Poetry

Bibliography
Grandits, John. c2007. Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 9780618568604






Plot Summary
Jessie is a 15 year old freshman in high school who plays volleyball and the cello. She fights with her little brother. She wants to stand out in the crowd yet she wants to fit in. She feels misunderstood. She is full of angst. She is a typical teenage girl. She writes poetry to express her thoughts and emotions. She writes her poetry in concrete form. The poems take on the shape of the subject of the poem. Some of the things she writes about are: a bad hair day, her teachers, her parents, her cat, her friends, her family, playing volleyball and the cello.

Critical Analysis
This book is written by a grown man, John Grandits but it totally has the voice of a teenage girl. He capture’s the angst so well. Most teenage girls will be able to relate to Jessie and her daily life’s trials and tribulations.

The concrete poems were written using over 50 different typeface fonts. The use of a variety of typeface fonts make each concrete poem unique and somehow fits with each topic. For example the poem "Grownups Talking:" uses a few different fonts to distinguish between the questions and comments Jessie hears from adults and her thoughts. The use of fonts is also cleverly used to describe the differences between Jessie and her friend in "Silver Spandex" as the lines of the poems are written to take the shape of a guitar and a cello.

Some drawings are mixed in with the poem to add effect. For example "The Wall" is a free verse poem written on the background of a brick wall with names and small descriptions of people in Jessie's life on both sides of the wall.

Other poems you have to twist and turn the book around to read it but that only adds to the effect of how most typical teenage girls think and feel. "Bad Hair Day" is an excellent example of this. It is about one day when Jessie decides to color her hair blue and then regrets it after it is done because it did not have the desired effect. The lines of the poem take the shape of her hair. The page is black with a simple line drawn as the top of a head and two eyes. Half of the head has white text that represent her bleached hair, and the other half has blue text and the lines go in different directions to represent the blue dyed hair gone bad.

Although Boo Boo kitty yawned at Jessie’s reading of her English Assignment to “create a poem for someone you love: then read it out loud to him or her.” Boo Book kitty did have fun playing with it and loved it so much that she ate it. You will not yawn while reading these poems but you will have so much fun reading them that you might want to eat one up, just don’t puke it back up like Boo Boo kitty.

Review Excerpts
The Horn Book v. 83 no. 4 (July/August 2007) p. 408-9
Grandits playfully, and quite effectively, channels a teenage girl's dreams, anxieties, and pet peeves—all in a series of concrete poems, no less—in this much stronger follow-up to Technically, It's Not My Fault. We first meet ninth-grader Jessie on the book's cover, as she's busy defending her lipstick purchase. . . . Her words (i.e., the poem) form the frame kissed by electric-blue lips. It's a cover that'll grab adolescent girls' attention—and the poetry inside is equally appealing. . . . It's to Grandits's credit that his protagonist isn't confined to a 2D existence. She leaps right off the page, in turn feisty and insecure."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 61 no. 1 (September 2007) p. 26-7
"While the entries are absolutely prose rather than poetry, and it would have helped tremendously to have an up-front clue that this is a narrative series rather than a collection of discrete elements, the sequence is genuinely clever and effective. . . . Design is friendly and accessible, with black complemented by a cool peacock blue that offers contrast in both typeface and shaded backgrounds, and the multiplicity of fonts (identified on the last page) are thoughtfully employed. This has enough acuity to appeal to fans of sophisticated poetry and enough energy to draw those who find the sophisticated stuff merely dull, and it will undoubtedly inspire a multitude of curricular uses."

Awards
LEE BENNETT HOPKINS POETRY AWARD, 2008 Honor Book, United States.

SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA JOURNAL BEST BOOKS, 2007

Notable Children's Books, 2008 ALSC

Connections
Students can create and write their own concrete poems.

The author's note is a poem titled "Pocket Poem". It is about a few poems the author keeps in his pocket to carry with him daily “in case of an emotional emergency.” Students can read poems and find a few favorite ones to carry their pocket and read it whenever they need a “little snack for the soul”.

Read "Technically, It's Not my Fault: Concret Poems" also by John Grandits. This book is a companion book for Blue Lipstick. It contains concrete poems written by Jessie’s little brother, Robert.

Grandits, John. 2004. TECHNICALLY, IT'S NOT MY FAULT: CONCRETE POEMS. NewYork: Clarion. ISBN 061842833X







Bibliography
Singer, Marilyn. 2010. Mirror Mirror. Illus. by Josee Masse. NewYork: Dutton. ISBN 0525479015







Plot Summary
Mirror, Mirror is a book of reversible verse. The poems can be read forward and backwards. Traditional fairy tales and folk tales usually have a hero and villain. Each side is presented in a short poem and if you flip the poem and read it backwards, the other side's viewpoint is revealed. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, The Ugly Duckling, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks, Hansel and Gretal, Rumplestiltskin, The Frog Prince, and Beauty and the Beast are the tales used to tell these reverso poems.

Critical Analysis
Reverso is a form of poetry that is written to be read forward and backwards. It take a different meaning when it is read backwards. Here is an example of what reversible verse looks like that is on the back cover of the book.

UP
or
Down-
A poem
in
a puzzle


A puzzle
in
a poem-
Down
or
Up

It is a clever poetic devise and works well with fairy tales and folktales. Most of the poems present the hero and villian's view. It works well with some poems such as "In the Hood" which presents the perspective of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. There are other poems such as "Rapunzel's Locks" in which it was hard to tell which character's voice was used for the poems. Another poem, " The Doubltful Duckling" present the point of view of the ugly duckling and his struggle with self acceptance of his looks.

Each double page layout has two poems and an illustration. The illustrations are brilliantly designed to also tell both sides of the story. A scene from each tale is spilt in half showing both the sides of the story and poems. The split flows from one character/poem to the other seemlessly with contrasting colors or alternating light and dark colors.

Reversible verse is a new and interesting way to tell old fairy tales and folk tales. Children will have fun reading the poems and identifying with the characters from each poem. Adults will marvel at the brillance it took to write the poems and the choice of words to make the poems work as reversible verse.

Review excerpts
The Horn Book v. 86 no. 2 (March/April 2010) p. 79-80
"Through a poetic invention she dubs the reverso, Singer meditates on twelve familiar folktales, and, via the magic of shifting line breaks and punctuation, their shadows. . . . In the main, the poems are both cleverly constructed and insightful about their source stories, giving us the points of view of characters rarely considered. Similarly bifurcated illustrations, Shrek-bright, face the poems. . . . Primary, intermediate."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 63 no. 8 (April 2010) p. 353
"Talented poet Singer here creates her own poetic form, dubbed by her ‘reversos’: a verse that reveals a different poem when the lines are reversed bottom to top, with changes only in punctuation, capitalization, and line breaks. Fourteen such top-to-bottom/bottom-to-top pairings are featured, all focusing on folklore, most on particular tales, and the result is neatly, astonishingly clever."

Awards
Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult bloggers’ literary awards) Award in Poetry 2010

Connections
Read the original versions of each fairy tale or folk tale.

Young students can identify which character's voice is telling the poem.

Older students might try to compose a sentence or two that can be read forward and backwards. Only punctuation and capitalization is allowed to be changed, not the words.










Bibliography
Frost, Helen. 2008. Diamond Willow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0374317763









Plot Summary
Willow is a normal 12 year old Athabascan girl who lives in a small town in Alaska. She is a typical 12 year old, trying to find herself and her place in her world. She wants to be independent and begs her parents to allow her to mush the family dogs to her grandparent’s house, 12 miles away. Her parents reluctantly agree and Willow sets off on her first solo trip. Along the way the spirits of her past ancestors watch over her in various animal forms. Her first trip was successful but on her return trip she takes a turn to fast and runs into a fallen tree which blinds the lead dog, Roxy. Willow’s parents decide that Roxy must be euthanized and when Willow realizes what they plan to do she decides to take Roxy to her grandparent’s house to save her. Willow convinces her best friend to go with her and the two girls take off and along the way a snowstorm starts. They veer off the main trail and have trouble finding their way back before it gets dark. The girls take refuge under a spruce tree for the night. They survive the night and Willow makes it to her grandparent’s house with Roxy. Willow’s parents are relieved she is OK and she convinces them to keep Roxy. They decide it is time to let her know about a family secret and the significance of everything in her life comes to light.

Critical Analysis
Most of this story is told in free verse, diamond shaped poems for Willow’s narration and prose for her ancestors who are reincarnated into animals that Willow encounters on her journey. There is another poem told through bolded words within each diamond poem.

The imagery of the diamond shaped poem is significant because not only is it Diamond Willow’s name, it is also symbolizes her life. The diamond willow tree takes it name because when the bark is removed, sanded and polished, there are reddish-brown diamonds with a dark center. The center is the scar of a missing branch that had broken off. It is easy to envision the diamonds on the wood through the different shaped diamond form of each poem. The bolded words within each diamond shaped poem, which are meant to resemble the scar of the missing branch, reveals another poem which is Willow's journey to self discovery.

This story could have easily been told in prose but the diamond shaped poems have so much significance in this story that part of its emotional impact would be lost. It would just be another story about a young girl’s journey of self discovery.

Review Excerpts
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 61 no. 10 (June 2008) p. 424-5
"Frost invents an ingenious poetic form for her story. . . . Interspersed with [the] poems are prose passages from the perspective of Willow's late ancestors and relatives, whose spirits now inhabit animals that watch over the girl as she ventures into the fraught territory between childhood and adolescence. Frost has spun metaphoric gold out of an evocative natural landscape, and she knows just how to craft it into an elegant and moving story of a young girl's deepening understanding of the relationships she shares with those around her."

The Horn Book v. 84 no. 4 (July/August 2008) p. 444
"The first-person, present-tense narrative is typeset in diamond shapes echoing the pattern of diamond willow wood. Bold-faced words at the heart of each diamond hold an additional nugget of meaning. As a dog and dogsled story, this has appeal and wears its knowledge gracefully. Considerably less graceful is Frost's inclusion of animal guides who are the spirits of Willow's deceased relatives and who function as fairy-godmother figures to assist her; the blend of realism and magic-cum-religion stretches credulity just a little too far."

Connections
Students can write their own diamond shaped poems.

Students can read books about Alaska and dog sledding.

Traditional Literature

Bibliography
Pinkney, Jerry (2009). The lion and the mouse. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0316013560

Plot Summary
In the African Serengeti, a mouse fleeing an owl and runs up onto the back of a lion only to find herself in his paws. The lion releases the mouse. The mouse returns to her burrow and family of eight baby mice. Later that day, the lion gets trapped in a net set by hunters. Upon hearing the lion’s roar the mouse rushes to the lion and chews on the ropes until the lion is set free. The mouse takes a piece of rope to her babies and the Lion returns to his family of five cubs. The mouse family and lion family become friends.

Critical Analysis
This gorgeous picture book retells Aesop’s fable, “The Lion and the Mouse” using only illustrations and a little bit of onomatopoeia. The beautiful illustrations were done using pencil, watercolor and colored pencils on paper. The pictures depict the African Serengeti in rich color and detail. The lion and the mouse are not the only animals in the story, zebras, monkeys, giraffes, and elephants are just a few animals that make the setting very realistic. The only text used in the story is the sounds the animals make. This picture book could easily be imagined as an illustrated version of an event that was caught on film by scientists who film documentaries of animals in the wild.

Aesop’s fables are short, but Pinkney's version is a full story, vivid and exciting. “Readers” who are unfamiliar with Aesop’s fables may not know that the mouse bargained for his life and promised to one day return the favor. Although that detail is omitted through the lack of text, the illustrations clearly show the interaction between the animals. The eyes of each creature are expressive and the “reader” can imagine the conversation taking place between them. Those few words of onomatopoeia that are used are enough to capture the emotions of the animals. From the small “ GRRR” to the little “squeak”s to the large “RRROAARRRRRRRRRRR”, even the size of the fonts used exclaim the emotions of the creatures. Although the moral of the fable, “Little friends may prove great friends” is not stated in the story, it is evident in the actions of the mouse. The mouse looks around upon hearing that great, big roar and quickly goes to the aid of the lion to help him in his time of need and return the favor of releasing her. The added element of each creature reuniting with their families adds to the story and the moral that no matter how small and insignificant you may seem everyone on this Earth has an important role in life.

Review Excerpts
The Horn Book v. 85 no. 6 (November/December 2009) p. 658-9
"By retelling Aesop's fable entirely in his signature pencil and watercolor art, Pinkney encourages closer exploration of the pleasing detail with which he amplifies it. The mouse has just escaped an owl when she makes the mistake of running up the lion's back; his decision to let her go, over three full spreads, is all the more eloquent for being wordless. . . . On every page, this beautiful book suggests even more than it tells about its real setting, and about that fabulous world where such bargains are made. . . . Preschool, primary."

School Library Journal v. 55 no. 9 (September 2009) p. 146
“The ambiguity that results from the lack of words in this version allows for a slower, subtle, and ultimately more satisfying read. Moments of humor and affection complement the drama. A classic tale from a consummate artist.” Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library

Connections
Other versions of The Lion and the Mouse
The Lion and the Mouse by Bernadette Watts Edith M.B.B. and Aesop
ISBN 0735821291

Other traditional tales by Jerry Pinnkey
Little Red Riding Hood ISBN 0316013552
Little Red Hen ISBN 0803729359
The Ugly Duckling ISBN 068815932X
Three Little Kittens ISBN 0803735332

Children can write the story of The Lion and the Mouse in their own words using the pictures by Jerry Pinkney as a guide.

Children can research information about mice and lions

Children can read other fables by Aesop.




Bibliography
Lowell, Susan (1992). The Three Javelinas. Ill. Jim Harris. Luna Rising: Bilingual Edition ISBN 0873586611






Plot Summary
One day three little javelinas living in the Sonoran Desert decide to trot away and seek their fortune. Soon the path divides and each goes their separate ways. The first javelina gets caught in a whirlwind and lands in some tumbleweeds and he decides to make a house with them. The coyote smells the “juicy piggy” and asks the javelina to let him in, to which the javelina replies “Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin!” So the coyote huffs and puffs and blows the tumbleweed house down but the javelina manages to escape. The second javelinas encounters a Native American woman who is gathering saguaro ribs to knock down cactus fruit and he decides to build a house using the sticks. The first javelina finds his brother and the two take a rest from the heat. The coyote soon finds them and again he asks to enter their house, to which the two javelinas reply “Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin” The coyote proceeds to blow the house down but the javelinas escape into the desert. The third javelina, a girl, meets a man making adobe bricks from mud and straw and asks him for a few bricks to make herself a house. The brothers find her and take refuge in her house. The coyote has followed the brothers and tries again to blow the house down but is unsuccessful. So he decides to enter the house through the stove pipe. The girl javelina quickly lights the stove and the coyote is burned and he runs away. When you hear a coyote howling at night, it is the coyote remembering what happened to him when he tried to eat the three little javelinas.

Critical Analysis
This retelling of the classic folktale, “The Three Little Pigs’ is a full of southwestern flavor. The setting is the Sonoran Desert, in the Southwestern part of the United States. Three cultures mix together, Anglo, Native American and Mexican in the Southwest to form a culture of it's own. The story is presented in both Spanish and English and is equally engaging in both languages. The familiar refrains of “The Three Little Pigs, are used along with language that reflects the cultures and region. The text and illustrations capture that southwestern style through the earth tone colors, people, animals and items used to build the homes. The javelinas are dressed in clothes typically associated with cowboys and the desert. Tumbleweeds, saguaro cactus ribs, and adobe bricks fill in nicely as straw, sticks and brick from the traditional tale, to make it uniquely southwestern in style.

Real javelinas and coyotes live in the deserts of the southwestern area of North America and throughout Central and South America. Javelinas are not true pigs but are part of the swine family. They look very much like a very hairy pig. They do indeed have a hairy “chinny, chin chin” so that familiar chant from other versions/variants of “The Three Little Pigs” fits so well here.

This version is also a bit of a pour quoi tale as it explains why the coyotes howl at night. Coyotes are often characterized as tricksters in Native American tales from North America. The coyote that purses the javelinas is no different here as he tries to trick the javelinas into letting him in by huffing and puffing and blowing down their homes, exactly like the wolf in the traditional versions.

The three javelinas consist of two males and one female. It is the female who builds the strongest house and is smart enough to quickly light the stove before the coyote could enter. Girls will like that added twist because traditionally the pigs are all male.

This version of “The Three Little Pigs” is a wonderful story that kids will love to listen to or read. Children that live in the Southwest part of the United States will relate to it and other children can learn a little bit about it. Bilingual kids will especially like it that it is written in two languages.


Review Excerpts
From Publishers Weekly
In her first book for children, Lowell spices the story with elements of Native American, Mexican and Old West culture. …………This clever and flavorful change of scene puts a diverting spin on an old favorite. Harris's lively, finely detailed illustrations, with the bristling, pink-nosed peccaries clad in cowboy outfits, amusingly contrast the villain's vigorous wiles with the title characters' cozy domesticity. Sprightly fun. Ages 3-8.

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-In this humorous Southwestern variant of the familiar story, three desert javelinas (hairy cousins to the ordinary pig) set off one day to seek their fortunes. The first makes his home from a pile of tumbleweeds. Soon after, Coyote arrives and effortlessly blows it away to get at the plump little creature. Shaken, the portly javelina runs to his brother's house, which is built from the sticks of a dried saguaro cactus. Coyote, as sneaky as he is quick, demolishes that shaky structure and sends two frightened javelinas running into the desert. The brothers eventually find refuge in the home of their sister. This smart little javelina has constructed her home out of sturdy adobe bricks. Unable to huff and a puff his way in, Coyote tries entering through the stove pipe on the roof. When sister javelina realizes what he is up to, she quickly lights her pot-belly stove and sends Coyote howling into the desert (an action he repeats to this day). This engaging retelling appears in both Spanish and English, and has many accurate regional details. The text is fast-paced and witty in both languages, and is accompanied by energetic, full-page illustrations done in rich earthy tones that evoke the setting as faithfully as the text. Whether read aloud or in amused solitude, this is a picture book that will be enjoyed again and again.-Donna J. Murray, Queens Borough Public Library, NY

Connections
Other tales of The Three Little Pigs
The True Story of the Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith ISBN 0140544518
The Three little pigs by James Marshall ISBN 0448422883
The Three Pigs by David Wiesner ISBN 0618007016
The Three Little Pigs by Steven Kellogg ISBN 0064437795
The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale by Steven Guarnaccia ISBN 0810989417
The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas ISBN 068981528X
The Three Little Tamales by Eric A Kimmel ISBN 0761455191
The Three little Gators by Helen Ketteman ISBN 080757824X

Children can research facts about Javelinas and Coyotes

Children can write their own version of Three Little Pigs using another animal.



























Bibliography
Bruchac, Josesph. (19944) The Great Ball Game. Ill. Susan L. Roth. Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0803715390

Plot Summary
The birds and the animals get into an argument over who was better and decided to settle the quarrel by playing a ball game. The first side to score a goal would win the argument. The animals divided up into two groups, those with wings and those with teeth. One animal, the bat, had both wings and teeth and neither side wanted him on their team. The bear feels sorry for the bat and allows him to be on his team but he had to let the bigger animals play first. The game lasts all day, past sunset, and neither team has scored a goal yet. The animals grow tired and cannot see well in the dark. The bat come in and scores the first goal for the animals with teeth. The bat is accepted as an animal and allowed to give the penalty to the birds. The bat declares that the birds must leave their land for half of each year and continues to fly at dusk to see if the animals still need him.

Critical Analysis
This Muskogee tale retold by Joseph Bruchac is a simple pour quoi tale about why birds migrate for the winter and bats fly out at dusk. It also tells how two quarrelsome groups came to a peaceful resolution to their dilemma about who was better. The game the animals and birds play is similar to a Native Americans game that eventually became known as Lacrosse.

The illustrations were created using paper collected from all over the world and several other kinds of paper which were handmade. The use of the different papers and earth tone colors are rich and distinctive. The animals are realistic looking but the teeth are a bit distracting and take away from some of the animals making them looked distorted.

The story is simple but the lessons are great. "You are not very big, but sometimes even the small ones can help." The bear tells the bat after finally accepting him on the animals with teeth team. This comment the bear says is a very similar to the moral of Aesop’s tale of the Lion and the Mouse, “Little friends may prove great friends”. The bat proves to the animals with teeth that his wings are beneficial. The lessons here are many. Everyone, no matter how small can be a valuable member to the group. Disputes can be resolved without violence. We should celebrate our difference rather than fighting about who is better. This story is a great read aloud with its simple text and tale of an exciting game that explains why birds fly south for the winter.

Review Excerpts
The Horn Book v. 70 (November/December 1994) p. 738
"Bruchac's retelling is elegant and graceful. By paring the story down to its essential elements, he has rendered it perfect for reading aloud. The story is enhanced by Roth's artful cut- and torn-paper collages, which include handmade paper as well as paper collected from various parts of the world. Her compositions feature carefully posed birds and animals juxtaposed against brilliantly colored or patterned backgrounds. Bruchac provides a page of detailed and illuminating source notes."

School Library Journal v. 40 (December 1994) p. 96
"This pourquoi tale is told in clean, spare sentences with the emphasis on action and character. In a foreword, Bruchac briefly discusses ball games in traditional Native American life, including the role of sports in conflict management. He mentions two other written versions of the story, as well as Louis Littlecoon Oliver's, which he cites as his source. Unfortunately, the cut-and-torn paper illustrations are too crudely done to convey character or provide details that would have enriched the book. The helter-skelter compositions distract readers from what is otherwise an entertaining tale."

Connections
•Students can research facts about bats.
•Young children can make a list of animals with teeth and animals with wings.
•Children can find information about the game of lacrosse or view a video of the game.
•Children can learn about animals that migrate for the winter.
•Children can make paper collage animals using different kinds of paper.

Other books by Josheph Bruchac
The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story ISBN 0140564098
Racoon’s Last Race ISBN 0803729774
The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story ISBN : 0803715390