In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems (Poetry)

In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems

Written by Eloise Greenfield, Illustrations by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
(Poetry/Primary reader)

Did you ever wonder what a poet has to say about words? This collection of poems from Coretta Scott King Award winners Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist explores a ‘land of words’ from a boy named Nathaniel’s love of rapping to a conversation between a poet and her poem and is sure to delight the minds of young children just entering their own land of words.

In the Land of Words is a collection of poetry. Poetry may be defined as written works that “rich meaning with sounds of language arranged in interesting form” (Galda, 2010, p. 139). According to this definition, the pieces featured in this book certainly fit this genre. Content, language and form are important aspects to consider when evaluating poetry. Content must speak to the poem or collection of poem’s intended audience, in this case young children. Poems feature concepts and themes such as fishing, the world of babies, music, making friends, and the love of parents, all content that children will be able to relate to. Language is central to poetry. Greenfield incorporates many different poetic techniques into the poems in this collection. An example of rhyme can be seen in the poem “Nathaniel’s Rap:” “Rested, dressed and feeling fine/ I’ve got something on my mind/ Friends and kin and neighborhood/ Listen now and listen good” (Greenfield, 2004, p. 15). She uses repetition of phrases including “I get down” in the poem “Way Down in the Music” to imbue the poem with a rhythm of the music she is hearing (Greenfield, 2004, p. 20-21. In the poem “Oh, words” Greenfield uses alliteration when she writes “words, oh, words,/ Oh, what a mess,/ Wicked, wacky, yucky,/ Yes!” (Greenfield, 2004, p. 41). Greenfield also pays attention to the form and structure of her poems. Much of her work is free verse, but she turns the reader’s attention to parts of her poems using techniques such as varying the size and color of words and phrases and offsetting certain words and phrases (see image of poem below). She also includes one poem that is presented as a conversation between a poet and the poem being written.

As a collection of poetry, this book includes a variety of moods and styles of poems that are unified by their overarching themes. The book is divided into two sections, part one is entitled “The Poet/The Poem” and part two is entitled “In the Land” (Greenfield, 2004). Greenfield has also provided comments to accompany several of the poems which offer insight into her creative process and intent. For example, to introduce the poem “New Baby Poem (I), Greenfield writes, “I was thinking about how a new little baby might feel in a big crib, a big room, a big world” (Greenfield, 2004, p. 18).

This book is illustrated, and each of the poems is accompanied by some sort of illustration designed especially for it. Artist Jan Spivey Gilchrist has created the illustrations with fabric collages. The colorful collages pepper each page offering a snapshot of a character, moment, or feeling from each poem be it a boy and girl, a block of dancing cheese, or a bright sun. The medium is particularly captivating as children will be able to make out Gilchrist’s stiches holding fabric together and a texture that seems touchable (see image of sun above).

ACTIVITIES:

1. With consistently strong rhythm, the poetry in this book begs to be read aloud. For very young children, create an activity where the teacher reads selected poems aloud and have children respond to the sound of the poems through movement. For older readers, have students select a poem to practice reading and then “perform” for the class. This way students will be able to interact with the poetry and understand the impact of voice and phrasing built into poems.

2. “Making Friends” is a lovely poem about the first interaction two kindergarteners have and the friendship that blooms. Read this poem with the class and use the poem’s structure to have students create their own narrative poems about making a friend. For example, the poem begins “when I was in kindergarten,” but students may begin their poem with “when I was at camp” or “when I was at the playground.”

READER RESPONSE QUESTIONS:

1. What poetic techniques did you see in these poems? (Poetic techniques should be taught in conjunction with reading poetry.)
2. Pick a poem that stood out to you and explain what you noticed or thought of when reading this poem.
3. Why do you think some words in the poems are written in different colors?

This is a fun and thoughtful collection of poetry for children that will inspire a desire to delve into the world of language. This may also be considered a book with cultural diverse elements because it was created by two African American women who are known for offering expressions of their cultural experience in their written work. As with all good multicultural literature, this work will speak to children of all experiences, incorporating universal themes that resonate with young readers.

Resources

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA:

            Wadsworths, Inc

Greenfield, E., & Gilchrist, J. S. (2004). In the land of words: new and selected poems. New

York: HarperCollins.

Images from https://www.harpercollins.com/web-sampler/9780060289935

James and the Giant Peach (Fantasy)

James and the Giant Peach 

By Roald Dahl, illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert 

(Fantasy/Intermediate Reader)

James and the Giant Peach is the story of a boy named James who escapes from a lonely life with his two mean Aunts by way of a giant peach that grew after some magic fell into the soil of peach tree. James and his companions, a collection of giant insects touched by the same magic, set off on an imaginative adventure, encountering challenges, coming together as friends and collaborators, unsure of where they’ll end up.

James and the Giant Peach is part of the fantasy genre because of its magical elements which “suspend scientific explanations and natural laws” (Galda, 2010, p. 208). The existence of giant insects with human traits as main characters in the book bring it towards the subgenre of animal fantasy.

The book is set in England, beginning with James living a lonely life with his two horrible Aunts, Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge “in a queer ramshackle house on the top of a high hill in the south of England” (Dahl, 1989, p. 2). The majority of the story, however, takes place within the giant peach as it travels from the garden of this house to the sea, to the sky, and eventually to New York. The peach becomes a sort of door into the fantasy world; the vehicle by which James escapes his old life and enters a world of unknown. This is a journey story, and the plot centers around James’ adventure in the peach. He meets several challenges throughout the story, and each are met with a combination of luck, wits, and daring on the part of James and his insect companions that stay within the realm of believability in the fantastical world of the book. For example, when the peach rolls into the ocean and is being attacked by sharks, James has the idea to lift the peach out of the water by hooking it to a huge flock of seagulls using string made by the Silkworm and Miss Spider. Themes include teamwork, family, adventure, suffering, growing up, and good winning over evil.

James is by far the most complex character in the story and is the one who transforms the most, changing from a quiet, obedient boy hoping for a different life to a resourceful leader who resourcefully takes he and his friends to a new land. James’ goodness and manners shine as he encounters strange human-sized insects, approaching them with an open mind and kindness, “James decided that he rather liked the Centipede” (Dahl, 1989, p. 31). Dahl’s writing has a distinctly dignified style to it that fits the setting and James’ manner. He also captures the essence of each insect in the way he writes about them. The respectable grasshopper is logical and a little proud, “‘Young fellow,’ he said in a deep, slow, scornful voice, ‘I have never been a pest in my life. I am a musician’” (Dahl, 1989, p. 29-30). The Centipede, on the other hand is cheeky, mischievous, wears twenty-one pairs of boots (see picture below), and makes up wonderful rhyming songs.

This is a chapter book, but it does contain occasional pictures throughout that help illustrate specific moments in the book. Nancy Ekholm Burkert's illustrations are done in pencil or ink and are colorless in this edition, relying greatly on line to create texture, shape and tone. The illustrations are often dark, both in style and mood, and they give the reader’s imagination a taste of the world of the book.

ACTIVITIES: 

1. Have students create a poster showing all the things James learned about and from his travel
companions. Encourage students to illustrate and decorate their posters and use text from the book to highlight ways James' assumptions about the insects changed once he got to know them.
2. Select several scenes from the book that contain lots of dialogue. Working in groups, have students stage a dramatic reading or skit of a scene. Afterwards have the class discuss the behavior of the characters. How did they contribute in unique ways to a task at hand? In the case of scenes with James' Aunts, how did their behavior deviate from their role as caretaker?

These activities align with Saint Leo's Core Value of Respect because they encourage children to contemplate characters who are open to learning about and accepting those who are different than they are. This is a key part of embracing diversity and respecting others and exploring texts that teach these lessons will help instill this value in children. The second activity also asks students to examine characters who do not embody this value.

READER RESPONSE QUESTIONS:
1. Why is this book considered a fantasy? Describe three examples from the text that tell you its is a fantasy?
2. Why do the other insects get annoyed with the Centipede so often?
3. What do you think of the ending of the book? What does it tell you about the book's theme?

I first read this book as a child and remember being captivated by the world of James and his friends. Reading it again as an adult, I find as much enjoyment in it as I did the first time I picked it up. With just enough narrow misses and comic relief provided by the Centipede, the book flies by. Look for Roald Dahl’s other imaginative works of fiction including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG.

Resources

Dahl, R. (1989). James and the giant peach. New York: Puffin Books.

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworths, Inc

Cover image from http://www.thereadventurer.com/-home/book-vs-movie-james-and-the-giant-peach-by-roald-dahl

Centipede and James image from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/421790321341029683/

Crush (Contemporary Realistic Fiction)

Crush by Gary Paulsen

(Contemporary Realistic Fiction/Intermediate-Advanced reader)

Crush is the light-hearted story of fourteen-year-old Kevin Spencer and his scientific quest to learn about romance. Trying to figure out how to approach Tina, a girl he likes at school, Kevin plans a date night for his parents so he can observe their behavior, tags along with his best friend JonPaul and JonPaul’s girlfriend Sam for the afternoon, and even asks for advice from his older sister; he does everything but actually talk to Tina.

Crush is an example of contemporary realistic fiction because it is a story about “people and events that could actually happen” and it is set in the present day (Galda, 2010, p. 232). It is also an example of a chapter book in series. Paulsen has written several books about Kevin, each with a different focus.

One of the primary characteristics of contemporary realistic fiction is that the setting, characterization, and plot are believable; that they could actually take place today. Crush is set in a fairly typical town and neighborhood, there is not a lot of detail about the specific location, but the scenes are familiar, rotating between Kevin’s home, school, the ice-rink, and neighbors’ houses. Kevin is a unique but relatable example of an eighth-grade boy. Without being portrayed as an overly stereotypical boy, readers will be able to recognize aspects of Kevin in people they know. He has a wonderful sense of humor, is highly social, overanalyzes romance, and is a fantastic babysitter for his preschool neighbor. Over the course of the book, Kevin goes through some perspective shifts brought on by his experiences and various interactions. It is a book of discovery! The plot is also believable, centered around a common point of conflict and confusion for adolescents, relationships. Themes include, growing up, peer relationships, even family relationships as Kevin spends a lot of time considering how his family and parents operate as well as the experience of a neighbor couple going through a separation. Style is large part of what makes this book engaging. Interesting chapter titles: “The Scientific Mind Believes that Observing the Behavior of Test Subjects is Essential” (Paulsen, 2010, p. 14), pertinent cultural references such as Madame Curie’s experiments gone wrong, and text dialogue: “u free 4 a smoothie?” (Paulsen, 2012, p. 111) all give this book a distinct flavor.

This book does not contain illustrations apart from the book cover. The cover shows a realistic but somewhat cartoonish image (drawn or painted) of a boy facing away from the reader with a scraggly bouquet hidden behind his back. The background is bright yellow and the lettering is boldly set in green and red. The style fits the tone of the book, happy and somewhat childlike.

ACTIVITIES:

1. Have students design a scientific approach to answer a question of their own. Begin by having them ask a question about their world and then encourage students to consider how they could approach their question using the steps of the scientific method outlined in Crush: "form a hypothesis, research, study, observe and experiment" (Paulsen, 2012, p. 15).
2. Have students keep a notebook for several weeks about things that happen in their lives. Each week, students should select events or experiences they wrote about that they think might make a good story and then brainstorm how they might write about the subject. At the end of the observation period have students select one experience or a series of related events as inspiration and write a short story about it (Galda, 2010, p. 232).

READER RESPONSE QUESTIONS:

1. What lessons did Kevin learn in this book? How did his experiments help or hurt his quest to talk to Tina?
2. Choose two characters that you learned something from while reading Crush. What and how did they teach you?

I laughed out loud reading this book. Paulsen and Kevin get into some funny situations together. Readers will enjoy being pulled into a world they can relate to and may even come away with some new realizations about love, relationships, and life. If this book is a hit be sure to check out Paulsen’s other Kevin books including Liar, Liar and Flat Broke as well as his many other works.

References

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworths, Inc

Paulsen, G. (2012). Crush. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.

Cover image from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/books/crush-the-theory-practice-and-destructive-properties-of-love-b/

Go Singing through the World: The Childhood of Pablo Neruda (Biography)

Go Singing through the World: The Childhood of Pablo Neruda

Written and illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray
(Biography/Primary-Intermediate reader)

Go Singing through the World is the story of the now famous poet Pablo Neruda’s early life growing up in the town of Temuco in Chile. Always curious with an adventuresome spirit, Pablo observed the world and loved stories and words. With the help of a teacher, Pablo finds his true voice through poetry.

Biographies tell narrative stories about a person’s life and can range from fictional to factual (Galda, 2010, p. 285). Go Singing through the World is an example of an episodic biography, focusing on Pablo Neruda’s childhood. The book combines biographical information from Neruda’s early life and excerpts from his writing, particularly his memoirs and autobiographical poetry, set in italics, to paint an authentic portrait of his experiences (Ray, 2006).

Key characteristics of the biography genre include accuracy, setting and plot, portrayal of subject, style, themes, and illustrations (Galda, 2010). The author drew from several sources to create this book. She includes condensed biographical information for Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, Neruda’s influential teacher and mentor, in the end pages. Ray also includes a chronology of important events in Neruda’s life and acknowledgments that credit her sources for the writings and poetry of Neruda woven into the book. All of these notes help ground her story in fact, though the overall tone of her writing is fluidly narrative-based and not a stark account of facts or dates. The book clearly gives the reader an understanding of Neruda’s origins, his family, his struggles as a child (including a stutter) and how his eventual identity as a writer was shaped by this. These are the physical and social details of Neruda’s life, the setting and plot, that contribute to a fully developed picture of Neruda.

Ray’s portrayal of Neruda is complex. His character is not overwhelmed by the legend of the man he becomes, but is rooted in being a child: when his father leaves to work on the railway, Neruda worries about him; Neruda finds comfort in his stepmother, the only mother he remembers; he plays in the nearby rainforest; he knows what it’s like to feel like an outsider at school. Themes include growing up, finding one’s voice, loneliness, nature, and art.

Ray’s stylistic choice to incorporate Neruda’s writing into the book infuses the story with the subject’s own voice. The author chooses this material carefully, making sure it enhances and illustrates the story instead of distracting from it. Neruda's writings enter her narrative seamlessly. An illuminating section written by Neruda about his father effectively offers the reader Neruda’s unique perspective of one man who was hugely influential in his life. “It’s my father. The centurions of the road surround him: railway men wrapped in wet ponchos, steam and rain cloak the house with them, the dining room was filled with hoarse stories, glasses were drained” (Ray, 2006).

This is a picturebook and the illustrations help place the reader in Neruda’s world. Maps of Chile and Temuco in 1906 decorate the front and back endpages and pastdowns to give the reader a sense of Neruda’s environment. Throughout the book, Ray’s use of color in her paintings differentiate between the natural landscape of Neruda’s town and the people and life within it. Representational scenes with rough texture help set the story in the past.

ACTIVITIES:

1. This book contains samples of Neruda’s meditations on nature and his environment. Have students write a short free-verse poem about their town, neighborhood, or home.

2.  Use the study of Pablo Neruda to learn more about Chile’s culture and landscape. Create a poster with the class drawing information about Chile from the text and additional information from other resources. Compare and contrast the Chile/Temuco of Neruda’s childhood (early 1900s) with today.

READER RESONSE QUESTIONS:

1. Why do you think Pablo liked spending time outside in the rainforest so much? Do you have a special place you like to be?

2. Pablo has an influential teacher and mentor in Gabriela Mistral. What makes her so important to him and to this story? What adult or teacher has made a positive impact on your life?

3. What did you learn about Pablo from his trip to the villages in Araucania?

The illustrations and language in this book work together to create a beautiful, fluid depiction of young Pablo Neruda. This book is also an example of multicultural literature in that is offers readers a glimpse of life in another country and culture, presenting this diversity of life experience respectfully and positively. Be sure to note Neruda's poem, “Poetry” printed in its entirety after the story in the original Spanish and the English translation.

Resources

Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Belmont, CA:

            Wadsworths, Inc

Ray, D. K. (2006). To go singing through the world: the childhood of Pablo Neruda. New York:

Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Images from http://www.dkray.com/books/neruda.html