Poetry Friday -- review: Falling Down the Page

Falling Down the Page edited by Georgia Heard. Roaring Brook, 2009 (978-1-59643-220-8) $16.95

They say some people would be entertaining reading the phone book. Poems of lists don't sound very promising, but get the right poets and you have a wonderful concept and a wonderful collection. An excellent design doesn't hurt, either.

This is a smallish book--no illustrations, but it doesn't need them. Most of the poems run vertically/sideways, to feel more like reading a list; one is to be read bottom to top, one with four voices. The titles of the poems are all done in different styles, which adds some visual variety: for example, "What is Earth?" by J. Patrick Lewis and "Spinners" by Marilyn Singer are both appropriately round, while "In My Desk" by Jane Yolen is scattered down the side of the page in a a random feeling way and "Creativity" by Eileen Spinelli has leaning and upside down letters. The design adds to the poems without taking attention away from them.

I love how the poems takes a theme that may seem mundane--the contents of a desk, rocks, clay--and find... well, poetry, in them. Thought, sound, imagery, meaning. It's hard to pick one poem to showcase, because I liked each one better than the last. But since it's Poetry Friday, I'll go with this one:

Why Poetry by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Why poety?
Why?

Why sunsets?
Why trees?

Why birds?
Why seas?

Why you?
Why me?

Why friends?
Why families?

Why laugh?
Why cry?

Why hello?
Why good-bye?

Why poetry?

That's why!

If you love poetry, put checking out this book on your things to do list. * (6 & up)


© 2010 Wendy E. Betts

FTC disclosure: Review copy provided by the publisher. This blog is completely independent, but I receive a small percentage if you order books from Powell's via this site.

Poetry Friday -- review: Scarum Fair

Scarum Fair by Jessica Swaim. Illustrated by Carol Ashley. Wordsong, 2010 (978-1-59078-590-4) $17.95

Welcome NOT to Scarum Fair, where the devil's food cake is served by real devils, the Scary-Go-Round never lets you off and the Crocodile Slide will cost you an arm and a leg. This collection of verse is an entertaining parody of county fairs that will appeal to readers who enjoy puns: the sax player in the Sleeping Dead Band de-composes, competition is stiff in the coffin race, bad luck often strikes those who ride the Rattler Coaster. Dark illustrations, heavy on gruesome green, combine genuine creepiness with a touch of cute, to help keep the scariness on the silly side.

None of the poems really stood out for me, except the appealing randomness and hint of intrigue in "The Palm Reader":

"Your garden will die," Madame says with a frown,
You could have a green thumb if you'd just knuckle down."
She closes The Hand, and she gives it a squeeze.
"You owe me ten bucks and a slice of swiss cheese."

The Hand waves goodbye as it exists the booth
with a fistful of lies and a pinch of the truth.

Other than that, it's an easy read aloud with general kid appeal, though perhaps less accessible to those who aren't familiar with fairs. (6 & up)

© 2010 Wendy E. Betts

FTC disclosure: Review copy provided by the publisher. This blog is completely independent, but I receive a small percentage if you order books from Powell's via this site.

Poetry Friday: "Three Little Kittens"

Three Little Kittens and Other Favorite Nursery Rhymes selected and illustrated by Tony Ross. Henry Holt, 2009 (978-8050-8885-4) $16.95

Despite a brief framing device of a grandfather reading to his granddaughter, at first glance this collection of nursery rhymes seems familiar. The rhymes are well known, and the watercolor illustrations are very much in the traditional, old-fashioned mode, with animals wearing bow ties and women in mob-caps. What sets it apart from similar books is the expressiveness of the characters, and an edginess that's not often found in books for very young children published in the United States. (This was originally published in Great Britain in 2007.)

I enjoyed the emotion that comes through in the pictures. The "rock-a-bye" baby falls into the arms of a terrified Puritan woman, while behind her a Puritan man looks on and anxiously bites his nails. Mary and her little lamb play together with warm affection. Old Mother Hubbard is visibly perturbed by the state of her cupboard, and her dog even more so--though the cat and mouse that ran off with all the bones are mighty pleased with themselves.

Some of the touches are witty, such as the dismay of the little girl who picked up sticks and laid them straight, only to have them squashed by a good fat hen. And some are unexpectedly macabre: as children play ring around the rosy, in a scene obviously inspired by the urban legend about the origins of that rhyme, the "fallen down" children look quite dead. Little Tommy Tucker is literally blue as he sings for his supper in the snow. And a boy ponders the "want of a nail" after seeing soldiers felled by arrows on a battlefield.

With large lettering, ample illustrations and lots of white space, this book is nicely designed for toddlers. Whether they should be exposed to some of the grittier elements associated with the old rhymes is really a personal choice. (1-4)

Poetry Friday, Valentine's Day Edition

(The full round-up doesn't seem to be posted yet, but should be found later at Big A, Little A)




More Than Friends: Poems from Him and Her by Sara Holbrook and Allan Wolf. Illustrated by Sara Holbrook. Wordsong, 2008 (978-1-5078-587-4) $16.95

More Than Friends is currently a finalist in the Cybils poetry catagory; the big announcement is Valentine's Day and I would so love to wake up tomorrow and discover that it won. It's the most captivating book of poems I've read since last year's winner, This Is Just to Say.

More Than Friends is told in two voices, those of a teenage boy and a teenage girl, and it had me from "His" first words:

What Do You Do When She Looks at You?


Become unglued
and crimson-hued?
Turn away,
afraid to stare?
Bury your face in your biology book?

Or return the look?

(I wondered if the similarity in form to Langston Hughes' "A Dream Deferred" was deliberate; after seeing the obvious nod to Dylan Thomas in the later villanelle, "Do Not Bolt Screaming, Clutching All Your Stuff," I'm pretty sure it was. And of course it makes total sense for teen-aged characters to be thus poetically inspired.)

The poems take us through a relationship as it gingerly moves from "just friends" to dating, love, problems, arguments and a bitter-sweet ending. Several different forms are used: free verse, villanelle, sonnet, terza rima, a rather heartbreaking poem for two voices ("The Argument,") and a complex Vietnamese form called luc bat which works perfectly to create the sound of a teenage girl at her boldest and sassiest. Tankas (similar to haiku but slightly longer) are scattered throughout, like conversational sound bites capturing a short piece of each character.

The frequent change in forms helps keep momentum and excitement building throughout the story; the poems also build on each other, as "he" and "she" quote both their own past words and those of the other.

It's such a pleasure to read narrative poetry that is truly poetry, showing genuine care for rhythm and imagery, rather than just prose chopped up into short lines. I've gotten leery of free verse published for young adults, but then most of it isn't like this:

I estimate the distance to her knee
at about... three football fields.
And suddenly I'm thinking
of my football moves.
My soccer moves.
My hands moving on a chessboard.
My feet moving on a skateboard.
My family moving out of state.
Moving to another universe. To the Outer Rim,
to the dead planet Dagobah where Yoda hides.
What would Yoda do? I ask.
Use the Force I would, the master replies.

So I close my eyes and mentally
shift all resources to my comatose hand.
The life-force begins to drain from me
yet my massive arm moves--
a quick robotic lurch--into the air.
With all the grace of a John Deere backhoe,
the arm swings up and out and drops,
crash-landing for the touchdown.
Neil Armstrong, successfully landing on the moon,
could not have felt the same fear and awe.

(This is about as sexually explicit as the story ever gets, by the way. The poems are equally accessible to younger and older teens.)

Form and feeling--in More Than Friends we are so lucky to have both, so beautifully rendered. * (13 & up)

Poetry Friday: a song by Loudon Wainwright

A feeling I think many of us shared...


HANK AND FRED
copyright 2003 by Loudon Wainwright III

On my way Thursday from the Y, I heard it in the car
Bob Edwards broke the news to me -- yes, he of NPR
Driving through Montgomery I hung my head and cried
Then I visited Hank Williams' grave the day Fred Rogers died

Zelda Sayre and Scott Fitzgerald lived somewhere in this old town
Nat King Cole was born here, Rosa Parks stayed sitting down
Black and white, death, booze and music, genius, courage, kindness, pride
Oh, I felt them all around me there the day Fred Rogers died

And we mocked King Friday XIII on Saturday Night Live
But once I started crying, it was pretty hard to drive

One New Year's day Hank slipped away, slumped over in the back
Oh, I hope he had his cardigan on in that Cadillac

When you look out from the hilltops you can see confederate graves
And the railroad runs by the river that carried cotton, soldiers, slaves
Hank's real name was Hiram, we all could feel his pain
And Fred McFeeley Rogers knew how to talk to a train

How we mocked King Friday XIII on Saturday Night Live
But once I started crying, it was pretty hard to drive

Driving through Montgomery I hung my head and cried
Then I visited Hank Williams' grave the day Fred Rogers died
I visited Hank Williams' grave when Mister Rogers died

Poetry Friday: Come and Play

Come and Play edited by Ayana Lowe. Photographed by various. Bloomsbury, 2008 (978-1-59990-245-6) $16.95

As a reviewer, one of the things I think about as I evaluate a book is, who is this book for? In Come and Play, I see a rare book that could almost be answered "for everybody." Generally speaking, teachers will love it, parents will love it, librarians will love it... even kids will love it.

To make this book, schoolchildren were shown photographs of children from all over the world at play: tag, sledding, dancing, chess, just jumping. They then wrote poems about the photos, creating a truly integral mix of illustrations and words, each adding so much to the other. We get to see the thoughts of an eager French baby being held at the beach:

Papa!
I want to kiss the water.
Let me go.

And a Moroccon girl leading a group of children on an obviously secret errand entices us:

They don't know we are here.
I like to play pranks.
I like to be very sly.
Follow me.

Occasionally the poems feel a little too much like mere narrative of the pictures--but then there might be a surprise twist or unexpected image, like in this poem about a little girl, seen from the back strutting down "Brixton Road:"

Skipping.
Outside, afterschoolish.
Homework?
Or a list to go to the store?
She feels famous.

Of course, we think--that's exactly how she feels!

Here's another that takes description to a different level, of two children playing on rocks near a waterfall:

Two people.
Different places.
Rocks rough and smooth.
Water fast and slow.
One calm.
One excited.
Wait, I'm coming up!
Wait, I'm coming down!

The photos are wonderful, so intriguingly diverse in the children's faces and backgrounds and clothes, yet utterly familiar in their depictions of fun and joy. And the poems only make the photographs even better. The only complaint I have is that the individual authors aren't given credit with their poems, though some are pictured in an afterword and children, presumably the authors, have autographed the end papers. Also, the explanation given for how the poems came to be written is a little ambiguous; I was left uncertain that these specific pictures were actually the ones that inspired the poems. (Although they certainly do seem to be.)

If you're looking for a book about how different children live... or a book of poetry by children... or an exciting read-aloud... or just something really fun to read... well, come and play. * (5 & up)

Poetry Friday: Dog Poems by Dave Crawley

Dog Poems by Dave Crawley. Illustrated by Tamara Petrosino. Wordsong, 2007 (978-59078-454-9) $16.95

Twenty-four vignettes in verse makes up this lighthearted collection of love poems to dogs. There's a description of the unbeautiful but loyal and gentle bulldog, showing that beauty is only fur deep, a glimpse of a wolf and hunter beginning to bond in ancient times, and and a story about a pure white puppy named Snowball who unexpectedly develops into a Dalmatian who has to be renamed Dotty. A strong affection for the foibles of dogs shines through the book, culminating in a tender poem about a girl and puppy growing old together:

And as we walk this well-worn path
no longer running free,
I hope I was as good to you
as you have been to me.

I have a limited tolerance for poetic whimsy and any poem called "Snuggle-Wuggle" that uses the phrase "ruzzle-wuzzle" is really pushing it; nonetheless, I like this book. The poems in it are sometimes silly, frequently obvious and unabashedly sentimental, but even after several rereadings during the Cybils nomination process many of them made me smile; reading it again now, they still do. The poetic forms used are familiar, but frequent changes in mood and tempo keep the book from getting that stale feeling common to collections of verse. Even the illustrations, which are on the shallow, cartoony side, work surprisingly well, keeping the mood of the book light and playful. With pictures like these, you don't expect lyric profundity and it's okay that you don't get it. Although I see a fair bit to criticize in Dog Poems, I think many readers will enjoy it for its warmth and easy humor. (4-8)

Poetry Friday: Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout

This was chosen by my son, who I found chuckling over "soggy beans and tangerines" in his reading corner a few minutes ago. This is the lyric version, rather than the poem as published.

(I have a friend named Sarah who married a man whose last name is Stout... oddly enough, she decided to keep her maiden name. :-) )

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out.
She'd wash the dishes and scrub the pans
Cook the yams and spice the hams,
And though her parents would scream and shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceiling:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas and rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the windows and blocked the door,
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peels,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans, and tangerines,
Crusts of black-burned buttered toast,
Grisly bits of beefy roast.
The garbage rolled on down the halls,
It raised the roof, it broke the walls,
I mean, greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Blobs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from old bologna,
Rubbery, blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk, and crusts of pie,
Rotting melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold French fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky,
And none of her friends would come to play,
And all of her neighbors moved away;
And finally, Sarah Cynthia Stout
Said, "Okay, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course it was too late,
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate;
And there in the garbage she did hate
Poor Sarah met an awful fate
That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is much too late
But children, remember Sarah Stout,
And always take the garbage out.

Poetry Friday: The Moon is La Luna

This book sadly arrived too late for me to consider it for the Cybils shortlist, so I wanted to give it a little love.

Guest review by Ben: "This book is funny."




The Moon is La Luna by Jay M. Harris. Illustrated by Matthew Cordell. Houghton Mifflin, 2007 (978-0-618-64645-6) $15.00

I always appreciate the cleverness of books that integrate Spanish words into an English text, but the short verses in this book go one or two step beyond the usual, working pronunciation and jokes based on it into the mix as well. Here's one of my favorites:

In Espanol, papá means "dad."
("paPA" is how it is said.)
But papa (said "POP-a") doesn't mean "dad,"
It means "potato" instead.
So watch how you say it,
Unless you would like
a Potato to tuck you in bed.

That one almost illustrates itself--but to make it even funnier, it comes right after a verse joking about how una cama (a bed) is pronounced like the English word "comma"; in the corner of the illustration for that page, which shows a boy in bed, we see a potato striding into the room, ready to tuck in the startled boy on the next page.

Aside from an occasional scansion glitch, this is a natural for reading aloud, but the short verses, familiar words, silly jokes and clean, light design make it approachable for beginning readers as well. (It's a shame the cover makes it look so much like a book for toddlers; I hope that won't put older readers off.) Overall, this is a happy marriage of information and humor. A Spanish sounds pronunciation guide and a glossary are included. (4-8)

Poetry Friday II - sort of a haiku

Something I just noticed

emphases in poems
force the way the poem is read
that gets up my nose

Poetry Friday: Winter Poems

Winter Solstic tomorrow, so time for my perennial favorite. Its in-print status is pretty iffy, but it's not hard to find used.

Winter Poems selected by Barbara Rogasky. Illustrated by Trina Schar Hyman. Scholastic, 1994 (0-590-42872-1) $15.95

Winter has become so much a time of holidays that its character as a season is rather neglected. This exquisite anthology of poems deliberately excludes any mention of holidays to concentrate on what winter feels like: when "winter dark comes early mixing afternoon and night," when "the wind howls, hisses, and but stops to howl more loud," when there is "no cloud above, no earth below—a universe of sky and snow!" Even the less traditional pleasures of the West Coast winter are here: "This rain is slow, without thunder or hurry: There is plenty of time—there will be months of rain."

Almost free from doggerel, and from the moth-eaten air so many anthologies for children have (from using the same poems all the other anthologies have already used), Winter Poems is a fresh and exciting collection, filled with evocativeimagery and diverse, stirring voices. Hyman's beautifully colored paintings match the poems in evocative power, somehow both crisp and soft. The always difficult design question of how to link poems and illustration is approached here in an unusual and very striking way: each poem and accompanying illustration is "framed" by a background picture of a country landscape—always the same place, yet changing with each open page to show the progression of winter, from that first "something" in the air that tells the wild geese to fly, to the "whiff on the wind" that is the first cry of spring. (A more subtle continuity is explained in Rogasky's introduction: the places and people that reappear throughout the illustrations are Hyman's own home and family—including Rogasky herself, starring as "greasy Joan.") A simply beautiful book for homes or classrooms. * (6 & up/8 & up)

sometimes you feel like a nut

A blog new to me, "Just Like the Nut," has started a collaborative Renga for poetry Friday this week. The rules are very simple - go add a few lines.

This Is Just to Say

I have read This Is Just to Say
by Joyce Sidman
which has been nominated for a Cybil
and I love it

It is poems of apology
and responses to them
in which mostly people are forgiving

Forgive me for gushing
it is delicious
so funny
and so kind

Poetry Friday -- Review: Oh, Theodore!

Oh Theodore! by Susan Katz. Ilustrated by Stacey Schuett. Clarion, 2007 978-0-618-70222-0) $16.00

This story in poems traces the developing relationship between a boy and his guinea pig. It starts off somewhat inauspiciously--when mom rejects the idea of a dog, a snake and a horse, "All I could get, was a guinea pig." And timid little Theodore takes quite a long time (ten poems!) to warm up to the boy. Until

At Last

I offer Theodore
an apple slice

He lets me pet
his head,

then purrs.
Hello, friend

I had no idea guinea pigs purred!

Theodore and the boy learn how to appreciate each other, playing with grocery bags and going out for a sit, instead of a walk. Then a ringing phone sends Theodore scurrying out of the room and he can't be found. The boy is heartbroken:

All Day

Nobody squeaked.
Nobody scurried.
Nobody nibbled.
Nobody smiled.

But all ends happily, when Theodore appears inside a cooking pot. "Theodore! Suddenly, I'm hungry."

These poems are short and direct, concentrating more heavily on conveying emotion than on wordplay; there's not a whole lot of read-aloud excitement, but Katz enlivens the free verse somewhat with varying rhythms, an occasional rhyme and a strong use of repetition, as in this poem:

Theo-Door

Open
the kitchen door:
Theodore sits.

Open
the cupboard door:
Theodore sits.

But open
the refrigerator door:
Here comes Theodore!

Watercolor illustrations bring a touch of silliness to the story, giving Theodore big, expressive eyes and the impression of lively movements.

I think Oh, Theodore is overall more enjoyable read alone than aloud, but it would be a good resource for classrooms with guinea pigs or for a unit on pets. It should also be noted by anyone looking for everyday depictions of Hispanic families. (5-10)

poetry Friday: late edition

An impromptu poem by my son. Can you guess which children's book inspired it?


I want to do EVERYTHING!
I want to...
fix clocks
climb poles
fix guitars
make folks well
be a teacher
help the world
be a musician
and kiss you

Poetry Friday: Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose

Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Harcourt, 2007 (978-0-15-205676-6) $17.00

A string of anthropomorphic numbers merrily beboppin' across the end pages sets the tone for this deliciously nonsensical Mother Goose collection. All of the rhymes include numbers, from the well-known "Baa baa black sheep" to more obscure verses like "1-ery, 2-ery, tickery, 10," but it's not really a counting book--in fact, young children who truly want to count may find some of the longer numbers a bit frustrating. (Four and twenty very thin hairs in a wig, for example.) Mostly this book is about imaginative images and movement: the strange, often masked characters cavort across the pages almost as if in a whimsical parade. A clock strikes its own bell, fish strut in boots, potatoes dance in fezzes, the four-and-twenty blackbirds willingly trot into the pie. Except for a few bright splashes, the color scheme is largely muted, as if to keep all the attention on the odd inhabitants of this friendly world. The effect is very engaging, for both young and adult readers. * (2 & up)