Poetry by Kids: Falling Hard

Franco, Betsy, ed. 2008. Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN: 978076364377.

Image courtesy
Candlewick Press

Review and Critical Analysis
Falling Hard is a collection of one hundred poems sent to editor Betsy Franco via email. The poems, written by teenagers , representing different ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds from all over the world, explore all aspects of falling into and out of love. Whether discussing admiration from afar, sex, or the devastation of a breakup, these teenage writers have captured what it means to be young and experience love.

Most of the poems in the collection are free verse poems, though an occasional sonnet does work its way in. They vary in length from four lines to two to three pages length, as well. The language varies in complexity, as one would expect from a wide variety of teenage poets, but most are filled with imagery and figurative language in attempts to define love. For example, in "Love Poem," the speaker compares his relationship to a tortilla, while in "Love is Like" love is compared to a honey bee. The authors use whatever they are familiar with to describe their love, from food to famous literary inspirations like Homer's Muse.

Because of the mature content and language, I would not recommend this book for classroom instruction, unless the teacher or librarian made a careful, intentional choice of a specific poem. Falling Hard is definitely a high school level book. For teens interested in poetry or who are dealing with love and relationships in any stage, I would highly recommend it for recreational reading.


Example Poems
Love is Like
by Hector Jasso, age 16

the sweetness of honey
falling from a bee hive.

You have to be careful
not to get stung.

Activity
Before reading this poem, ask students to brainstorm a list of things they use or encounter in their everyday life. They might come up with things like a desk, a baseball, or a microwave. They should record as many items and they can think of in their writing journal. After students have had a few minutes to brainstorm, read "Love is Like" two to three times. Invite students to share what they notice about the comparison in the poem and the author's use of opposites (or juxtaposition, depending on the age of the students).

As an extension, students could refer back to their list and choose an object to be the subject of their extended metaphor. Depending on the age and developmental stages of the children, you may want to give them a different emotion like joy, anger, or sadness. They could even include the use opposites in their comparisons.

Janeczko Collection: Hey You!

Janeczko, Paul B., comp. 2007. Hey You!: Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things. Illustrated by Robert Rayevsky. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN: 9780060523480.

Image courtesy
Paul B. Janeczko

Review and Critical Analysis
In Hey You!: Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things, Paul B. Janeczko has collected 30 poems by 25 different poets--from classic poets like Emily Dickinson to more modern poets like Douglas Florian and Nikki Grimes. The contents of the poems vary from black holes, to skyscrapers, to bees, and everything in between. Like the topics, the forms are varied, too. The book contains free verse poems, letter poems, and rhyming poems. The one unifying factor that unifies these poems is the fact that they are apostrophe poems, each one written to a specific object.

While the level of the language differs from poem to poem, the nature of apostrophe poems elicits elements of personification in almost every poem. For example, in “Sneakers” by Joan Bransfield Graham, the speaker comments on her shoes that appear “ready to blaze into/the day, either with or without/my feet!” and in X.J. Kennedy’s “To a Snowflake,” the speaker attributes the power of thought to snowflakes as the speaker considers how the snowflake cannot “Make up your wisher where/You wish to spend tonight.” The poets in Hey You! bring all of these ordinary objects to life through personification. Many of the poems build on this personification with imagery and figurative language. Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Little Blanco River” is one of the most vivid examples. Nye’s speaker describes the river, whose “...smooth shale skull/is slick & cool.” She depicts the river as making “...a clean swishing sound/centuries of skirts/lifting & falling in delicate rounds.” Though the language varies among these poems, each one reflects a close, intimate examination of an object that has made itself important to the speaker.

In Janeczko’s selections for Hey You!, the poems use sound in several different ways. Marjorie Maddox’s “Warning to a Fork” includes line after line of alliteration to build a strong rhythm and sense of foreboding. The poem warns the “Pitchfork for pie,/trident for tuna salad” to beware the “mangler of metal utensils,/mortuary of soup spoons and knives.” This alliteration works in conjunction with the onomatopoeic description of the “clank and crunch” of the garbage disposal to create such a dire warning. Unlike the dark nature of “Warning to a Fork,” Russell Hoban’s “Soft-Boiled” uses strong rhythm and end rhyme to create a light-hearted tone reminiscent of Dr. Seuss. His opening lines, “I do not like the way you slide,/I do not like your soft inside,” will conjure Green Eggs and Ham for almost any one.

The poems are accompanied by the cartoon-style illustrations of Robert Rayevsky in the foreground of each spread. The backgrounds of the visuals vary from what appears to be blurred photographs to watercolor paintings to abstract designs. Even the illustrations for the poems take on a variety of tones and textures. Despite their wide range, the images are connected by some type of blur or hazy effect added to each one that gives the pages a dream-like feeling.

Hey You! is a varied collection of poems from well-known poets of quality. While the poems have no clear theme, they provide excellent examples of the many ways poets can use apostrophe.

Example Poem
Sneakers
By Joan Bransfield Graham

Sneakers,
glancing from bed,
I see morning light cast
long shadows behind you just like
comets.

Your tails
flaring, you seem
ready to blaze into
the day, either with or without my feet!

Activity
Have students look at several different types of shoes. You can invite students to sit in a circle and display their shoes to each other, or, if you feel using student shoes might cause a student embarrassment, you could use images of shoes or a selection of your own shoes. Ask students questions that lead them to think of the shoes personified. For example, you could ask students to explain which shoes they think have the most energy? Which ones are tired? Which shoes look like they have been on many adventures? Do any of the shoes seem angry? Excited? Shy? After students have had a chance to respond to the shoes, explain that you are going to read a poem from the point of view of a child speaking to their sneakers.

After reading “Sneakers” at least once or twice, invite students to share what they noticed about the poem. Students should notice that the speaker is talking to shoes that do not have the ability to respond. Ask them to imagine what would happen if the shoes came to life. What might the shoes say in response to the child?

As an extension, students may choose to write a 1-2 stanza poem from the point of view of the shoes that gives its response to the child. Other students may wish to write their own poem that speaks to a specific object like their desk, the school bus, or their favorite game.

Free Choice Poetry: When Green Becomes Tomatoes

Fogliano, Julie. 2016. When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons. Illustrated by Julie Morstad. New York: Roaring Brook Press. ISBN: 978159643821.

Image courtesy Macmillan

Review and Critical Analysis
Julie Fogliano’s When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons explores the seasons from the first day of spring through the year until the first day of spring rolls around again. The book has a journal-like feel to it, each poem bearing a date in the place of a title. Through these 48 dated poems, readers will gain a personal insight into both the joys and the frustrations of each season.

Each spread in the book holds 1-3 poems that vary in length from two to 42 lines. Each poem is written to capture the essence of its subject. While some of the longer poems like “july 5” describe an entire scene, others like the three-lined “march 22” simply create one clear image. The free verse poems are all written without capital letters. The lack of formality of these lowercase letters adds to the journal motif, making the poems seem as if they are private writings not yet revised for public display.

The language of When Green Becomes Tomatoes is quite accessible for children. Fogliano uses common literary devices like imagery and simile to draw readers into the experiences of the speaker. For example, in the “june 30” description of a summer’s day, the speaker describes how the day is “hot and thick like honey” to prove why she’ll be swimming. She builds upon these vivid images with sound devices such as the alliteration in “january 30.” In this poem, Fogliano depicts the best winter day as one in which the house “sounds like slippers/and sipping.” The common language used to create the images in these poems invites readers to consider their own experiences with the ups and downs of each season from swimming to escape the heat of summer or playing in the leaves of fall.

Julie Morstad’s gouache and pencil crayon illustrations blend beautifully with the simple yet powerful language of Fogliano’s poems. Morstad’s multicultural characters engage with nature at its best and worst throughout the book in a charming style. They might be my favorite part of this entire book!

This book is a great resource to share with younger students who are studying seasons.
Example Poem

“july 5”

when you are still and quietly

in the grass
just sitting
for more than the moment
between coming and going and what’s next and when
but sitting, just to sit
you will find that nothing is still
out there in the grass
where everything is running
and jumping
climbing up and flying over
and everything is moving
back and forth
to and from
everything, except for the trees
who are too busy standing up
to bother

Activity
I would share this poem with students outside sitting in the grass or some similar place that the students would say “nothing” is happening. If the weather is not conducive for an outside experience, another typically busy place during a non-busy time would also work. Alternate locations might include the cafeteria when no one is eating a meal, the hallways when no one is changing classes, or even a silent school library. Ask the students to sit absolutely still and quiet for just a moment and use as many senses as they can to observe what is going on around them. Students will notice the quiet “nothing” has a lot more going than they first suspected. Invite students to share their observations. Record the students’ observations on chart paper or a Google Doc that can be displayed in the library or classroom later.

Then share “july 5” with them. Read the poem at least twice. After the first reading, invite student volunteers to share a summary of what is happening in the poem. Ask them to listen for parts of the poem that are like their observations and parts that are different and the read the poem a second time. Invite students to share what they noticed with an elbow partner, and then invite partner groups to share their best similarity and difference.

As an extension, encourage students to use the observations recorded at the beginning of the lesson to write their own poems to share their observations from being still and quiet. Provide them a template for a five sense poem. Have them include as many of the five senses as possible. Students who do not want to use the five sense template may choose any other format they feel is appropriate to express their quiet observations.

Joyce Sidman Poetry: Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems

Sidman, Joyce. 2005. Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems. Illustrated by Beckie Prange. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 9780618135479.

Image courtesy Joyce Sidman

Review and Critical Analysis

Joyce Sidman’s Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems is a collection of 11 poems that explore the ecosystem of a pond from the beginning of spring through the onset of winter. The poems are a combination of forms including rhyming poems, free verse poems, and shape poems. Each poem is accompanied by a beautiful ¾ to full page woodblock illustration hand-colored with watercolor and a short paragraph that provides information about the organism depicted in the poem.

The language Sidman uses make the poems accessible for young children. The poems themselves use imagery and concrete language to explain the habitat and behavior of unfamiliar animals and plants in a way that is understandable for children. For example, in “Listen for Me” the arrival of the spring peepers is described from the point of view of one of the frogs saying, “I creep up from the cold pond/the ice pond,/the winter pond.” Any academic or technical vocabulary such as “herbivorous” and “carnivorous” is reserved for the sidebars where the terms are first explained and included in parentheses. Young readers can enjoy the poems and learn important vocabulary words without difficult language getting in the way of the poems.

Sidman uses several different repetition and rhythm to create patterns throughout the poems in Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems. For example, in “Listen for Me” Sidman repeats the last word at the end of the first four lines of each stanza. The repetition is extended to a refrain in “Song of the Water Boatman and Backswimmer’s Refrain” where each stanza ends with a variation of the refrain “Yo, ho, ho,/the pond winds blow.” The various forms of repetition provide ample opportunities for choral reading and performance.

Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems is a 2006 Caldecott Honor Book and an excellent resource to use in support of a wide variety of science concepts.

Example Poem
In the Depths of the Summer Pond

Here hang the algae, green and small,
in the depths of the summer pond.

Here floats the flea, waving antennae,
that eats the algae, green and small,
in the depths of the summer pond.

Here nods the nymph with feathery gills
that drinks the flea,
that eats the algae, green and small,
in the depths of the summer pond.

Here dives the bug, sleek and swift,
that nabs the nymph
that drinks the flea
that eats the algae, green and small,
in the depths of the summer pond.

Here kicks the frog with golden eyes
that gulps the bug,
that nabs the nymph
that drinks the flea
that eats the algae, green and small,
in the depths of the summer pond.

Here lurks the fish, wide of jaw,
that swallows the frog
that gulps the bug,
that nabs the nymph
that drinks the flea
that eats the algae, green and small,
in the depths of the summer pond.

Here hunts the heron, queen of the pond,
that spears the fish,
that swallows the frog
that gulps the bug,
that nabs the nymph
that drinks the flea
that eats the algae, green and small,
in the depths of the summer pond.

Activity

“In the Depths of the Summer Pond” is a great poem to use with students who are studying the food chain in their science classes. Begin by asking students what they know about food chains and food webs. Have them explain key vocabulary like consumers, producers, and decomposers. Then explain that you will be reading a poems that explores a food chain in a specific ecosystem--a pond during the summertime.

Read through the poem once or twice for students to model pronunciation of words and the rhythm. Children of all ages will pick up the repetition of the the lines “that eats the algae, green and small,/in the depths of the summer pond” and will likely join in after the first few stanzas. Once students have a feel for the rhythm, divide the students into seven groups (or select seven readers). Assign each group one of the animals, and allow them time to practice their parts. Then have the groups read the lines about their animal in each stanza, with everyone chiming in for the line “in the depths of the summer pond.” 

As an extension, give the students another ecosystem--the ocean, the rainforest, the woods, or the desert--and ask them to identify seven parts of a food chain for that ecosystem. Working with their group members, students could then produce an illustration or find a public domain or Creative Commons digital image online and write a line of poetry to describe their animal. All the images and lines can be put together on the wall or in photo editing software to make a food chain diagram.

Performance Poetry: The Friendly Four

Greenfield, Eloise. 2006. The Friendly Four. Illustrated by Jon Spivey Gilchrist. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN: 9780060007607.

Image courtesy Harper Collins Publishers

Review and Critical Analysis
Eloise Greenfield’s The Friendly Four is a collection of 34 poems for children that work together to tell the one story of the summertime adventures of four children--Drummond, Dorene, Louis, and Rae. These children each face common struggles like being overshadowed by a baby sibling, moving to a new place, being adopted, or coping with a seriously ill parent. Over the course of one summer, these young friends learn to depend on each other and inspire one another through play and imagination.

The language of The Friendly Four is fairly straightforward to make it easily understandable for children in preschool to third grade. The text does include some simple similes and metaphors like “... churning/our legs like bicycle wheels” in the poem “The Race” and “Every day away from her/would be a thousand years” in “Going to Get Rae.” Teachers and librarians can find examples to illustrate almost any poetic device, but as a collection, the poems read more like everyday childhood conversation, making the book approachable for early readers.

The same could also be said for Greenfield’s use of sound devices in The Friendly Four. Sound devices like repetition, rhyme, and alliteration help establish a distinct rhythm at times, the patterns of everyday speech are the driving factor. Repetition and alliteration such as “likes to wrestle/likes to run/likes to count” are sprinkled in just enough to break up the conversational pattern to remind readers that they are indeed reading poetry.

The most distinctive trait of Greenfield’s poetry is the features included to structure these poems for performance. The lines spoken by each of the four children is marked by four different colors, and only lines to be read in multiple voices together are printed in black. Speakers are indicated like they would be in a script, so this book is ready to pick up and start practicing for performance without any additional markup to the text.

Example Poem
Here Comes the Truck

All:	Here comes the truck, carrying sheets of cardboard, cans of paint, and brushes,
Drum and Rae:	carrying sticky tape, and colored paper, and markers,
Dorene and Louis:	and glitter and glue.
All:	Now we have everything we need, to make a town that has beauty and laughter and heart.
Louis:	Let's get started!

Activity
To introduce this poem, I would ask if they ever thought up something and tried to make it from their own imagination. For example, about the closest I ever came up with was a blanket fort or a sock puppet. After students had an opportunity to share what they have made, I would show them the video “Caine’s Arcade” (available on YouTube).

I would read the poem once and then ask for volunteers to read the poem at least two more times to practice reading their lines together in unison. Ask students what they would build if they had all the supplies that Drum, Dorene, Louis, and Rae had. Would they make a town like the children did? An arcade like Caine? Or something totally different?

As an extension, students could work as individuals or small groups to participate in the Global Cardboard Challenge sponsored by the Imagination Foundation, which was started by a group of people who were inspired by Caine and his arcade.

Resources

Imagination Foundation. 2017. “2017 Global Cardboard Challenge.” Accessed April 11. http://carboardchallenge.com.

Mullick, Nirvan. “Caine’s Arcade.” Filmed [October 2012]. YouTube video, 10:58. Posted [April 2012]. https://youtu.be/faIFNkdq96U.

Hopkins Award Poetry: Jazz

Myers, Walter Dean. 2006. Jazz. Illustrated by Christopher Myers. New York: Holiday House. ISBN: 9780823415458.

Image courtesy walterdeanmyers.net

Review and Critical Analysis

Jazz by Walter Dean Myers is a collection of fifteen poems that recreate the experience of jazz music. From the opening poem that
summons the drumming rhythms of jazz’s African heritage to the poem “Three Voices” that highlights jazz instruments like the bass, piano, and horn, each poem presents an experience with the rhythms and emotions of jazz music.

The language of Jazz gives readers a sense of the motivating power of jazz music. The verbs Myers uses all portray active, vibrant movement. For example, in “Good-bye to Old Bob Johnson,” Myers employs verbs like “swinging,” “singing,” “stepping,” and “dipping” to describe the actions of the mourners. Even in a serious occasion like a funeral procession, the people are so filled with emotion they can’t help but move to the music.

Myers further connects the subject of jazz music with his poetry through his use of sound devices in each of the poems. He uses different forms of rhyme and repetition to create a jazz rhythm in each poem. In “Stride,” he accomplishes this by combining both internal and end rhyme with repeated words as he starts the poem:

We got jiving in our bones, and it won’t leave use alone--we’re really moving
               Jiving      bones
We got pride in our stride, and we know it’s all the style--we’re steady grooving
               Pride      stride.

The visuals in Jazz provide another layer to the power and emotion conveyed by the language. Myers’s son, Christopher created bold images of musicians and instruments with bright colored backgrounds by layering black ink on acetate over acrylic paintings to create striking illustrations with depth and richness. Even the typography of the poems includes multiple fonts and colors emphasizes key lines of the poems and adds movement to the words.

Jazz begins with an introduction to jazz music and its history and closes with a glossary of jazz and a jazz timeline, providing nonfiction text features to support the historical significance of jazz music and the jazz artists noted in the poems. The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor book and ALA Notable Children’s Book is a beautiful library or classroom resource to connect music, painting, poetry, and history.

Example Poem

It’s Jazz

I hear the call of the cornet
I hear a swinging clarinet
They’re playing HOT jazz in the heat
Of old New Orleans
The rattling banjo pays its dues
To the Preservation blues
They’re playing HOT jazz in the heat
Of old New Orleans
There’s a crazy syncopation
And it’s tearing through the nation
And it’s bringing sweet elation
To every single tune
It’s jazz
There’s a drummer rat-a-tatting
There’s a patent shoe that’s patting
While a laid-back cat is scatting
About flying to the moon
It’s jazz
In the HEAT of New Orleans

Activity
To introduce this poem to students, begin by playing a little jazz music for students to get a feel for the musical style. You might play one of the jazz musicians named in the poems, like Louis Armstrong, Robert Johnson, or you might select an artist from the jazz timeline at the end, such as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, or Benny Goodman.

As an extension after reading the poem, allow students to make their own percussion instruments like tin can drums, sand blocks, water bottle rattles, or even a homemade didgeridoo. Then, either as a whole class, in small groups, or even as individuals, students can practice the rhythm of the poem with their instruments and perform their own interpretation of this poem or other poems from Jazz.

Social Studies Poetry: Out of the Dust

Hesse, Karen. 1997. Out of the Dust. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 0590371258.

Review and Critical Analysis
Out of the Dust is the 1998 Newbery Medal winning verse novel by Karen Hesse. Thirteen year-old Billie Jo narrates the events of her life from January 1934 to December 1935, a time frame in which a tragic accident claims the life of her mother and unborn baby brother, leaving Billie Jo and her father alone in the middle of the Dust Bowl.

Billie Jo was a good student and talented piano player, so when her hands are severely burned in the accident, music--her emotional outlet--is taken from her. While Billie Jo still had her father, his own overwhelming sorrow and guilt leave her feeling as though she is just another burden he must bear. Only when she tries to run away from the dust and all it brings does Billie Jo realize that home is a part of you that can't be escaped.

Hesse's poems are written in a simple language the reflects the emotions of Billie Jo. Through her narration, we see her grief, her inability to communicate with her father, and her frustration with her new limitations. In "Those Hands," she mourns the changes in her life saying, "My father used to say, why not put those hands to good use?/He doesn't say anything about 'those hands' anymore." Even the figurative language used fits with the tone established by the desolate wasteland of the plains. For example, in "Homeward Bound," Billie Jo describes being away from home as "Lonelier than the wind./Emptier than the sky./More silent than the dust," illustrating the pervasiveness of dust, isolation, and desperation during the time frame.

Out of the Dust is a perfect novel to introduce middle grade readers to the devastation of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. It combines an accurate depiction of the historical context and the classic themes of school, guilt, parent/child conflict, growing up, and suffering loss that many young readers will identify with.

Example Poem

Fifty Miles South of Amarillo

In Amarillo,
wind
blew plate-glass windows in,
tore electric signs down,
ripped wheat
straight out of the ground.

February 1934

Activity
Before sharing this poem with students, find out what they already know about the Dust Bowl. You may need to supply some basic facts about the desolate conditions of the land in Oklahoma and surrounding states. You may wish to show students historical photographs like those available in the photo gallery on the website for Ken Burns's documentary The Dust Bowl (Available here.) Be sure to preview the images to make sure they are appropriate for your audience.

Read the poem aloud with students as they follow along with a printed or projected copy. First, read just so students get a feel for the poem, and then read again 1-2 times, encouraging students to note the location, the subject of the poem, and the actions of that subject. As an extension, have students view additional photographs from the Dust Bowl or other significant periods in history. Allow them to create original poems to share what they can determine about the location or setting, subject, and actions detectible in the photograph. Pictures and poems can be shared by displaying them in the library classroom or hallway.

"The Dust Bowl: Photo Gallery." PBS.org. http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/photos/ (retrieved March 24, 2017).