This piece is no different. My expectations were met and I would highly recommend it.

As I mentioned previously, valid biographical resources for children are very difficult to find, let alone poetry. This resource would be great help in a research project. Using this book and pebble-go, I think students could really learn a lot about people that were important to America’s grown and current standing.

Poem:

ABE

Alice Sehertle

And so,

young Abe

            of the too-short pants

            and too-long legs,

young Abe spitting into his palms,

wrapping his bony fingers aroung

            the handle of an axe,

sinking the bright blade deep

            into heartwood,

young Abe splitting the rails apart

grew into Abe

            of the sad eyes,

            of the face carved deep

            by sorrow,

wrapping his stong hands

            around a nation,

trying to hold the bleeding halves

together

until they healed.

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.

Module 2- Florian Poetry (The Beast Feast)

(Credit)

Florian, Douglas, Beast Feast. Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994.

Poems and paintings by Douglas Florian

Beast Feast is a collection of comedic poems about different animals ranging from chameleons to anteaters! These poems are intended for younger children but could be great for any age . The layout of the book is easy to follow. When looking at the landscape of a page, on one side you will read the poem, and the opposite side shows an illustration of the animal the poem talks about. The illustrations are framed; they never spill outside of their square shape. Florian created a very clean line with his paintings- the are easy to understand, much like his poetry. His poetry has a lot of humor and is very intelligently written, all while still being easy to understand.

The illustrations are not heavy; they are light and clear. The colors are light and resemble line drawings. Many times in poetry, the content is difficult to follow or has a few really great poems while the rest sort of blend together. Florian has made it a point to keep every poem to-the-point, humorous, and informational. Another fun part that Florian uses in his poetry is the way he writes some words. For example, when he uses the word ‘pause’ when describing a sloth, it has two spaces between each word to symbolize slowness: p  a  u  s  e.  I enjoyed reading them all and found them all to be a lot of fun to share with my daughter. :)

Poetry Excerpt:

The Sloth

Up in tree

The shaggy sloth

Is hanging by its claws.

It doesn’t like to move at all.

It only likes to

p  a  u  s  e.

(The illustration shows a grey, black, and brown stripped sloth hanging upside down from a single tree limb. There are three flowers, yellow and orange, hanging daintily behind him.)

Module 2- NCTE Winner (My Man Blue By Nikki Grimes)

My Man Blue

Grimes, Nikki, My Man Blue. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1999.

Poems by: Nikki Grimes, Illustrations by Jerome Lagarrigue

I had never read anything by Nikki Grimes before reading ‘My Man Blue’. I am absolutely in love with her poetry. She has such a strong conviction in her words. I feel as though she is telling me a story. Her collection of poems tells a story of a man or a “gold toothed angel” who is a friend to a young boy, Damon. It is evident that Damon is in need of a father figure and Blue is the perfect fit. I really enjoyed the progression of these poems and the story that they tell. In a lot of the books of poetry I’ve read, they are more like a collection, not a narrative. I REALLY enjoy this!

Lagarrigue did a magnificent job with the illustrations in this book. The poems sit on a page of solid color that seems textured by brush strokes. Each poem has an accompanying illustration that sits opposite of it. These illustrations also have interesting color combinations, using very bold and dramatic colors- lots of green, navy, and deep orange. The pictures show the textures of a brush and the canvas they were painted on. The pictures are very captivating and help keep the reader interested in the poetry!

I love the lessons this book teaches about love for you family and how to treat other people. Just exposing children to these poems does a lot on its own. However, this book hits a very personal cord—it talks a lot about family and the special times a boy and his mentor have. I think having students create a journal entry about a time when they remember having a special experience with their mom, dad, or guardian. If students felt comfortable, they could share their experiences. I want them to feel a personal connection to the text—I think this will be easy for children after reading this book.

Example Poem:

Class Bully

            A Bully

kicks me in the knee

That bully’s name

is Tiffany.

            I fume

but don’t return the blow.

Guys don’t hit girls

Blue says, and so

            I grab

her wrists ‘till she

calms down, while

            Laughing

jeering kids stand ‘round

and shout “You wimp!” But

they’re all wrong.

            It’s guys

who don’t hit girls

            Who’re strong.

(The illustrations shows Damon on the playground, and a girl smiling at him. There are other children standing around watching… most are continuing to play.)