Children's Literature

SCHOOL POETRY

If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand
by Kalli Dakos
illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Dakos, Kalli. If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand: Poems About School. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1995.

ISBN: 0-689-80116-5

This collection of over thirty poems revolves around issues relating to school.   Dakos has written several school poetry collections, but this collection started it all.  The majority of the poems are comprised of couplets, but there are several free verse included as well.  They Don’t Do Math in Texas is a prime example of the repetition Dakos uses in some of her poetry.  “In Texas” begins every stanza, letting the reader know they will be hearing more about what happens in Texas.  In I Left My Book in Hawaii, personification helps the reader hear the setting: “oceans whispered” and “beaches beckoned.” Kalli Dakos has included poems about many topics relating to school, including math, new kids, the teacher “evil eye”, and death of a classmate.  No matter the topic, Dakos has the ability to make the reader feel those events all over again.  The poems elicit a range of emotions - from funny to frustrating to slightly sad, but they never seem to go too far.  Even Dakos poem, J.T. Never Will Be Ten, shows a child remembering the good things about the friend he lost to an early death.

Several pages of the book felt cramped; one poem ended and another began.  The poems didn’t seem to “go together,” so it didn’t have the feel of a natural progression.  Karas’ illustrations are simple pencil sketches relating to some aspect of each poem.  Initially, I thought this was a negative, but, in retrospect, the simplicity and lack of color allow the readers to create their own images.  That’s what poetry should do.

I LEFT MY BOOK IN HAWAII

By Kalli Dakos

I left my book in Hawaii,

On a beach in the sand somewhere,

I was supposed to practice my spelling,

But I just couldn’t concentrate there.

The oceans whispered, “Come surfing,”

The beaches beckoned, “Come play.”

I followed the sound of their voices,

And I threw my spelling away.

For a week I rode the free winds,

As I surfed a wide blue sea;

And the sound of the ocean breathing

Became a part of me.

I’m sorry, Ms. Jones, I forgot it,

On the beach in the sand somewhere,

How I wish that book was remembered,

And I’d been forgotten there.

Before reading this poem:
Ask children if they’ve ever had trouble concentrating on their homework and have a brief discussion about the kinds of things that can be distracting when trying to concentrate.

After giving each child a copy of the poem, read the poem to them, letting them feel the setting and emotions the child is feeling.
Follow-up:

Because the poem has four stanzas, divide the class into four groups and let them choral read the entire poem, with each group reading one stanza.  If the students seem to enjoy this, allow them to trade stanzas and read it again.