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.

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.

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).

Biographical Poetry: Talkin' About Bessie

Grimes, Nikki. 2002. Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman. Illustrated by E.B. Lewis. New York: Orchard Books. ISBN: 0439352436.

Review and Critical Analysis
In Talkin' About Bessie, Nikki Grimes tells the story of aviation pioneer Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman through a series of 21 free verse poems. Faced with poverty, sexism, and racism, Coleman defied all expectations, to become the first licensed female African-American pilot. The poems are fictionalized accounts based on the facts of Coleman's life.

Talkin' About Bessie opens with a brief historical background establishing Bessie Coleman's life in context of the history of aviation, and then jumps to a spread establishing a setting after a memorial for Coleman's death. The poems that follow are told as remembrances from family, friends, employers, flight instructors, newspaper reporters, and more. Each poem serves as a testament to the determination of Bessie Coleman to achieve great things despite the many setbacks she faced. Whether coming home from college because she could not longer afford it or learning a new language and moving overseas because no American flight school would accept an African-American woman, the poems of Coleman's life testify to her fighting spirit. The very last poem, told in Coleman's own voice, reveals the triumph she experienced through her flying.

The poems themselves are told in a very plain, conversational style free of lavish figurative language or rhyme. Instead they feel more like stories told in an interview, replicating natural speech. For example, Bessie's mother speaks of her early life saying:

I woke my Bessie before dawn on Sundays

to bathe and dress her for church,

bein' bound and determined that she,

like all my other children,

should first learn the wisdom of the Lawd,

and then, the wisdom of the world.

The language used for Bessie's mother recreates the dialect and speech patters of a Texas woman in the 1890s. 

Each poem is accompanied by a small sepia-toned water color image of the speaker, whether that individual happens to be a factual part of Bessie Coleman's life, or a compilation character like News Reporter #2. On the opposite page is a beautiful watercolor illustration of the scene depicted in the companion poem. The result is 21 spreads filled with the most significant memories and moments from Bessie Coleman's life.

The book's ending provides closure for Coleman's life with a short biography with details of her death and effect on the future of aviation. The author provides references for source notes about Bessie Coleman and the field of aviation.

Bessie Coleman's significance as a pioneer in aviation barrier-breaker in discrimination against women and African-Americans makes this book a valuable addition to any library for children in grades 2-5.

Example Poem

Bessie Coleman

I'll never forget that first time in France.
My knees wobbled when I climbed into the cockpit.
The mechanic cranked the propeller for me, and soon
a fine spray of engine oil misted my goggles,
baptizing me for take off.
I taxied down the runway, praying.

But flying at Checkerboard Field in Chicago was the best.
My family and friends were there in the stands,
cheering me on as I sliced through the air.
Oh Mama! I wish you could've been in the plane
to feel that magnificent machine shudder
with the sheer joy of leaving the ground.

I climbed over a thousand feet that day,
did a snap roll that sent the blood rushing
to my head so fast I thought my eyes would explode.
My seat belt felt like a magnet, pulling on my spine.
I can still feel my hand gripping the joystick,
how my muscles ached from struggling
to hold the plane center. But I didn't mind.

To rest, even for a moment,
weightless and silent, on a cushion of cloud,
near enough the sun to scoop up a handful of yellow
was a privilege more than worth the price of pain.

In the end, I count myself twice blessed:
first to have experienced the joy of flight;
and, second, to have shared it with others of my race.
I'll say this and no more:

        You have never lived
        until you have flown!

Activity
To share this poem with children, begin with a picture of triumph. The picture could be something like a child holding a large trophy or a climber at the top of a mountain. Discuss with children the obstacles the subject of the photograph might have encountered and the feelings they might have felt along the way. You may wish to share your own example of triumph or ask volunteers to share their own story of accomplishment. Then read them the poem from Talkin' About Bessie written from Coleman's perspective. Read the poem a second time, or ask several volunteers to read a stanza each from a projected or paper copy. During the second reading, direct children to think about the different emotions Coleman was feeling in each of those moments.

As an extension, ask students to think about their goals for the future. Do they want to fly like Bessie Coleman? Own their own company? Learn to water ski? Provide old magazines that can be cut up, glue, or even just markers, colored pencils, or crayons and allow students to make a dream board to give them visual reminders of what they want to do in the future and encourage them when they are having a hard day.