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.