NCTE Award Winning Poet: Eloise Greenfield

Bibliography:

Greenfield, Eloise. 2004. In The Land of Words: New and Selected Poems. Ill. Gilchrist, Jan Spivey. USA: HarperCollins. ISBN: 0060289937

Review:

NCTE award winning poet, Eloise Greenfield has written a book that is an excellent introduction to poetry for young readers. In The Land of Words: New and Selected Poems is actually a combination of new poems and poems that Ms. Greenfield has previously written. The book is a tribute to poems, poetry, stories and words. The book is divided into two parts: Part I is titled “The Poet/The Poem”. In this section, each poem is introduced by the author and explains the inspiration behind the poem and what she was thinking as she wrote it. Part II is titled “In The Land”. In this section, there are poems about books, stories, jokes, riddles poems, words and how people feel about reading and writing. All of the poems in the book are easily accessible by young students and are concrete in nature. Children will love the strong rhythm and rhyme in the poems. Here is an example of this strong rhythm and beat : from Nathaniel’s Rap:

It’s Nathaniel talking/and Nathaniel’s me/I’m talking about/my philosophy/About the people I see/All told in the words/Of Nathaniel B. Free/That’s me/And I can rap/I can rap/I can rap, rap, rap/Til your earflaps flap….

I love the feel of this poem. I can feel Nathaniel’s energy, and desire to express his opinions about everything. In addition to the strong rhythmic poems, many of the poems use strong rhyming phrases. The rhymes roll off the tongue and are fun to read aloud. Greenfield truly understands children and the poetry that they will love. This a wonderful book to share with students and to explore the way words and imagination can be used to express how you feel about everything. Jan Spivey Gilchrist illustrated the poems in beautiful fabric collage. The bright felt illustrations are very detailed and add to the appeal of the book.

Poem Selection:

It was difficult to decide which poem to share in this post. I decided to share two in order to show the uniqueness of the book. As stated earlier, Part I of the book is titled “The Poet/The Poem. What I really liked about this section is the introduction to each poem that Ms. Greenfield gives. I would use this book to introduce students to the thought process involved in writing. Too often students think that writing is just sitting down and writing-on demand! Ms. Greenfield’s explanations are the perfect way to dispel that idea. I would read the title to each of the poems, and then read the introduction. I would then ask students to tell what they think about the specific activity and write on chart paper in order to facilitate the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and touch of the specific activity. Here is an excerpt from To Catch a Fish. Ms. Greenfield explains: “This poem was inspired by a painting by Amos Ferguson. I thought of the patience it takes to go fishing” (pg.16).

It takes more than a wish/to catch a fish/you take the hook/you add the bait/you concentrate/and then you wait/you wait/you wait….

As I read this poem, I could just picture myself sitting on the dock or in a boat going fishing. What an excellent way to explore the feelings of an activity with children and the creative ways to write about those experiences.

My favorite poem in the book is Story. It truly expresses how I feel when I read-and how I want all of my students to feel.

I step into the story,/I leave my world behind,/I let the walls of story/Be the walls around my mind./New faces and new voices,/I listen and I see,/and people I have never met/mean everything to me./I worry when they worry,/I quake when danger’s near,/I hold my breath and hope/that all their troubles disappear./ I don’t know what will happen,/I never know what I’ll find,/when I step into a story/and leave my world behind.

Multicultural Poetry: Gary Soto

Bibliography:

Soto, Gary. 1995. Canto Familiar. Ill. Nelson, Annika. Orlando, FL: Harcourt ISBN 0152000674

Review:

Canto Familiar is a collection of twenty-five poems by Gary Soto celebrating memories of his childhood, familiar things that bring memories of school, home and friends to all of us.This book of poetry is the companion to Soto's Neighborhood Odes. Many of the poems use the Spanish language to add color and authenticity to the poetry. These poems represent the everyday experiences of children at play, with family and friends. Soto uses concrete images to provide a setting that is realistic and filled with detail. His poems bring to life the subject matter Soto is relating to the reader. Each poem is a story in itself and helps reader to understand the lives of the children and their families represented. Readers of Mexican descent, or those intimately familiar with the culture, will smile and think of their own experiences as they experience Soto’s poems. Those who are unfamiliar with the Mexican culture may need help in understanding the context of some of these poems; but will feel as if they have been invited into these homes and quickly feel as if the people they meet in the poems are just like them. Soto does an excellent job in blending cultures and making the poems accessible to children. Annika Nelson’s illustrations are beautiful. The bright woodcut designs will help readers to know and understand these poems.

Poem Selection:

I have chosen to share the poem called Handcuffs. As I read this poem, I could relate to the predicament that this child is in and how I too have been in similar situations.

Handcuffs

How could I know/That when I slipped/Into handcuff,/The plastic kind,/ Mom would be gone, Father/Already on his forklift/At work? I slipped/Them on, and/looked up/At the clock/In the kitchen,/Its big hand washing/Its face over/And over./It was 8:23,/Seven minutes/ Before I had to/Cross the street/And join my friends,/Those changos/On the monkey bars./ I pulled at/The handcuffs,/Yanked until my skin/ Became pink/ As a sock/ In the wrong wash./ I banged them/ On the washer,/Then the edge of/The sink, and finally/ On the back porch/Until our neighbor,/ Senor Cisneros,/Came out of the house/…….

The poem goes on to tell how the child could not find the key to the handcuff, her feeling of embarrassment, and her trip to school-still in handcuffs.

I would share this poem with students as a introduction to writing about themselves. Student’s often have difficulty when writing about themselves. The feel like they have never done anything worth writing about. This is a perfect example of how reading poetry can help children understand and relate to other people. After sharing the poem, let students tell their stories of troubled times. Then let the writing commence!

Learn more about Gary Soto.

Poem Selected by Lee Bennet Hopkins: Got Geography!

Bibliography:
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2006. Got Geography!.New York: Greenwillow Books.
ISBN: 9780060556013.

Review:
Lee Bennett Hopkins has gathered sixteen poems by various authors including J. Patrick Lewis, Joan Bransfield Graham, and Carl Sandburg. The poems all focus on different aspects of geography: latitude, longitude, physical features such as mountains, forests, waterfalls, volcanoes, using a compass and all of the features on maps. The poems vary widely in form. Several of the poems are very abstract and younger children may not understand the references. One example of this is the poem : from North Atlantic by Carl Sandburg. "The Sea gives all/and yet the sea keeps something back./The sea takes without asking./The sea is a worker, a thief, and a loafter." Even though younger children may not understand this poem it s has a sophistication that should be shared and discussed. Other poems are concrete, lighhearted and fun. One such poem is Compass by Maria Fleming. The rhythm and rhyme of this poem will appeal to children and could be used to discuss the rich vocabulary contained within. The illustrations are done in vivid, acrylic paint. Although the illustrations are simple they fill up the page with details that add to the understanding of the poem and will be appealing to readers.
Poem Selection:
I have chosen to highlight the poem Compass by Maria Fleming. The poem is not the first in the book but I feel it would be a great introduction to a geography unit or lesson because it contains rich vocabulary. The rhythm and rhyme is fun and upbeat, the mood light and lends itself to a discussion of exactly what geography entails. In addition, I can see this as being an introduction to a program that students perform during a PTA meeting or other planned celebration. Perhaps students can write their own poems about places they have learned about and them put together the performance with this poem as the introduction.

Compass by Maria Fleming
Compass, Compass/
Point the way/
To wild places/
Where few stray./
Across deep seas/
To distant lands,/
Toward arctic ice/
And desert sands,/
To jungles gleaming/
Jewel-green,/
To mountaintop/
And deep ravine./
Guide me around/
The globe and then,/
Compass/
Point me home again. /