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.