Cover compliments of Titlewave
Bibliography
Mora, Pat. Dizzy In Your Eyes: Poems About Love. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2010. ISBN 0-375-84375-4.
Review
Mora’s 50 poems written in different teen voices cover not only a wide-range of teen issues dealing with love, but also cover a variety of poetry styles as well. Conversational and intensely personal, Mora’s poems delve into the many areas of teen love—family, friends, hobbies, teachers—as experienced in four stages: first love, challenges of love, healing in love, and falling in love again. Dealing with first romance and first kisses, last memories of a beloved family member, not fitting in, family fighting, starting over in a relationship, Mora’s poems cover universal teen issues utilizing both free verse and formal poetry styles. In discretely unobtrusive gray writing on the opposite page from the poem, Mora defines and briefly explains the poetry form used. The formal poems include haiku, ode, lyric, acrostic, couplet, cinquan, anaphora, and others with a few poems even featuring Spanish phrases and culture. A heart-felt, tender look at teen love in many forms, this book will connect with teen readers and inspire aspiring teen writers to explore poetry as a means of expression.
Honors
Reviews:
School Library Journal, VOYA, Book Links, Booklist, Horn Book, and Kirkus Reviews
2011, Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, ALA
2011, Americas Commended List, Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
2010, Eureka! Children’s Nonfiction Award, Silver Honor, California Reading Association
Sample poem
Safety
After the school play, you hugged me
and part of me wanted to stay inside your hugs
the way I used to, resting all safe in the arms
that held me in the beginning, knew me
before I did,
But
I pulled away and ran to talk and laugh
with my friends. I watched you
watching me move away.
What would people say
if I stayed inside your arms, and
anyway, what if I got stuck
in the warmth and never left?
Connections
(For upper middle-high school age)
Before reading Safety, have students think about their parents and free-write words and phrases that describe their feelings of love in that relationship. After reading the poem Safety, encourage students to take their free-writing and try to pinpoint one memory that is most vivid for writing a free verse poem about their feelings at some point in time. Carry out this writing experience over a week period during which time students can return to their poem a short while each day to eliminate all unnecessary words, edit word choices, revise, and share their poems with others.
Have students create their own books of “Love Poems” that consist of original works, song lyrics, and published poems. Encourage students to include a minimum number of poetry styles and have students illustrate a cover and a select number of poems in the book. This book can be personal or created as a gift over the course of a poetry unit.
Around Valentine’s Day, host a contest for the best love poetry video trailer. Have students approve their poem ahead of time and submit a brief storyboard. Run the top 5 best trailers on a loop in the library or over school-wide TV and have students cast votes for their favorite poem.
Related reading
Have students explore more of the rich multicultural works of Pat Mora in some of her other poetry books such as My Own True Name and Adobe Odes (for older teens and adults). See her books at http://www.patmora.com/adult_books.htm .
