The Brothers' War: Civil War Voices in Verse (Social Studies poetry)

(Book Cover from Titlewave)

Bibliography

Lewis, J P. The Brothers' War: Civil War Voices in Verse. Washington, D.C: National Geographic, 2007. ISBN 9781426300363

Review 

620, 000 people died during the worst war on American soil. Almost 400 people died every day from 1861-1865. Lewis’ book The Brothers’ War captures the war as seen through the eyes of soldiers from both sides: runaway slave, general, father, young soldiers. Lewis writes his poems in a variety of forms including free verse, sonnet, and more. Heavy with imagery, the reader can hear, see, and feel the horrors of a hopeless battle … “Hobart Funderbruck, nineteen, three months married,/ one month lost, screaming in another world,/felt in his stomach the welcome ice of bayonet”… and the despair of the imminent war… “Let all the hired guns of hate/Punish this old John Brown./The dam they opened up will flood/With blood until they drown.”

Offering a personal perspective, the eleven mostly fiction poems are created from primary source books and articles and each poem is paired with a full page black and white photograph from the Library of Congress. Historical background passages are included in small print on each spread providing the reader with a frame of reference for each photograph and poem.  The grainy photos evoke immediate emotions of amazement or shock…a slave family, dead bodies on a battlefield, hope-filled young soldiers, an infirmary, a slave’s scarred back, a soldier who has had both arms amputated. The book includes a timeline of events from the Civil War, author’s notes on each poem, photography notes, and a bibliography sampler of books “for the Civil War beginner.”  

Bugs: Poems About Creeping Things (Science Poetry)

(Book Cover compliments of Titlewave)

Bibliography

Harrison, David. Bugs: Poems about Creeping Things. Ill. by Rob Shepperson. Honesdale, Pa: Wordsong, 2007. ISBN 9781428735798

Review 

Harrison’s small book of 40 short poems takes a playful look at the world of insects. Readers will enjoy leafing leisurely through the humorous verses about creepy things such as the millipede who “giggles/wherever/he/goes./Grass/tickles/all of those/toes”  or the pathetic mosquito afraid of a can of Deet who declares “Let’s be friends!/ Let’s not fight!/ All I ask is/one/small/bite.”  Harrison’s silly approach to bugs will disarm even the most squeamish reader.  With engaging alliterative sounds like the praying mantis who “Sits motionless still”  and fun onomatopoeia found in the two-voice poem about bees (“zzzzzzzzz”), the poems beg to be read aloud. In fact, the book includes seven exceptionally creative poems for two voices such as the worm crossing the street where the second voice makes traffic sounds until ending with a big “SQUISH!” 

Shepperson’s simple black and white line drawings add to the fun by giving the bugs comical expressions and even human-like behaviors such as the swash-buckling gnat brandishing a sword and the gleeful bed bug donned in chef hat, fork, and knife.  Some of the poems about bugs that live in the dark like roaches, fireflies, and no-see-ums are written on solid black pages with white typesetting. The small size of the book makes it perfect for tucking in a backpack for hikes, campouts, and nature walks.

Techically, It's Not My Fault (Poetic Form)

(Book Cover Compliments of Barnes and Noble)

Bibliography

Grandits, John. Technically, it’s not my fault : concrete poems. New York: Clarion Books. 2004. ISBN 9780618428335

Review

In a creatively irreverent and decidedly laugh-out-loud style, Grandit explores the daily musings of an 11-year old boy named Robert.  Grandit’s concrete poems are masterpieces built from over 30 different fonts arranged in whimsical as well as technical shapes. Readers will enjoy rotating and revolving the book to follow the text. Poems on Robert’s ordinary issues cover homework, his crazy sister, skateboarding, and mowing the grass.  Readers will delight in Robert wrapping his sister’s algebra homework around a firework tube and seeing it arc then shower down in random numbers on the page. Robert’s eccentric side is also seen in poems touching on the history of farts, the school bus that eats children, and inventing a spew-inducing roller-coaster. The “Spew Machine” carries readers across the page through red flames, waves of water and poisonous black spiders only to be shot from a cannon at the end, but saved by a parachute. The red, black, and white colors are masterfully used to help create Grandit’s crisp, playful images.  Children in grades 4-8, especially boys, will be sucked in to Robert’s engrossing world.

Planet Middle School (Verse Novel)

(Book Cover compliments of Titlewave)

Bibliography

Grimes, Nikki. Planet middle school. New York: Bloomsbury. 2011. ISBN 9781599902845

Review 

Best-selling author Nikki Grimes introduces an instantly likeable12-year old girl named Joylin in a heartfelt poetry book that explores the angst, joys, awkwardness, and self-awareness of the middle school years. Tomboy Joy, who can whip any guy on the block in basketball, finds herself as dismayed at the physical changes in her own body as she is the personality changes in her two best friends. Jake begins to treat her different on and off the court, and KayLee begins to take an interest in frills, heels, and lipgloss. Meanwhile, Joy doesn’t understand why she is suddenly noticing cute boys herself and starting to rethink her own personal appearance. As she convinces her unathletic younger brother to enjoy his gift for drawing and stop trying to impress their father with sports, she observes “See what happens / when you stop trying to be / someone you’re not, / when you stick with / who you really are? / Good things follow.”  Joy gradually and painfully begins to re-embrace who she is, but not before many pages of laughable embarrassing moments dotted with lipstick, heels, training bra, a first-ever skirt, and a gorgeous (but out-of-reach) guy named Santiago. Grimes' free-verse poems laced with honest first-person insights from Joy unfold a gentle growing-up story full of humor, hope, and wisdom that will resonate with any girl who has traversed (or is traversing) the unfamiliar terrain of “Planet Middle School.”

Lemonade (New Poetry Book)

(Book cover compliments of Titlewave)

Bibliography

Raczka, Bob. Lemonade, and other poems squeezed from a single word. Ill. by Nancy Doniger. New York: Roaring Books Press. 2011. ISBN 978-1-59643-541-4

Review 

Raczka’s crazy poems are as much a puzzle to solve as poetry to enjoy. Each of the 22 poems begins as a single word title from kid life…lemonade, vacation, playground, earthworms. Each short poem is then constructed using only the mixed-up letters from the title word. Challenging to read (and certainly even more challenging write) the jumbled letters cascade down the page in an order that forms the words of the poem. For the reader who wants to see if they “solved” the poem correctly, the backside of the page reveals the poem in a more traditional one word per line format. Some are silly “vacation”: “action/in/a/van” while others are more profound “constellation”: a/silent/lion/tells/an/ancient/tale.”  Framed by a red, yellow, black color scheme, the sparse poems are complimented by Doniger’s unobtrusive black and red watercolor illustrations. Sometimes Raczka’s poems even take on a concrete poem shape as in “Treehouse” where the words spill down the page complimenting the ladder illustration beside it that leads up to the treehouse. Drawing on the fun of riddles and anagrams, Raczka’s book squeezes poems from the most unsuspecting words that will inspire readers to attempt their own one word poems.

Animal Poems (NCTE Award Poetry)

(Cover compliments of Titlewave)

Bibliography

Worth, Valerie. Animal Poems. Ill. by Steve Jenkins. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. 2007. ISBN 0-374-38057-0.

Review 

Worth’s insightful free-verse poems about 23 animals pair perfectly with Jenkins’ vivid paper-cutting illustrations. The sparse-looking poems, rich in vivid metaphors and not a wasted word offer acute observations and thoughtful insights on each animal subject. Especially notable is her mastery of extended metaphors as seen in the mole’s comparison to a miner seeking treasure. From the light-hearted look at the ability of a baby kangaroo’s privilege to “Return headfirst/To the delectable/Pocket of the dark” to the somber look at the elephant’s role in the circus, Worth’s snappy word choices succinctly capture a clear image and subtle message of each animal. Jenkin’s layered paper collages compliment Worth’s layers of insight. Fringed paper softens the camel while translucent paper gives an ethereal quality to the jellyfish. Rich in varieties of textures, sizes, and muted color shadings, the paper collage animal images appear on some spreads to nearly pop off the page. The solid color backgrounds create an uncluttered feel to the book. Published post-humously, this book reflects the rich free-verse style of a remarkable poet to be enjoyed by all ages of readers.

Dizzy in Your Eyes (Multicultural Poetry)

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.