I Am the Book poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins - New Poetry Book

Bibliography

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2011. I AM THE BOOK. Ill. by Yayo. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 978-0823421190.

Review and Critical Analysis

            I AM THE BOOK is an anthology of thirteen poems compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins, written for primarily young readers, praising books and reading. There are many well-known poets represented in this anthology including Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Karen B. Winnick, Naomi Shihab Nye and Hopkins himself. Hopkins included a Table of Contents of author’s and titles. Also included are short descriptions of each of the poets in a section at the back of the book entitled About the Poets.

          Several poems in Hopkins' anthology employ the poetic elements of personification and metaphor. A POEM IS by Jane Yolen describes words as “running down the page in black script sneakers.” Yolen uses personification when she depicts the words as having the ability to run, to get up and move as a person would. The rhythm of this poem makes the readers eyes fairly sprint down the page as they read the words. Metaphor is commonly used throughout this anthology as well. In WHEN I READ by Beverly McLoughland, the ocean is used as a metaphor for a book. McLoughland writes, “When I read I like to dive in the sea of words and swim. Feet kicking fast across the page splashing words against my skin.” Here the reader is the diver and the book is the ocean. The reader dives enthusiastically into the book soaking up everything as he swims past pages. In PAPERBACK PLUNDER by Michele Krueger the conch shell is used as a metaphor for a book. The woman in the poem has abandoned her book at the beach. Here it patiently waits for the next person to come along enticing them with the words “Lift me to your ear, hear the story I shall tell.” Just as a person lifts a conch shell to their ear to hear the ocean, a reader could lift this book out of the sand and hear its story.       

          The stanza is the primary poetic form utilized in this anthology. The stanzas vary in length of lines. In addition, some poems employ rhyme schemes while others are written in free verse. The most common rhyme scheme used is the rhyming of alternating lines. THIS BOOK by Avis Harley is written in three line stanzas where the first and third lines rhyme. WHAT WAS THAT? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich also employs this type of rhyme scheme, but within four line stanzas where the second and fourth lines rhyme.

Young readers will have no trouble reading these poems themselves. The language and concepts are not hard to comprehend, however they are quite imaginative. Young people who are avid readers will relate to the themes in these poems. In QUIET MORNING by Karen B. Winnick, the narrator describes sitting on a comfortable window seat with his dog and his book whiling away quiet time reading. BOOK by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is narrated by a child who enjoys snuggling in bed and reading before falling asleep.

          Each of the poems in this collection endeavor to instill a desire to read books in young people by detailing the many different kinds of adventures books provide. Books can thrill, amaze, induce wonder and be companions to their readers. PIRATES by Jill Corcoran is a poem about a subject popular among young people, especially boys, that of the pirate adventure. Corcoran describes pirate books in this manner, “Gunpowder stabs my streaming nostrils. I storm toward shackled screams of a kidnapped damsel. I swashbuckle through my book’s CHAPTER TWO.” WONDER THROUGH THE PAGES by Karla Kuskin describes the magical world of books when she writes, “…nonsense and knowledge came tumbling out, whispering mysteries, history’s shout, the wisdom of wizards, the songs of the ages…” These two poems illustrate the many varied and creative subjects books can encompass, and the words the authors use serve to entice young people to try some of these books themselves.

          Yayo has created ingenious, effervescent acrylic illustrations to accompany these poems. These illustrations are all double paged and visually bring to life the words of the poets. They have movement and color and themes attractive to young people. A POEM IS by Jane Yolen incorporates a lot of musical words. In addition to this Yolen writes that words in books are “nudging one another like bumper cars at a fair.” Yayo used these two elements, music and a fair, and crafted an exceptional illustration of a young boy running along a beach with a boardwalk amusement park in the background. However, this amusement park is constructed entirely out of musical instruments. The rollercoaster is a harp and a violin, and a rocket ride is attached to a piano. There is also an intriguing element to Yayo’s work, an actual book or pages from a book appear in an unexpected way in every illustration. In WHO’S RICH? by Naomi Shihab Nye a treasure chest is actually a book emphasizing Nye’s thesis that those who read are rich. To reference an earlier example, WHEN I READ by Beverly McLoughland, the book is representing the water into which the narrator dives. Yayo’s illustrations will keep both readers and listeners, entranced.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis and Follow Up Activity

I AM THE BOOK

Tom Robert Shields

I’ll be your friend,

            stay by your side,

contradict you,

make you laugh or teary-eyed

On a sun-summer morning.

I’ll spark you,

            help you sleep,

            bring dreams

            you’ll forever keep

On a dappled-autumn afternoon.

I’ll warm you,

            keep you kindled,

            dazzle you

            till storms have dwindled

On a snow-flaked winter evening.

I’ll plant in you

            a spring-seedling

            with bursting life

            while you are reading.

I am the book

You are needing.

           Shields poem I AM THE BOOK embodies many of the poetic forms and thematic elements encountered throughout this book. In this poem Shields also ascribes human qualities to the books, stating that they can contradict their readers, be their friend, demonstrate loyalty or inspire them in many ways. The poem itself is written in stanza form, and every second and fourth line in the first four stanzas rhymes. Shields employs books in this poem as metaphors for friendship and inspiration, something young people who love to read will relate to immediately. Readers and listeners also see Yayo’s creativity through the use of a dog, which like a book is used to represent friendship and fidelity. Yayo also cleverly incorporates an actual book as the dog's muzzle, and every season Shields describes is incorporated into the dog’s body.

For a follow up activity, I would create a large book out of poster board with the words, friend, dreams, winter, and seeds. Then I would divide the children in the audience into four groups, which would each be assigned one of the words, friend, dreams, winter, or seeds. After reading the poem I AM THE BOOK by Tom Robert Shields I would ask each group to write a short poem, and draw an accompanying picture, based on their particular word. These drawings and poems would then be placed on the large poster board book. This combination of listening to the poem, thinking about its meaning, and creating art and poetry based on the words inherent in the poem, would instill in the students how reading and books inspire creativity.

Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford - Verse Novel

Bibliography

Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2008. BECOMING BILLIE HOLIDAY. Ill. by Floyd Cooper. Honesdale: Wordsong. ISBN 978-1590785072.

Review and Critical Analysis

            BECOMING BILLIE HOLIDAY by Carole Boston Weatherford is a fictionalized memoir recounted through narrative poetry and written in the first person, of Holiday’s early years. The poems titles are almost exclusively song titles, all but two of which Holiday recorded. The entire verse novel is structured analogous to a song with an introduction, bridge and coda and the poems in between acting as lyrics. Weatherford includes a Table of Contents, Afterword (with her thoughts on the book and Holiday herself), short Biographies of the real life individuals mentioned throughout the poetry, a References list and items for Further Reading and Listening.

          The tones of Weatherford’s poems have a decidedly dark, yet strong and feisty feel. Holiday, born Eleanora Fagan, led a very harsh life from the day she was born. She endured an absentee father, rape, prostitution and reform school. Some of her early performances were in less than ideal clubs and bars. However, through it all Holiday remained strong and fixed on her dream, and Weatherford never lets the reader forget that. She was a unique individual, true to herself, who was not going to let life beat her down. This verse novel does not focus on the success she attained in later years, but the heartache and pain she had to endure in her early life to achieve that success. Weatherford chooses to end the novel with CODA: STRANGE FRUIT which was Holiday’s signature song. It highlights not only Holiday’s arduous rise to the top, but also the difficult existence of African Americans from the 1920’s to 1940’s. The final lines of CODA: STRANGE FRUIT proclaim Holiday a star and say to the reader that this song, as well as her career, were of her own creation.

          Weatherford’s poems are written in stanza form, with no set rhyme scheme. The poems are palpable, they not only envelop your senses, but also fundamentally engage your emotions. As the reader moves through the poems in this novel they experience the emotions right along with Holiday. Weatherford employs repetition and internal narration to great effect in several of her poems. In YOU GO TO MY HEAD Weatherford repeats, with slight variation, the line “I sang my songs.” This suggests several things. How music was a balm for Holiday, how it gave her courage and strength. Also, it presents the idea that she lived and breathed her music. It became all she thought about, which is a reference to the title. All of the poems in this verse novel are first person narrative, however, in several poems Weatherford inserts an element of internal narration by having another person speak to the narrator, Holiday. When this is done, those lines of the poem are written in italics to denote the fact that it is another voice other than Holliday’s speaking. One of the finest examples is IT’S THE SAME OLD STORY where Holiday’s mother Sadie is trying to explain to her why she has to stay with her Aunt Eva, so she Sadie can leave to find work.

          One noteworthy element Weatherford skillfully employs is the use of song titles as words in her poems. An excellent example of this is SOPHISTICATED LADY in which Weatherford has lines like “We answered Duke’s ‘Creole Love Call,’ glimpsed his ‘Black and Tan Fantasy.’” By inserting song titles into the poetry Weatherford reinforces not only the musical tone that weaves throughout the book, but she also highlights aspects of Holiday’s career that eventually made her famous.

            Two poems differ slightly from the musical theme, MATINEE: AMERICAN BEAUTY and MATINEE: EMPEROR JONES. The titles of these two works refer to movies, and they also mark two pivotal moments in Holiday’s life. MATINEE: AMERICAN BEAUTY depicts Holiday’s (still Eleanora Fagan at the time) enchantment with Billie Dove, the movie actress part of whose name she used when she decided to change her own name to Billie Holiday. MATINEE: EMPEROR JONES depicts an early bit part Holiday had in her first movie Emperor Jones.

          Floyd Cooper’s illustrations are in tones of primarily sepia and white, additional colors are used in some illustrations to emphasize significant details of Holiday’s life or to enhance the emotional quality of the book. The illustrations appear at key moments in the narrative and serve to highlight important or altering moments in Holiday’s life; her father’s abandonment, her dreams of a better life and the bus in which she toured the country. Cooper captures the time period exquisitely and dramatically through the detail and style of his illustrations.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis and How That Poem Would Be Introduced

INTRO: WHAT SHALL I SAY?

By Carole Boston Weatherford

The way Mom toted around

that magazine with my photo inside,

you’d have thought

I was Woman of the Year.

I don’t blame Sadie. Wasn’t every day

that a colored face, let alone

her only child, appeared in Time.

I was proud too till I read

what that two-bit critic wrote.

Called me “roly-poly”; said I wouldn’t diet,

was stuck on my own voice,

and cared for tunes but not the words.

What did he know

about my taste in food or music?

I never even talked to the cat,

but he’d better not cross my path.

If he dares, he’ll get a mouthful,

hear just how I got to Harlem

and became Lady Day.

Oh, the tales I’d tell.

          Weatherford’s poem INTRO: WHAT SHALL I SAY? establishes the tone of the poetry; strong, sassy, yet with a hint of heartache. The reader hears Holiday’s voice clearly in this poem. Weatherford presents a woman who endured much, but held fast to her dreams. A woman who succeeded in a way that was exceedingly rare for African Americans at that time in history. This poem introduces the first person narrative of the book. It informs the reader that this story will be told in Holiday’s own voice, a voice that has many stories to tell them.

          I would introduce this poem by playing two or three of Holiday’s better known recordings, including STRANGE FRUIT. This would serve as a backdrop for my opening comments. Upon conclusion of the songs I would ask the students if they had ever heard any of her music before, and what they thought of it. Questions like: “Do any of you know this singer?” and “What type of music would you say this is?” would serve as segues into my reading of the actual poem. Before beginning I would preface the reading by saying, “The poem I am about to read you, INTRO: WHAT SHALL I SAY? by Carole Boston Weatherford is a poem that showcases one of America’s greatest jazz singers, Billie Holiday. It is told from a fictional point of view in her own words. Listen to the words, and after the reading we can discuss what you thought of the poem.” I would show the students the most dramatic of the illustrations as I read the poem, and again afterward while we discussed it, so the students could express their feelings about the art and its contribution to the poetry.

Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems by John Grandits - Poetic Form

Bibliography

Grandits, John. 2007. BLUE LIPSTICK: CONCRETE POEMS. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 978-0618568604.

Review and Critical Analysis

            BLUE LIPSTICK: CONCRETE POEMS by John Grandits is a book of thirty four concrete poems, written in various shapes that reflect the title and subject matter. The narrator of all but one of these poems is Jessie, a high school girl. The poems express her views on life, school and family. Grandits provides a Table of Contents, however it is located on the back cover of the book. He also provides a Note From the Author entitled POCKET POEM, about the benefits of always carrying a poem with you. Finally, Grandits includes a list of all of the typefaces he used throughout the book along with information about the illustrations. All of Grandits' drawings were done with a Bristol China Marker and edited in Adobe Photoshop.

            Grandits only employs rhyme in one of his poems ZOMBIE JOCKS. This poem consists of four stanzas that are four lines each. The words at the ends of the lines in each stanza rhyme. In the first, second and fourth stanzas the words are the same, 'trophy' in stanzas one and four and '‘em' in stanza two. In the third stanza the first and second lines rhyme with each other, as do the third and fourth. The poems language is exactly like a zombie would talk, in a mindless, trance-like fashion. This is also the only poem in the book that is not narrated by Jessie and is not a direct account of her life in any way. The illustration accompanying the poem also reflects its tone. It is of a black figure meant to represent a zombie, with eyes in blue made up of the word trophy. This reinforces the only singular thought on the jocks minds, winning a trophy.

          Many of Grandits’ poems have a narrative style to them, and are written not only in everyday rather than poetic language, but also in typical conversational language used by teenagers. This use of language is exemplified in ALL MY IMPORTANT THINKING GETS DONE IN THE SHOWER. In this poem Grandits employs the stream of consciousness writing technique as Jessie remarks on various ideas that occur to her as she is in the shower. Two lines in particular are a reflection of Grandits’ writing style, “College! College! College!...Enough about college. I wonder if there’s an art school that teaches you how to do tattooing and piercing.” and “Mom’s tossing the laundry-room curtains because Robert got bleach on them. They would make a totally cool skirt” represent typical teenage idioms and thoughts. The stream of consciousness style is also echoed in the shape of the poem itself, the words are written in blue and meant to represent water streaming out of a shower head. The poem reads as if Jessie was sitting next to the reader and talking to them as she would talk to a friend. This realism adds to the overall tone of the poems, and makes them more relevant to young readers.

Teens will see many familiar themes in this book such as friendship, having a crush, and annoying yet loving family members. Jessie provides an authentic voice as she discusses the trials and rewards of life as a teenager. MY ABSOLUTELY BAD CRANKY DAY showcases twenty six, one for each letter of the alphabet, problems Jessie encounters in a single day. Among them are, having to do homework for three classes, being forced to do fifty jumping jacks for complaining in PE and dealing with a younger immature brother, Robert. The poem also provides a timeline at the top of the page showing the hours in the day and when each event occurred. In contrast, TATTOO AND TONGUE STUD is a humorous account of how Jessie puts on a fake tattoo and tongue stud to provoke her younger brother into telling on her. Right before he returns with their parents Jessie has removed both items, and is claiming she has no idea what her brother is talking about. The poems in this book present a range of emotions from happiness, to frustration to angst.

Young girls will relate to what Jessie has to say, however I do not believe that everyone will put in the effort to read it. Yes, the book is meant to be poetry in different shapes; however it is difficult to actually read many of them. In one poem alone, MONDRIAN, the reader is forced to turn the book in four different directions just to read all the words. Another, GO LOOK IN THE MIRROR!, has a large section of the poem written in reverse writing so the reader is forced to actually hold it up to a mirror to read it. VOLLEYBALL PRACTICE has words written in angles, upside down and sideways. Certain poems are written in an easily readable way, however most are very tangential. Readers may get discouraged in having to work their way through oddly shaped poems to actually reach the ones that are easily readable. This may cause many to abandon the book before finishing it. Poetry is generally not a popular genre among teenagers, and literacy is a problem among young people, BLUE LIPSTICK is not necessarily a book that will result in a teenager embracing the genre of poetry. I do not believe Grandits is reaching his intended audience of high school age readers. Teenagers are more adult today than they were 10 years ago.  In today’s world BLUE LIPSTICK would appeal to middle-schoolers. They might find it fun to read upside down and backwards. I would recommend this book for young people no older than 13.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis and Follow Up Activity

From BAD HAIR DAY

By John Grandits

Lisa had this cool idea to do my hair a totally extreme way.

I said, “Let’s go for it.” So after school we went to the drugstore and

bought some hair bleach and some blue dye that was even on sale.

First, we stripped out my natural color with the bleach,

which made me look ancient-like I’d turned into my grandmother. That was so

scary, we put the blue dye on right away. Then something went really wrong. One side

of my hair was all limp and pale, and the other side was blue. Lisa started crying. “I’m soooo

sorry,”she said. “Do you want to borrow some scarves to wear to school?” I sent her home.

School? I couldn’t go to school. I’d be totally humiliated. My life was ruined!

          Grandits' poem BAD HAIR DAY effectively employs the conversational style of speaking that is unique to teenagers. By Jessie using words like ‘totally’ and ‘cool’ and overdramatizing when she discusses her life young readers will have no problem relating to the subject matter. This conversational style is used by Grandits throughout most of this book. However, this poem is another example of the difficulties of reading Grandits’ work. The lines themselves are all written in such a way that the reader must hold the book sideways. Then, to reflect badly dyed hair, halfway through the poem the writing becomes jagged and turns in many different directions, again forcing the reader to continually turn the book or hold it at odd angles.

          For the follow up activity to this poem I would provide construction paper and ask the students to think of something that happened to them personally that they originally thought was a good idea, but that turned out badly. Then, on an individual basis, I would have them construct a shape that represented their memories using the construction paper and various art tools. On that shape I would have the students write a poem that represented their thoughts. When done, they would read the poems aloud and explain why they chose the shape they did and how it helped to express the poem.