FLORIAN POETRY

Poem Depot: Aisles of Smiles

Florian, Douglas. Poem Depot: Aisles of Smiles: Poems and Drawings. 2014.

ISBN: 978-0-8037-4042-6

Poem Depot: Aisles of Smiles, written by award winning poet Douglas Florian, is full of silly, funny, nonsense poems sure to delight young children.  The repetition and alliteration, blended with Florian’s use of rhyme, will have children chiming in and repeating these poems over and over. 

The poems are arranged in “aisles,” thus the subtitle Aisles of Smiles, however the poems did not seem to fit any particular theme within these subdivisions.  The aisles seem merely a way to divide the poems into smaller sections.  The table of contents contains only the name of the aisle, while individual titles are listed in the index found at the end.  This would be helpful when searching for a particular poem, as Florian has included over 150 poems in this collection.

These are not poems to study and analyze (except for, perhaps, a rhyme pattern); these are poems meant to tumble off the tongue and be enjoyed simply for what they are – fun.

"My Mother Has Two Voices"

by Douglas Florian

My mother has two voices,

One delicate and dainty.

One loud as an atomic cloud,

So strong it makes you fainty.

When answering the telephone

Her voice is full of mirth,

But how her tone when off the phone

It’s heavy as the Earth.

If company should come and call,

Her voice is soft and sweet.

But if we misbehave at all,

It sounds like elephant’s feet.

My mother has two voices,

One sweet as baby chicks.

My mother has two voices,

One like a ton of bricks.

Before reading the poem:

Share the title of the poem with students.  Allow students to share in small groups what they think it means.

            Allow time for sharing with the whole group.

            Read the poem aloud.

Follow-up:

Divide the class into four groups.  Assign stanzas and allow time to practice.  Perform a choral reading as a class.

MULTICULTURAL POETRY

My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults

Mora, Pat. My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults, 1984-1999. Houston, Tex: Piñata Books, 2000.

ISBN: 978-1558852921

In My Own True Name, Pat Mora collected poems she has written through the years.  This book reads like a series of memoirs.  The poems are grouped into three categories, as seen in the Table of Contents: Blooms, Thorns, and Roots.  The first section, Blooms, is a compilation of poems about love and joy.  Mora shares poems about first loves, being noticed, parenting, graduation, and other joyful moments in life.  The poems Mora chose to include in Thorns are painful memories; sadness, loss, and death are all present in this section.  In Roots, the poems focus on wisdom, strength, and family.

The poems in this collection are rhythmic, but they do not rhyme.  This memoir-style, free verse poetry book tells a story of living life in a cross-cultural world.  These are typically specific to Mora’s heritage, but the thoughts and feelings conveyed would be recognized among many cultures.

There are no illustrations, except for the black line drawings that open each section, so the poetry speaks for itself.  Many of these poems were originally written for adults, and, although the title says these are for young adults, teens might have some difficulty understanding the poetry.

One part of this book I found especially useful is Pat Mora’s introduction, Dear Fellow Writer.  In this intro, Mora shares her thoughts on writing, reading, memories, and rejection.  This letter would be great to share with students.

A snippet from:

"Tomas Rivera"

By Pat Mora

Those hands clenched in the dark

at viboras, viboras hissing

     we don’t want you, you people have lice

as the school door slammed

but Tomas learned,

and his hands began to hold books

gently, with affection.  He searched

for stories about his people and finally

gave their words sound, wrote the books

he didn’t have, we didn’t have.

Before reading this poem:

Read aloud the picture book: Tomás and the Library Lady (2000).  This provides students with background knowledge about Tomas.

            Read the poem aloud to students.

            Have students work in pairs to compare the poem to the novel. 

Mora, Pat. Tomás and the Library Lady. Illustrated by Raúl Colón. New York: Dragonfly Books, 2000.

NCTE AWARD POETRY

HEROES AND SHE-ROES:
Poems of Amazing and Everyday Heroes

Lewis, J. Patrick. Heroes and She-Roes: Poems of Amazing and Everyday Heroes. Illustrated by Jim Cooke. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2005.

ISBN: 978-0803729254

J. Patrick Lewis has written a book of poetry that appeals to the heart.  He has created poem-stories about many different people in history, as well as honoring several professions.  From teachers to firefighters and Helen Keller to a 12-year-old child laborer, Lewis has written verse that shares with readers the profound effect they have had on our history and our lives today.

Many of the poems have distinct rhyming patterns, giving them an almost singsong quality, but several are written in free-verse form.  They all have a rhythmic feel and lend themselves well to reading aloud.  Some of the poems lack the nitty gritty details of the life of the hero (or she-ro), but Lewis has included a narrative at the end of each poem that seems to fill in some of the historical gaps.  This inclusion makes these poems useful in a social studies or language arts classroom.

The heroes that J. Patrick Lewis chose to include in this book allow the reader to see who true heroes really are.  Oftentimes, children think of ballplayers and singers, actors and athletes as the heroes of their world.  The people Lewis has highlighted bring topics to the forefront that may otherwise be unknown or, even worse, forgotten.  Cooke’s illustrations are simple and colorful, with just enough detail to provide readers with information without overwhelming the senses.  This allows readers to use the words of the poem to see the story.

These poems could provide the stimulus when beginning a unit on biographies or, individually, they could help introduce a Social Studies unit.  These would be great for showing students how to combine poetry with nonfiction writing.

"The Child Laborer"

by J. Patrick Lewis

Iqbal Masih

Pakistan, 1982-1995

Iqbal Masih – Pakistan.

Father sold him to a man.

Sixteen dollars, the going price.

Five-year-olds were merchandise.

The factory owner – dealer in doom –

Chained him to a carpet loom.

Slaving long hours without food,

Iqbal found the fortitude

To escape a inhumane

Never-ending house of pain.

Men occasionally destroy

Youth and spirit, but the boy,

Ten years old, led the crusade –

Life, the highest price he paid –

Against some of the greatest crimes

Perpetrated in modern times.

A Pakistani boy, Iqbal Masih, was one of the warriors in the long, painful struggle to end the debt enslavement of children.  Taken young, Iqbal escaped after five years of servitude.  At great risk he went on to gather evidence and became an international crusader for child workers worldwide.  He was shot and killed at age twelve by unknown assailants.

Before reading this poem:

            Show students just the name, his country, and the years he lived. 

Ask:
            Do you think anyone who lived only those few short years could be a hero?
            What could a child of twelve possibly have done that people would remember him after he is               gone?

Read the poem aloud.  Have a brief discussion of what they have learned about Iqbal.  Talk about heroes and what makes someone a hero.  If they have difficulty with the concept, read them the three-stanza poem at the beginning of the book – “Give thanks to the he- and she- roes.”

Read the poem again.

Follow-up:

Have students choose a hero, do a little research, and write a poem.  This could be any format, but diamantes would lend themselves to this task.

"Iqbal Masih"
by C. Hickerson

Laborer

Worker, Child

Slaving, Starving, Yearning

International crusader for children

Searching, Fighting, Escaping

Slave, Dead
Iqbal

AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY

My Man Blue: Poems

Grimes, Nikki. My Man Blue: Poems. Illustrated by Jerome Lagarrigue. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1999.
ISBN: 0-8037-2326-1

My Man Blue: Poems, shares the story of Damon, a young boy whose father is gone.  He has moved with his mother and meets his mother’s old friend, Blue.  Each poem seems to be Damon, telling his own story.  The poems all have a rhythmic quality without having any sort of rhyming pattern.  Grimes has used some similes and metaphors to help create imagery, but the majority of the poems are free verse.

This story will be familiar to many children, fears and friends, loss and gain, friendship and bullying.  The underlying storyline shows how Damon’s friendship with Blue helps him learn how to handle stress, fear, and anger.  These poems show how Blue helps Damon grow up.  For example, in “Grounded,” Damon is angry because his asthma has kept him from playing ball.  His friend, Blue, shares a hotdog with the works and shows him this is a better use of his mouth than complaining and “the perfect cure for disappointment.”

Each poem has its own page, with facing pages containing illustrations that truly help tell the story.  Lagarrigue’s illustrations are a bit dark in color, but they beautifully show the words of the poetry using pictures.

My Man Blue: Poems, does not contain a table of contents, but the poems almost seem sequential, rendering a table of contents unnecessary.  The poems can stand alone, but, as a whole, the poems have more impact.

FEARLESS

by Nikki Grimes

One weekend Blue and me

We storm the park.

I kill time kicking rocks

along the path

while Blue scouts out a tall

and sturdy tree

And urges me to loop

my fear like twine

around a branch and use

the rope to climb.

(Fear’s useless otherwise.”

Blue says to me)

“You know I’ll be right here

In case you fall.”

Believing that is all

it takes to send

me scrambling toward the clouds

the sun, the sky.

            Hey! Climbing’s no big deal –

            Next time, I’ll fly!

Ask students:

Have you ever been afraid to do something?

What did you do to get beyond that fear?

Read the poem aloud to students, asking them listen for ways the author shows the setting.

Follow-up:

Ask students to brainstorm things that children might be afraid of; by not focusing this writing on their own fears, they may feel less intimidated.

            In pairs, have students write a poem about a childhood fear that is overcome.

HOPKINS COLLECTION

Marvelous Math

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems. Illustrated by Karen Barbour. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2001.
ISBN: 978-068984442-3

Hopkins is responsible for creating over one hundred anthologies of poetry for children.  Most are focused on a single topic and Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems is no exception.  Most of the poems selected for this anthology have a distinct rhyming pattern, but Hopkins has sprinkled the pages with some free verse poetry and haikus.  The poems, written by fourteen different authors as well as Bennett himself, easily show the reader math in their every day life.  Fractions, multiplication, division…it is all covered in this collection.  The table of contents makes it easy to find a poem by a particular poet, which is helpful for readers.  Some poets are immediately recognizable – David McCord, Karla Kuskin, and Lee Bennett Hopkins – while others are not as well known. 

With each poem having its own page, sometimes two pages, the poems are easy to read.  The illustrations Barbour created for this anthology are vibrantly colored, simple depictions of the topics in each poem and completely fill the pages.  She depicts people of several different nationalities and includes many different fanciful animals.  The illustrations feel happy.

from

TAKE A NUMBER

By Mary O’Neill

Imagine a world

Without mathematics:

No rulers or scales,

No inches or feet,

No dates or numbers

On house or street,

No prices or weights,

No determining heights,

No hours running through

Days and nights.

No zero, no birthdays,

No way to subtract

All the guesswork

Surrounding the fact.

No sizes for shoes,

Or suit or hat. . . .

Wouldn’t it be awful

To live like that?

Before reading the poem:
Ask students how we use math in our everyday life.

Display the poem so they can follow while the poem is read to them.

Allow student to randomly read along on the second and third readings.
Follow-up:

Have students write their own poem: Imagine a world with no _________.