Performance Poetry: Messing Around the Monkeybars by Betsy Franco

Bibliography-
Franco, Betsy. 2009. Messing Around on the Monkey Bars: And Other School Poems for Two Voices. Ill. by Jessie Hartland. Sommerville, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN – 9780763631741.

Critical Review-
Franco creates a wonderful collection of poems that celebrates the fun of poetry reading. The anthology has a table of contents to assist in finding the exact poem for the occasion. Also, an author’s note illustrates the font styles that are provided to facilitate reading the poems by multiple voices. While there are three separate font styles (one for voice 1, one for voice 2, and one for both), there are many ways to use the font styles to incorporate a variety of readings. In most poems, it is easy to distinguish the three font styles; however, some are a little difficult to spot. For example in the poem, “In the Library,” it is difficult to tell if the intent is for the font to match the style for “both” or is it larger to show that the librarian is shouting.

Most of the poems rhyme and all are very rhythmic which readily lends themselves to various ways of choral reading. Also, these poems are great for performance poetry. Many are easily adaptable to movement or sound effects making this collection very attractive to children. In addition at the back of the book, Franco provides some suggestions for incorporating some fun and engaging ways to read and perform the poems in a section labeled, “adventurous ways to read the poems.” All of the poems are so engaging, it is not difficult to develop your own creative way of sharing the poems.

The illustrations are as entertaining as the poems. The drawings done in gouache resemble child drawings. Each illustration adds to the meaning of the poem with wonderful detail. In particular are the fantastic facial expressions on the characters whether people or inanimate objects. Each one is brought to life by its perfect demonstration of expression. In the poem, “Lunch Money,” the expression on the face of the boy in the lunch line who realizes that he has a hole in his pocket is priceless. The angry sister in “I Can’t Wait,” is not only hilarious but unmistakably mad. Below is an example of a poem from this enjoyable collection.

Wild Bus Ride
By Betsy Franco

Snort, squeal,
snort, squeal.
We're gobbled up
by a beast with wheels.

Grumble, growl,
grumble, growl.
The beast shoots smoke.
It moans and howls.

Jumble, rumble,
jumble, rumble.
Its big old belly
groans and grumbles.

Screech, cough,
screech, cough.
It opens its mouth--
we scramble off.

Snort, squeal,
growl, grumble.
The beast is gone
with a rumble, rumble.

Kid Connection –

To introduce this poem, have children share some of their adventures when riding on the school bus. Next, model the reading of the poem by reading it out loud to the children. Then, point out that some of the lines are in darker words than other lines. Explain to the children that this is to indicate different speakers. Divide the class into two groups and lead them in reading the poem with one group reading the lighter text and the other group reading the darker text. For added fun, the children could read the poem using sound effects for words like “snort,” “squeal,” “growl,” and “cough.”

Biographical Poetry: Your Own Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill

Bibliography –

Hemphill, Stephanie. 2007. Your Own Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN – 9780440239680.

Critical Review –

Hemphill captivates the reader with her verse portrait of Sylvia Plath. “The book, although based on real events and real people, is first and foremost a work of fiction” (p. 247). While it is fiction, it is well researched with source notes and a bibliography. Hemphill through her verse poems intimately reveals Sylvia Plath to the reader. Hemphill draws from the poems, letters, journals of Sylvia Plath as well as writings and interviews from those who knew Miss Plath to create a work that is very personal and inviting. For those who might think that Sylvia Plath was an eccentric poetry living outside the real world, Hemphill exposes the real person who had everyday struggles. At the bottom of each poem is a reference note adding biographical details, background information, or poetry notes to help the reader make the full connection.

Hemphill engages the reader through the use of various points of view. Very few of the poems are from Sylvia’s point of view; whereas, most of the poems are from the point of view of those who knew her best, such as, parents, friends, brother, husband, lovers, etc. This technique helps the reader to become intimately involved in Sylvia’s life. Hemphill starts off with poems from Sylvia’s mother and father’s point of view. Then, she moves chronologically through the life of Sylvia from childhood to adolescence to adulthood to death using powerful imagery, poignant figurative language, and foreboding foreshadowing. In several of the poems, Hemphill mimics the style of poems written by Miss Plath. Her careful attention to details emanating from factual events and her emotional appeal with powerful language help the reader to make a lasting personal connection to Sylvia Plath.

Hemphill masterfully portrays the two sides of Sylvia Plath. On the hand, she is an intellectual success and gifted poet; while on the other hand, she is an extremely troubled young lady. This shows up very early in and continues throughout her life. Hemphill has Ted Hughes, Sylvia’s husband, sum this dueling characteristic in the poem, “What She Left Behind,” (p. 238) when he says, “Her poetry cuts me to the spine,/beautiful and brutal.” In so many ways, Sylvia was beautiful but at the same time emotional brutal. After reading this brilliant work, Sylvia Plath will become the reader’s “Own Sylvia.” Below is a poem from this masterful work.

August 1953

Imagining Sylvia Plath

In the style of “The Fearful”

Her summer is a winter--
Frostbite, gangrene that devours her inside out.

Her wintering is a glass bell--
Frozen crystal tongue without tingle, without chime.

Her glass bell suffocates fireflies, honeybees
Jars them in heat, turns off their little minds.

Her fireflies must be shocked, relit.
Depression oozes from her fingers, softens her brain.

Her brain quiets under the cupboard.
She presses herself inside a wooden cellar box.

The cupboard is a faulty coffin--too many
Breathing holes won't let her be snuffed out.

She broke her mother's locked box
Of pills and swallowed them all.

Broke her mother's heart, but her stomach
Saves her, betrays her, won't keep death down.

More dead than alive, they found her
Blue-tipped but breathing, three days later.

Kid Connection –

To introduce this poem, have the students brainstorm a list of words and images that they associate with depression. Next, have student volunteers read the poem by having a different student read each stanza. Then, have the students share which words and/or images they found the most striking and why. As a follow-up, read the poem, “The Fearful” by Sylvia Plath. Call to their attention that Stephanie Hemphill notes that she is using the style of Miss Plath’s poem. Ask them what stylistic elements are common in both poems.

Social Studies Poetry: The Brothers' War by J. Patrick Lewis

Bibliography –
Lewis, J. Patrick. 2007. The Brothers’ War. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society. ISBN – 9781426300363.

Critical Review –
This collection of eleven American Civil War poems and photographs should be in every secondary social studies class and every secondary library looking for poetry anthologies to support the social studies curriculum. Lewis creates emotionally compelling poems and packages them in a remarkable resource on the American Civil War. Attention is given to every detail of this work. He uses authentic photographs from the Civil War era to accompany each poem. The layout colors of black on gold add to the emotional impact of the anthology. He introduces the collection with a very poignant two line poem that conveys the theme which he explains in the author’s notes section to be “glimpses of the war experience, especially its emotional side.” Poetry is the perfect vehicle to convey the emotional side of war.

Additionally, Lewis includes study aides that contribute to this work being a valuable social studies resource. He has an informative table of contents at the beginning which includes a listing of all the rich resources, such as, the poems, a map, timeline, notes on the poems, notes on photography, and a bibliography of books for beginners studying the American Civil War. In the introduction to this collection, Lewis does an excellent job of explaining the totality of disaster in numbers but still maintains a focus on individual lives touched by the war. Each page has a historical note to add perspective on each photograph and each poem. This anthology is a tremendous resource on the American Civil War for secondary students.

Besides the wealth of resources provided by this anthology, Lewis always creates poems with power points of view through imagery, dialect, dialogue, and repetition. For example in his poem, “Boys in a Brothers’ War”, he has the imagery, “stopped a Union bullet with his face.” The reader is hit in the face with emotion when reading these words. On pages 22 and 23, Lewis pairs two poems written in dialect. One is a letter from a father at home to a son in a prison camp, and the other is the return letter from the son who is in the prison camp. In the poem, “Blood of Our Fathers, Blood of Our Sons,” Lewis uses dialogue for his emotional punch when he says, “Roy whispered, ‘Father…Why?’ before he died.” Yet another example of emotional impact is in his poem, “Passing in Review,” in which Lewis uses repetition of sounds through rhyme and assonance to establish a rhythm that imitates marching or possible the beating of a heart. Each of these techniques creates the inescapable emotional impact of war. Below is a poem from this collection.

Nathaniel Gwinnett - Shrapnel Wound
by J. Patrick Lewis

My head no longer held
A thought without a doubt.
This ragged heart had swelled,
The fire was burning out.

I loved to trade on talk
But never heard the words.
They let me out to walk-
I'd fly among the birds.

My brothers rode to war
Into Confederate flak,
Their wives had known before
they'd not be riding back.

And I, who loved love most
With every fractured breath,
Was giving up the ghost
To welcome Mr. Death.

Gathering up my things,
And very like a loon
On agitated wings,
I flew against the moon.

Kid Connection –
This collection is probably best for older children in grades 5 through 12. To introduce the poem, read the historical note at the bottom of the poem as the students look at the picture on the opposite page. Then, read the poem for the students emphasizing the rhythm and rhyme. Next, have five student volunteers read the poem by stanza. Allow time for the students to discuss their reactions to the poem. Have the students explain what words or elements Lewis uses to make the poem have an emotional impact on the reader. As a follow-up, have the students use the Internet to locate a story about a soldier stationed in Afghanistan. Then, have the students write a poem about the soldier.

Science Poetry: Animal Poems of the Iguazu by Francisco Alarcon

Bibliography –

Alarcon, Francisco X. 2008. Animal Poems of the Iguazu. Ill. by Maya Christina Gonzalez. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press. ISBN – 9780892392254.

Critical Review –

Alarcon presents a collection of 24 poems that paints a wonderful picture of the landscape and wild life that are native to the Iguazu National Park in South America. He introduces the collection by explaining where this rainforest is located and that the poems were written from his first hand experience in visiting the area. His introduction as well as the poems is bilingual written in Spanish and English. After the poems, Alarcon presents information on how to find out more about the national park, information on Gonzales the illustrator, and information on himself. The illustrations are painted in rich earth tones of blue, green, brown, orange, and deep red mimicking the naturally vivid colors found in the rainforest. Particularly noteworthy are the eyes of each animal loaded with expression.

The inspiration for the eyes that make the animals come alive is probably due in large part to the number of poems that are told from the animal’s point of view, such as, “Giant Ants” and “Observant Monkey.” In the poem, “Observant Monkey” the reader can read in the lines exactly what the monkey is thinking, and in his eyes see confirmation of the thoughts. Alarcon has an interesting way of matching the literary element or technique to the animal in the poem. One example is the poem “Jote” which is written in a circular pattern matching the flight pattern of the birds. Another example is the poem “Hummingbird” in which he uses repetition imitating the rapid movement of their wings. When necessary, Alarcon also includes extra notes on the page that help make connections to the poems. In this collection, the poems and illustrations worked perfectly together to create an enlightening and entertaining trip through the Igauzu National Park. Below is a poem from this collection.

Agua Quieta

el agua
antes de caer
en catarata

es tan quieta
como espejo
de cara al cielo

Quiet Water

water before
it plunges down
a waterfall

is as still
as a mirror
facing the sky

Kid Connection –

To introduce this poem, take the children outside and have them sit on a blanket in the grass. Have a hand-held mirror and allow each child to take a turn holding it toward the sky. Allow children to volunteer their thoughts on how still the sky looks in the mirror. Then read the poem. As a follow-up, ask the children to draw what the waterfall looks like to them.

2011 Poetry Book: I am the book by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Bibliography –

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2011. I am the book. Ill. by Yayo. New York: Holiday House. ISBN – 9780823421190.

Critical Review –

Hopkins assembles a collection of thirteen poems written by various poets all on the subject of books that celebrate reading. All of the poems are by well-known poets like Naomi Shihab Nye, Beverly McLoughland, and Kristine O’Connell George to name a few. Hopkins includes a table of contents that lists the poem title and poet which is extremely helpful in finding a particular poem. Also, in the back is an “About the Poets” section that gives brief yet interesting information about each poet that contributed to this anthology. While most of the text of the poems is in a bold black font, the titles along with the table of contents and headers of the “About the Poets” section alternate in various classic colors like red, blue, and green. All of these text features makes the collection easy to read and easy to navigate.

Likewise, the illustrations are in bright basic colors inviting the reader to carefully peruse each detail. Using colorful acrylics, Yayo elaborates on each poem to not only add to the meaning, but to prompt wondering as well. It is a fascinating combination. For example, the illustration for the poem entitled, “A Poem Is”, Yayo creates an amusement park out of musical instruments. It is a clever illustration for the poem in that the poem uses the simile “like bumper cars/at a fair” and the metaphor, “an orchestra/of sounds.” The reader will find it entertaining to try to name the various instruments, and what they represent in the amusement park.

All the poems are simple enough for young children to understand yet meaningful enough for older children to explore. In the poem, “Quiet Morning” by Karen B. Winnick, young children can enjoy the simplicity of a boy, a book, and a dog having something to do on a rainy day; whereas, older children can speculate on why the boy and the dog are in the book. This is just one example of how the poems and illustrations work perfectly together. Some of the poems rhyme while others are free verse, and all can be used for one literary element study or another, such as, alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, etc. “Poetry Time” by Lee Bennett Hopkins uses onomatopoeia to craft an amusing rhythmic rhyme, “It’s poem o’clock/Time for a rhyme- /tick-tock/ding-dong/bing-bong/or/chime.” Children will love reading this one out loud. Below is a poem from this collection.

Quiet Morning by Karen B. Winnick

Early in the morning
dog, book and me
spend quiet moments
just we three.

Snuggled by the window,
chin on my knee
close to the raindrops,
dog, book and me.

Kid Connection –

To introduce the poem, ask the children to share what kind of things they like to do on a rainy day. Then ask them how many of those things they could do if their electricity goes out on a rainy day. Display the poem so all the children can see it as the librarian reads it. Then, have the children read it out loud in chorus. Next, divide the children into two groups and have one group read the first stanza, and the other group read the second stanza. As a follow-up activity, have the children draw pictures of their rainy day activities.