Review: African American Poetry

Title: In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers

Illustrator: Javaka Steptoe

Citation: Steptoe, Javaka. In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers. New York: Lee & Low Books Inc., 1997.

ISBN: 1-880000-31-8

Awards: ALA Notable Children's Book, Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor, Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, NAACP Image Award Winner Outstanding Literary Achievement, Texas Bluebonnet Masterlist

Review: In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall celebrates the impact fathers (and grandfathers) have on their children's lives. A compilation of poems from a variety of different African American writers, each poem provides readers with a different style, tone, and cadence that keeps the book fresh and interesting. Ranging in tone from somber in Black Father Man by Lenard D. Moore, "We all bleed his blood/summer-hot and thick/summer hot-and thick/as unstrained milk./Black Father Man,/the word-music messenger," to silly in Tickle Tickle by Dakari Hru, "me papa tickle me feet/he call it "finger treat"/me scream and run each time he come/me papa tickle me feet," this collection offers something for everyone. The quality of writing is high, bringing together poetry by both new and established writers that contains a variety of tongue-pleasing figurative language. Accompanied by vivid illustrations utilizing a variety of media, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall effectively lends tribute to the importance of fathers of in the African American culture.

Potential Use: In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall's variety of poems lends itself to use by many different age groups, from Kindergarten through middle school. For the youngest readers, the poem Promises by David A. Anderson will likely be relevant to their lives. This poem could be introduced by setting up a situation all children can relate to, "Have you ever done something your parents asked you not to do? What was it? What were the consequences?" After discussing, share the poem.

Promises

Dear Daddy,

I'm sorry I did not do what you told me to do.

If I do better

Can I still be your little boy?

Dear Son,

You will be

My little boy

For all of your little-boy days.

And when

You are no longer a little boy

I will still be your daddy.

Following the poem, allow students to discuss what it means to them. Lead the discussion to talk about how parents have unconditional love for their children and that no matter what they do or how old they get, they will always be their parents' children. This activity could be done with Pre-Kindergarten through First Grade students in conjunction with a study on families.

Review: Hopkins Collection

Title: Amazing Faces

Poems Selected By: Lee Bennett Hopkins

Illustrator: Chris Soentpiet

Citation: Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Amazing Faces. New York: Lee & Low Books Inc., 2010.

ISBN: 978-1-60060-334-1

Awards: Texas Bluebonnet Masterlist, "Starred Review" Publishers Weekly

Review: Amazing Faces is a compilation of poetry put together by Lee Bennett Hopkins and featuring a variety of poems from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Acclaimed authors in this collection include Joseph Bruchac, Pat Mora, Carole Boston Weatherford, Jane Yolen, and Langston Hughes. Focusing on children experiencing life from different cultural perspectives, each poem provides insight into the multicultural world in which we live. Asians, Hispanics, Caucasians, African Americans, and Native Americans are all well-represented in Amazing Faces not only in the words of the poems, but in the vibrant illustrations of Chris Soentpiet. Children of all ages and cultural backgrounds will appreciate and relate to this collection of poetry that ranges in tone and emotion and represents many aspects of growing up including making friends, first love, sports, and role models.

Potential Use: For elementary-aged English Language Learners (ELL), poetry can often be an abstract and confusing literary form. The poems in Amazing Faces can successfully help ELL students acknowledge their feelings and struggles in terms of the social aspect of their situation while at the same time introducing poetry in an accessible, relevant manner. To introduce an activity using the translated poems Me x 2/Yo x 2 by Jane Medina, ask the following: "What are some hard things about being an ELL student? Do you think native English speakers understand what you have to deal with being bilingual?" After discussing this, share the poems.

Me x 2

I read times two./I write times two./I think, I dream,/I cry times two.

I laugh times two./I'm right times two./I sing, I ask,/I try times two.

I do twice as much/As most people do./'Cause most speak one,/But I speak two!

Yo x 2

Leo por dos./Escribo por dos./Pienso y sueño/Y lloro por dos.

Yo río por dos./Grito por dos./Canto, pregunto,/Intento por dos.

Hago mucho más/Que hacen todos ellos,/Porque yo hablo dos:/Lo doble que aquellos.

Following the poems, allow students to discuss them. Ask if they agree or disagree with the author's portrayal of being bilingual. If students feel comfortable, invite students to share the poems with their homeroom class and lead a discussion about the positives and negatives of being bilingual.

Review: School Poetry

Title: Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems

Author: Kristine O'Connell George

Illustrator: Debbie Tilley

Citation: George, Kristine O'Connell. Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems. New York: Clarion Books, 2002.

ISBN: 0-618-15250-4

Awards: IRA-CBC Children's Choice Award 2003, Rose Diaz Pinan Reading Aloud Collection, World Book Encyclopedia – Outstanding Poetry Collection 2002

Review: Swimming Upstream takes a humorous look at the daily lives of middle school students. Featuring a variety of poetic forms including haiku, free verse, and acrostic, Kristine O'Connell George tells the tale of a sixth-grade girl making her way through the dreaded first year of middle school. Touching on everything from locker trouble, making friends, the first school dance, changing in the locker room, and homework, George takes a light-hearted tone in each of her short poems as she reminisces about circumstances every middle school student (past and present) can relate to. This easy read will appeal to upper elementary-aged students as they anticipate the changes to come as well as to middle school students who live out the antics presented in Swimming Upstream on a daily basis. A comical, yet well-written themed collection, Swimming Upstream is a quality addition to any adolescent's reading list.

Potential Use: Sixth-grade students will especially relate to the same-aged protagonist in Swimming Upstream. This collection of poems would lend itself to fun activities both during the first and last week of a student's sixth-grade year. During the first week of school, educators can read some of the first half of Swimming Upstream aloud to students and have them discuss the challenges of being new to middle school. One poem all students are likely to relate to is the haiku entitle Locker:

Locker
I've got your numbers.
Twelve…eleven…twenty-one.
Why won't you open?

After sharing this poem and others, have students write a haiku about their first week of middle school experience. Creating a haiku is a short activity that is both fun for the writer and the audience and allows students to realize they are not alone in their worries, fears, and struggles about middle school. Collect these haikus and save them until the end of the year, when students can reflect on how far they've come.

During the last week of school, educators can read either the entire collection or some of the second half of Swimming Upstream aloud to students. After doing so, pass out the students' haikus from the beginning of the year and discuss how they've matured and changed in the months that have passed. Have students write a poem in a format of their choice reflecting on their sixth-grade year.