Poetry Review #41

Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials

Author: Stephanie Hemphill
Publisher: Balzer + Bray; Reprint, 2010
ASIN: B003MVZ5SQ
Format: eBook
Reading Ages: Teen & Young Adult - 9th grade & up

Genre: Period Historical Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Poetry, Free Verse Novel 

I Gave This Book 4 Roars! 🦁🦁🦁🦁

Why 4 Roars? I had mixed feelings about this book. I loved the writing, the flow and the feeling.  However, I think it became a little too modern for a historical piece written about this time period. 

I can see that the author was trying to establish a connection between contemporary young ladies of the present and those of the past. The slant of the book takes on the plight of young women that have very little control in their own lives. It is almost as if the author took young women from this time period and placed them in the 1600's.  

It might be difficult for many teen readers to get past the thees, thous, and other word choices that they could stumble over in this book. 

Poetic Elements: The poetry works well for the book; it is beautifully written, pushes the reader to consider how young women were treated during the 16oo's, and treats the wild hysteria as an eerie disruptive experience. The poetry is natural, graceful, and fits into this type of experience. 

“Hemphill follows her Printz Honor Book Your Own, Sylvia (2007) with another bold verse novel based on historical figures. Here, her voices belong to the ‘afflicted’ girls of Salem, whose accusations of witchcraft led to the hangings of 19 townspeople in 1692. Once again, Hemphill's raw, intimate poetry probes behind the abstract facts and creates characters that pulse with complex emotion. According to an appended author's note, unresolved theories about the causes of the girls' behavior range from bread-mold-induced hallucinations to bird flu. In Hemphill's story, the girls fake their afflictions, and the book's great strength lies in its masterful unveiling of the girls' wholly believable motivations: romantic jealousy; boredom; a yearning for friendship, affection, and attention; and most of all, empowerment in a highly constricting and stratified society that left few opportunities for women. Layering the girls' voices in interspersed, lyrical poems that slowly build the psychological drama, Hemphill requires patience from her readers. What emerge are richly developed portraits of Puritanical mean girls, and teens will easily recognize the contemporary parallels in the authentic clique dynamics. An excellent supplementary choice for curricular studies of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, this will also find readers outside the classroom, who will savor the accessible, unsettling, piercing lines that connect past and present with timeless conflicts and truths.” ~~Gillian Engberg

Appeal: The appeal is the effortless poetry and the unnerving qualities of the Salem Witch Trials that bleed into the story. 

“In subtle, spare first-person free-verse poems, the author skillfully demonstrates how ordinary people may come to commit monstrous acts. Haunting and still frighteningly relevant.”

~~ Kirkus Reviews

Overall Quality: The author is more than capable of creating emotions with her poetry and this is not her first book written in novel free verse.    

“The expressive writing, masterful tension, and parallels to modern group dynamics create a powerful and relevant page-turner."  ~~ Publishers Weekly

Layout: The layout is in novel arrangement.  

Connections:
Spotlight Poem - 

"Life is not for joy and jolly,

but for toil and test,

an order ordained." 

Sharing - A readers theater performance might work for sharing parts of this work.

Activity - This book would be good for a history project that centered on the topic of religious persecutions in early America.  

Salem Witch Trials

Poetry Review #40

A Songbird Dreams of Singing: Poems about Sleeping Animals

Author: Kate Hosford
Illustrator: Jennifer M. Potter
Publisher: Running Press Kids, 2019
ISBN:978-0762467143

Reading Ages: 4 - 8 years

Genre: Children's Poetry, Science, Nature

I Gave This Book 4 Roars! 🦁🦁🦁🦁

Why 4 Roars? The poetry and illustrations are beautiful. There is an additional short paragraph on the opposite page that talks about the sleeping habits of the selected animal in the poem. I would liked to have seen a little more information about the animals and their sleeping patterns, but the information presented was interesting and fun. 

Poetic Elements: The rhythm and simplicity of the poems makes it a great book for younger children. The combination of scientific information and lyrical imagery merge well.   

"Firmly in control of language and rhyme schemes but varying tone and tempo as she goes, Hosford marvels at the sleep habits of 18 creatures. At once eye-closing and eye-opening."

~ Kirkus Reviews

Appeal: This collection of poems will appeal to animal lovers, nature lovers, and poetry lovers. The poems smooth out the rough edges of the hard scientific facts and make a great comforting bedtime book for children.

        "Not only is [A Songbird Dreams of Singing] gorgeous and the poems so original and beguiling; the informational text is a total wow!"

~~ Sy Montgomery, author of the National Book Award finalist, The Soul of an Octopus.

Overall Quality: This assortment of poems would be a lovely, reassuring, addition to a classroom or library.

"The work as a whole makes a unique, engaging read aloud from start to finish, and children may well pull it from the shelves again and again to revisit favorite excerpts."

 ~~Publishers Weekly

Layout: The poems are presented like a traditional children's picture book, with the addition of the informational paragraph opposite the poem. It does not feel disjoined or separate but reads more like a story.     

Connections:
Spotlight Poem- My favorite poem in this collection is "Mother Otter Gives Advice to Her Pup." The author discusses how sea otters sleep in the water and "sometimes hold hands." 

"Sleeping otter, swirling sea,

Be careful not to float away.

Hold my hand-stay close to me,

Sleeping otter, swirling sea.

This kelp, so long and tangly

Will help you not to go astray. 

Sleeping otter, swirling sea,

             Be careful not to float away!"           

Sharing - This collection of poems would be a great way to calm students down before nap time or inspire conversations about nature and the sleeping behaviors of animals.

Activity - Sleep Education For School

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~~ Albert Einstein

Poetry Review #39

Lilah Tov Good Night

Hebrew for "good night"

Author: Ben Gundersheime (Mister G)
Illustrator: Noar Lee Naggan
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020

ISBN: 978-1524740665

Reading Ages: 3 and up
Genre: Poetry for Early Learning, Children's Jewish Fiction Books, Stories in Verse, Lyrical Lullaby

I Gave This Book 5 Roars! 🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁

Why 5 Roars? This is one of my new favorite books! It was originally a song that was made into a lyrical lullaby. I bought it for my grandchildren to enjoy and fell in love with the art and rhymes. This is a book that you should buy as a printed copy, not an ebook, in my opinion. The artwork is just too fabulous not to appreciate in print format. 

Poetic Elements: The rhyme and rhythm are a song that became a poem, a visual story, and a moving combination of all of the above. 

“Lovely illustrations depicting a Jewish immigrant tale. The text is concise and simple. . . . The rhymes work well. . . . The luminous, digitally colored pencil illustrations tell a more expansive story. . . . This book can be read as a simple bedtime story or discussed as an immigrant tale. Either way, it will likely find a receptive audience with Jewish families in search of bedtime books or families looking for immigrant stories.”

~~School Library Journal

Appeal: This book is deceptively simple. On one level it is a simple children’s story about a little girl saying good night to common things around her, but on a deeper level you see a family leaving their home in search of a new one. The Jewish diaspora was a major part of Jewish history and is unobtrusively discovered in the lovely artwork that accompanies the poem.

“As the sun sets and the moon rises, an unnamed young child says good night to everything in the natural landscape. . . . Simple, brief, descriptive text... Lush, detailed, soft-edged landscapes provide another, deeper, and more nuanced level to the proceedings. . . . The protagonist is saying good night to the creatures and places spotted on what readers will see as a lengthy journey. . . . At the end of their travels, there is a new home awaiting them. They travel quietly and surreptitiously. . . . Each young reader will interpret the work differently depending on individual understanding and knowledge of history, or perhaps with a wise adult to help. Haunting and beautiful.”

~~Kirkus Reviews

Overall Quality: The book is oddly peaceful and does not present a stressful version of the Jewish diaspora, so young readers will be comforted by the book's simple story and rhyme. The superiority of the lyrical lullaby, sweet, quiet, and effortless with the charming artwork, is exceptional. 

Gundersheimer's work is well known. He has two bilingual albums, "Chocolalala" and "ABC Fiesta," a GRAMMY-winning album, “Los Animales,” Jewish albums “The Mitzvah Bus” and “Seeds of Shalom,” and an environmental bilingual album, “Mundo Verde/Green World.” He promotes multiculturalism, unity, and peace.

Noar Lee Naggan is an illustrator born in Israel and graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

Layout: The layout is a story in verse. 

Connections:

Spotlight Poem -

“The moon is rising,

big and bright

Time to wish everyone

good night”

Sharing - This book would be perfect for reading before bed.

Activity - I would teach the poem in song to younger readers. This would be a great way to connect the art of songwriting and poetry. 

Lailah Töv,

Shalom!

Poetry Review #38

 Out of the Dust

Author: Karen Hesse  
Publisher: Scholastic, 2009 
ISBN: 2009 978-0590371254 
Reading Ages: 10 & up  
Genre: Teen & Young Adult United States Historical Fiction, Teen & Young Adult Poetry

I Gave This Book 5 Roars!🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁

Why 5 Roars? This is a hard book to read. It is a story about the struggle to survive and the strength of the human spirit. I gave it 5 roars because it reminds me of all the hardships that past generations have had to survive.  It alludes to the amazing ability of humans to overcome even the bleakest of times. I also believe it is a valuable read for upcoming generations. This is the kind of story that teaches us to be grateful for all the good things in life. 

I also think this book is significant because it was one of the few poetry books awarded a Newbery Medal before 2009. 

“from 1987 to 1997, only 1 out of 42 books awarded was a poetry collection, the 1989 medal winner Joyful Noise, by Paul Fleischman. From 1998 to 2008, 3 out of 43 books were poetry (Carver, Show Way, and Out of the Dust)” 

~~  Roxanne Hsu Feldman

Poetic Elements: This book is written as series of free verse poems in the first person as journal entries. It does not rhyme, or use regular patterns. Free verse allows the author to use their own ideas to shape the work.  The poetry is beautiful, but I could see how younger readers might be confused by the lack of backstory. Younger readers might need an explanation or brief history lesson on the conditions that lead to the American "Dust Bowl."

Appeal: I have read a great many mixed reviews on this book, and I agree that the book might not be for younger, more sensitive, readers. However, I believe that the reality of the world we live in is portrayed in many uncomfortable situations and the retelling of history encourages us to be a more grateful and a more prepared people. This should be embraced in the appeal of this book.  

It is not uncommon for other cultures to remind future generations of the hardships that were overcome and the value of not repeating mistakes in history in the form of literature. I believe that more and more American classrooms and younger generations are struggling to read books that value important historical lessons because of the uncomfortable information. The “Dust Bowl” warns us of agricultural elements that could have been prevented and the horrors that follow when humans disrespect the land. 

The historical value of the book, written in a way that is distinctive and creative, should not be discredited because the author portrayed the sufferings of the people during this moment in history.   

 

Overall Quality: The quality of the writing should not be confused with the suffering that this time period holds. The author based the fictional family and characters on historical families and their accounts. 

"Billie Jo tells of her life in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl: Her mother dies after a gruesome accident caused by her father's leaving a bucket of kerosene near the stove; Billie Jo is partially responsible--fully responsible in the eyes of the community--and sustains injuries that seem to bring to a halt her dreams of playing the piano. Finding a way through her grief is not made easier by her taciturn father, who went on a drinking binge while Billie Joe's mother, not yet dead, begged for water. Told in free-verse poetry of dated entries that span the winter of 1934 to the winter of 1935, this is an unremittingly bleak portrait of one corner of Depression-era life. In Billie Jo, the only character who comes to life, Hesse (The Music of Dolphins, 1996, etc.) presents a hale and determined heroine who confronts unrelenting misery and begins to transcend it. The poem/novel ends with only a trace of hope; there are no pat endings, but a glimpse of beauty wrought from brutal reality."  ~~ Kirkus Reviews

Newbery Medal Book 

Scott O’Dell Award

Layout: The lay out is two years of journal entries by the main character. 

Connections:
Spotlight Poem - 

“Daddy came in,
He sat across Ma and blew his nose.
Mud streamed out.
He coughed and spit out
mud.
If he had cried,
his tears would have been mud too,
but he didn’t cry.
And neither did Ma.”

Dorothea Lange Photograph

Farm Security Administration (FSA)

Sharing - This book would be great for sharing with a combined lesson in American history on the "Dust Bowl."  A book talk would work well for it, also.  

Activity - The importance of the "Dust Bowl" and the environment would be a great activity to relate this occurrence to present day. 

Soil Conservation 

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~~ Albert Einstein

Poetry Review #37

Won Ton and Chopstick: A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku

Author: Lee Wardlaw
Illustrator: Eugene Yelchin

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co, 2015
ISBN: 978-0805099874

Reading Ages: 4 - 8 years
Genre: Children's Picture Book, Children's Poetry, Japanese Senryū Poetry, Haiku

I Gave This Book 5 Roars! 🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁

Why 5 Roars? I had never read this book before, but I loved it! How did I miss this book? The names of the cat (Won Ton) and puppy (Chopsticks) are so clever, and fitting. Kids will connect to the humor and adults will be impressed with the smart word selections weaved into a story.    

Poetic Elements: I love the fact that the poetry is so cat like! It actually reminds me of a cat thinking out loud. The imagery and sound are part of what really makes this poetry book stand out.

“Young readers who fell in love with Won Ton in Wardlaw and Yelchin's first book, Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku, 

will enthusiastically welcome this new adventure, and those not yet familiar with the earlier book will likely seek it out.”

~~ Booklist

 
Appeal: This is a must read for poetry lovers. It is unusual with a very different sort of feel to the book. However, it follows the traditional Haiku pattern of three lines, 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables again.

“Each haiku is complete in itself, capturing the essence of cat...and together the poems create a whole tale of displacement and eventual mutual understanding.”

~~ The Horn Book

Overall Quality: The pictures are a great way to help younger readers understand the meaning of the poetry. Eugene Yelchin is the author of "Breaking Stalin's Nose." He does a fantastic job of pulling it all together and giving life to the characters. 

“The poetry is concise and witty...technically deft, and age-accessible. Yelchin's graphite-lined gouache art craftily echoes the verse.” ~~The Bulletin

NCTE Notable Poetry List Book
Muse Medallion - Cat Writers' Association
2012 Librarians' Choices List
2012 ALSC Notable Children's Books
2012 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

Layout: It is a story told in poetry. The layout is very similar to other picture books. 

Connections:

Spotlight Poem - 

"Master of escape!

High-flying, dog-defying

acrobatic cat!

Puthimoutputhim

outputhimoutputhim-wait!

I said him, not me!"

Sharing - This is not Won Ton's first staring role, you can find him in the shelter waiting to be taken home in, "Won Ton : A Cat Tale Told in Haiku."  Combining the two books would be a great way to introduce both Won Ton and Haikai to students. Once you meet him, you cannot help but want to take him home, too! He would make a great addition to any classroom or library collection. 

Activity - Won Ton and Chopstick anyone?  I have quite a collection of chopsticks from all over Asia. I introduce students to chopsticks and let them try to pick up and eat different foods with them. The kids love it! 

Making won tons and using chopsticks to eat them with would go nicely with this poetry book. 

 

"Won Ton and Chopstick" Read-A-Loud 

Cream cheese filled won ton recipe 

How to use chopsticks

Different types of chopsticks