Poetry Review #48

Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by 

Young Poets

Editor: Naomi Shihab Nye

Illustrator: Ashley Bryan

Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 2000

ISBN: 978-0688161934

Reading Ages: 8 and up

Genre: Children's Poetry, Anthology

 4 Roars! 🦁🦁🦁🦁

Why 4 Roars? There were many cute poems in the collection, however it felt a little long and tedious at times. 

Poetic Elements: The poems are predominantly free verse, and explore the children’s feelings and reflections about growing up.   

"Bryan's (Jump Back, Honey) vibrant, imaginative cover art and section openers raise high expectations, but this volume offers rather less than meets the eye. Representing Nye's (What Have You Lost?) favorite student poems from her 25 years of teaching poetry workshops to schoolchildren, it seems more suitable for forming lesson plans than for the enjoyment of children themselves. The poems suggest familiar workshop techniques (e.g., a number of poems rely on the opening words "I sing" or "I feel like" or "I remember") and, perhaps because they reflect a single teacher's methods and tastes, the collection as a whole seems repetitive, ingratiating or sometimes coy ("We had a/ 'Most commonly misspelled word'/ Spelling test ./ Loneliness/ was the only one I got right"). It seems unfair, no matter how well-intentioned, to present these youthful outpourings as accomplished poems, worthy of critical reading. It also raises the question of audience: Nye's self-congratulatory forewords (there are three) and vignettes ("Where is one true word? Where are three?") will better serve teachers than kids, for whom reading this volume may be like plowing through a stack of somebody else's homework." ~~ Publishers Weekly

Appeal: The appeal is the children's inner thoughts and insights into how they view the world. It has a sweet quality, but shortening the collection down a bit might have been a better way to go, in my opinion.

Overall Quality: I love the idea of a collection of poems written by children for children, but it is easy to get bogged down a little in this large collection. I think it would be a great addition for a classroom or library, and might inspire children to try writing poetry themselves.

"There may be nothing more `basic' in education than gaining a sense of one's own voice," Nye writes in the introduction to her new anthology. Culling poems from more than 25 years of teaching poetry in the schools, Nye presents the exceptional work of students in grades 1 through 12."  ~~ Booklist

"Writing about treasured possessions, cats, family arguments, grandmothers, Monday Night at Kwik-Wash, Michaelangelo, and the natural world, the students demonstrate the expected uneven grasp of meter, shape, and rhythm. But their successes are breathtaking: "The trees are so perfect / they know how to grow," writes one student. The title poem, about a boy's belief that his mother's salt shaker gives the sea its salt, is an unforgettable work of beauty for a writer of any age. Genuine, urgent, creative, and yearning, the accomplished voices in this excellent anthology's best entries will sweep up poetry fans and encourage young writers in their own search for a voice." ~~ Booklist

Layout: It is broken into four sections and it is the work of students in first grade through twelfth grade. There are three introductions, an index, and a suggested reading list.

Connections:

Spotlight Poem - 

"One" 

"We had a

'Most commonly misspelled word'

Spelling test

Yesterday in English,

Fourth Period.

I commonly misspelled them all.

Except one.

Loneliness

Was the only one I got right."

by Butch McElroy

Sharing - This particular collection should be shared with the hopes of students writing their own poetry. It lends itself nicely to inspiring young poets. 

Activity - Allowing students to try their hand at poetry would be a great way to use this collection.