Poetry Friday with a review of The Way the Door Closes

Life is full of unknowns. Sometimes even the things that you feel sure about are not as secure as you thought they were. One of the hardest things for children to cope with is when something happens to a parent. When there is a divorce, when a parent dies, or when a parent walks out, the ramifications for the children in the family can be considerable. Today's poetry title takes readers into the heart and mind of a young man whose father leaves suddenly. The narrative is moving and powerful, and it shows readers what it is like to be a child who is trying to cope with this kind of devastating event.

The way a door closes

Hope Anita Smith

Illustrated by Shane W. Evans

Poetry

For ages 10 to 13

Henry Holt, 2011, 978-0312661694

C.J. lives with his Momma, Daddy, Grandmomma, and his younger brother and sister. On the whole they have a happy life together, and C.J. admires his strong grandmother, his beautiful mother, and his dependable father who reminds C.J. to be proud of who he is. He loves Sunday afternoons, when he and his father and brother go out and do something together, just the three of them.

   Then Daddy loses his job and things start to change. Daddy tries not to show his pain and worry, but C.J. still sees it and every day he prays that his father will finally get a job. Every day Daddy comes home without a job. Then, one night, Daddy tells his family that he is going out. Somehow, the way he closes the door makes C.J. feel as if they are “vacuum-sealed inside” the room. Something about the way that Daddy closed that door feels wrong.

   Sure enough, that night and the next day Daddy does not come home and C.J. offers to get a job, to even leave school “until we get things squared away,” but Momma won’t hear of it. In fact she gets angry and slaps her son, only to hold him close and cry. As far as she is concerned C.J is too young “to be a man.”

   As the days go by, the gloom of Daddy’s absence spreads, and it touches everyone in C.J’s household. People start to think that Daddy is just another dead-beat dad who will never come back.

   Written using a series of blank verse poems, this touching book explores how a teenage boy feels when his father abandons his family. Feelings of disbelief, anger and fear swirl through C.J. as he tries to come to terms with the fact that nothing stays the same, and that even strong and loving fathers can get afraid when life deals them a blow.

Picture Book Monday with a review of The Red Apple

Learning how to work with others and cooperate is a lesson many children struggle with. They often prefer to do things their way. If there is a prize to be earned, they don't want to share it. They would rather struggle on their own than cooperate with others if it means that they have to share the prize. In this gorgeous picture book we see how a group of animals work together to try to get something and how, in the end, their cooperation gives them a gift that none of them expected.

The red Apple

Feridun Oral

Picture Book

For ages 4 to 6

Minedition, 2015, 978-988-8240-00-5

One snowy, bitterly cold winter’s day a rabbit leaves his burrow to try to find some food. Unfortunately, the snow is so deep that everything edible is buried. Then Rabbit sees a bright red apple hanging on a bare tree. Rabbit is delighted with his find and he quickly goes over to the tree. Only to discover that the apple is too far above his head. There is no way that Rabbit can reach the precious fruit.

   Rabbit decides to ask Mouse for his help, and Mouse is willing to do what he can, but it turns out that the tree is too big for such a small mouse to handle. Even when Mouse stands on Rabbit’s head the apple is still too high for them to reach it.

   Then Fox, who is feeling “a bit under the weather,” arrives on the scene.  He tries to knock the apple off the tree with his tail, but his efforts are no more successful than the earlier ones were, and the apple, very stubbornly so it seems, stays firmly attached to the tree.

   In this beautifully written and visually stunning picture book, Feridun Oral shows his readers how cooperation sweetens life in more ways than one. The ending will warm the hearts of readers of all ages. 

Poetry Friday with a review of A Spectacular Selections of Sea Critters

Concrete poems give poets a means to entertain readers with word magic and graphic art magic. I encountered this form of poetry relatively recently and have seen first hand how excited young children become when they see how the words in a poem can be used to create a picture. This wonderful book is packed to the gills with lots wonderful concrete poems that tickle the mind and delight the eye.

A spectacular Selection of Sea Critters

Betsy Franco

Illustrated by Michael Wertz

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 6 to 8

Lerner, 2015, 978-1-4677-2152-3

Many people love spending time at the seaside, paddling in the waves, and exploring ocean worlds. They are fascinated by the creatures that live underwater; the fish, turtles, jellyfish, stingrays, eels and other animals.

   In this delightful book Betsy Franco’s clever concrete poems are paired with wonderful artwork to give readers a memorable journey into the world of sun, sea, sand, and “sea critters.” The words on the pages are arranged to create shapes and patterns that reflect what is being said in the poems, and these arrangements of words perfectly complement the illustrations to give readers a singular reading experience.

   We begin with a piece of poetry called Sun Mail. The warmth of the sun is sending us an invitation to go “Snorkling today!” and when we dip our heads beneath the ways we see schools of fish where all the fish move in perfect unison to the right, the left, up and down. The fish “shift together in a flash” and as one “they swim together to survive.”

   In the water we encounter box jellyfish, “fascinating” creatures that move around by “undulating” and “pulsating.” We see a sea turtle “row by” with “flippered wings,” and a king angelfish, which is territorial about her space. Among the coral, butterfly fish spend their days “floating, flitting, flickering, fluctuating feeding.” The peaceful harmony of their world is rudely interrupted when they have to flee from a hungry eel.

   Puffer fish, cleaner fish, needlefish, sea horses, Moorish idols, trumpet fish and others cover the pages of this special book. There are poems in rhyming verse, blank verse, a haiku, an acrostic poem, a tercet, a limerick, a riddle and more. Throughout the book Betsy Franco dazzles us with her remarkable word pictures and delights us with her creativity.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Sanctuary

Some picture books were clearly written just for children. Others will appeal to adults who love to look at beautiful art, or who like to give their imagination an airing. And then there are picture books that can be enjoined equally by children and adults because the message is so universal. Today's picture book is just such a title. Children will be drawn into the simple narrative and perhaps they will think about what makes them feel safe and secure. Adults may find themselves wondering what their sanctuary is too. Is it a place, a person, or something else altogether?

Sanctuary

Wendy Marloe

Illustrated by Joanna Chen

Picture Book

For ages 6 and up

Marloe Press, 2015, 978-0-9823495-3-3

When a group of people are asked what they think of when they hear the word “sanctuary,” each person will probably come up with a unique answer. For some, a cozy nook in a window seat might be a sanctuary, while for others their sanctuaries might be out in the fresh air, perhaps amongst trees in the woods or on top of a high hill.

   In this memorable book a minimal text is paired with beautiful illustrations to explore what sanctuaries are. They can be places where we share a part of ourselves, places like a stage. Or they can be places where we can be alone, such as a chair in a library. A sanctuary can be a structure “made out of stone, or cloth, or cardboard or wood,” or alternately it can be “the space between here and the horizon.”

   A sanctuary can be a solitary place under the covers where we hold onto a beloved stuffed animal so that we can have a quiet cry, or it can be picnic place in the woods where we go to play and laugh with others.

   This is the kind of book that children and grownups alike will enjoy sharing. It is a book that will give readers something to think about, and they will enjoy sharing the artwork, and the imagery in the words, with others. 

Poetry Friday with a review of We troubled the waters

Until relatively recently, I had never encountered poetry that told uncomfortable stories from real life, stories that captured painful events from history. Then I started reviewing poetry books and I came across a few such titles, books in which the raw truth from the past is shared and explored. Today's poetry title is an example of this kind of book, and the poems it contains are powerful and honest.

We troubled the waters

Ntozake Shange

Illustrated by Rod Brown

Poetry Picture Book

For ages 8 to 10

HarperCollins, 2009, 978-0-06-133735-2

The history of the African American people is peppered with stories of struggle, loss, landmark moments and people of great courage. We know some of these stories well and think about them as the year rolls around, remembering how Rosa Parks took a stand on a bus, and how Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech on a hot summer’s day in Washington D.C. However, there are many stories that we do not know, and in this book big stories and small ones are told to help us get a truthful picture of what it was like to be an African American in the days when people of color were discriminated against.

   The first story we encounter is about the schools Booker T. Washington founded, schools that gave black children the tools, it was hoped, that would allow them to succeed in the world. Not many years before, the children who attended the schools would have been horribly punished for trying to get an education, but now the door to the world of books, words and numbers was open to them.

   Soon after we read this story of hope we meet a woman sitting in the middle of a floor. She is a “Cleaning Gal” and she knows that she could get into terrible trouble for resting when she should be working. She knows that many tasks await her in the hours and days ahead, and that she has to work, and work hard, to provide for her family. She knows that while she labors away, her employers will live a life of leisure, a life she can only dream about.

   Though this is painful and sad picture, it is nothing compared to the one we come across later in the book when we read about how a group of boys are lynched, left hanging in trees for the their family members to find. Often these acts of barbarism were the work of the Ku Klux Klan, a group who “terrorized” African Americans for generations. Wearing their white robes and head coverings “they took no responsibility for the heinous reign of death they dealt.”

   We read too about how many brave souls refused to accept the “WHITES ONLY” signs. They protested peacefully against segregation in five and dime stores and other places where they were not welcome, and were attacked and imprisoned for their pains.

   This powerful collection of poems will give readers a sense of what African Americans went through, and how they suffered over the years, oppressed by violence and Jim Crow laws. They were not beaten though, and rose up to march and sing, to speak and to shout out for justice.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Tree: A little story about big things

Many people have a hard time understanding why some adults love children's literature. Why would a grownup like to look at picture books, which are childish and surely too simple for an adult reader?

It is true that some picture books have a simple story line, one that caters just for children, but there are others that present readers with a bigpicture concept, a story that explores a universal principal that will resonate with readers of all ages.

Today's picture book is just such a title, and it is one that I have put on my to-look-at-again-and-again shelf. It is book that is beautiful on many levels.

Tree: A little story about big things

Danny Parker

Illustrated by Matt Ottley

Picture Book

For ages 5 and up

Little Hare, 2012, 9781742978604

A little seed lands in the shelter of a big tree’s curved roots, and there it germinates and sprouts. Though it is “delicate and frail” the little tree begins to grow. Sheltered by its large and strong neighbor from the baking sun, heavy rains and snow, the little tree flourishes. And then, one night, a terrible storm blows through, and though it has withstood many a storm before, this time the older tree, the little tree’s protector, is not able to withstand the ferocity of the wind, rain and lightning.

   When the “uproar and confusion” passes, and the quiet returns, something is different in the little tree’s world. Its protector is gone. Big machines rumble and roar around the little tree and it is left to struggle in a wasteland without any other tree around or near it.

   Loss and change can be devastating, whether you are a tree or an animal or a person. With minimal text and incredibly beautiful illustrations the author and illustrator of this remarkable picture book helps readers to see the cycle of life, death and renewal in a powerful and life-affirming way. We see how the older generation protects the younger until the younger has to stand on its own and face what life sends its way.

Poetry Friday with a review of Bow-Tie Pasta: Acrostic Poems

I had never seen an acrostic poem until my daughter wrote one at school and proudly showed me her creation. She went on to write many more such poems, and still occasionally writes acrostics, which she illustrates with her own drawings. This wonderful title shows young readers how these poems are written, and provides them with examples to read and enjoy.

Bow-Tie Pasta: Acrostic Poems

Brian P. Cleary

Illustrated by Andy Rowland

Poetry

For ages 6 to 8

Millbrook, 2015, 978-1-4677-8107-7

For many children, an acrostic poem is the first poem that they write. To create these poems poets use a word, written down the page instead of across it, to form the building blocks of their word creation. They then begin to write phrases that begin with the letters of that word that explore, in some way, what that chosen word means. For example, the first poem in this is book is built off the word “Acrostic.” The first letter of the first line is an A, the second a C, the third an R, and so on. The poem begins thus: “All kinds of poems are / Cool, but this type is / Really interesting…” Since rhyme and meter patterns are not required in poems of this type - though some of them do rhyme - acrostic poems are wonderfully simple to create. 

   The author of this book begins by explaining what acrostic poems are and then he gives us some wonderful examples to read and explore. Some of the poems use only one word, words like piano, Halloween, and library. Other poems use several words. For example, the author creates a poem called Bow Tie Pasta and the poem explores what it is like to eat pasta that is made out of bow ties of all colors. Not surprising, the meal is “Awful tasting.”

   Many of the poems are written without any kind of rhyme or pattern, but there is one that has rhyme and a balanced meter. The poem is called Rainy Day, and as the verse unfolds we read about a child who makes “cookies by the sheet / Next they cool. I dunk and eat.” Thanks to books, treats, and games, this is a boy or girl who loves “the great indoors!”

   Children who have been afraid to try writing poems of their own are going to be inspired when they look through this book. They will see how easy it is to write acrostic poems, which can be funny, tell a story, or be contemplative, depending on the writer’s mood.

Picture Book Monday with a review of Grant and Tillie Go Walking

I must confess that other than being able to recognize American Gothic, until recently I did not know much about Grant Wood's art. I did not know his story either. I was therefore very keen to read and review today's picture book title, which provides readers with a very unique, partially true, tale about Grant Wood's life. The story is touching and sweet, and it piqued my interest so much that I then went online and read about Grant Wood some more.

Grant and Tillie Go Walking

Monica Kulling

Illustrated by Sydney Smith

Picture Book

For ages 5 to 7

Groundwood Books, 2015, 978-1-55498-446-6

Grant Wood lives on a farm, and many days he goes walking with Tillie the cow. Tillie is happy with her lot in her life. She has a comfortable home, plenty to eat, and she has Grant. Unfortunately, her human friend is not happy. Grant is an artist at heart and he feels that he belongs somewhere where he will find “more excitement,” a place like Paris where French artists create their works of art.

   And so Grant leaves his farm life and travels to Paris with his friend Marvin. One evening the two artists climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower and see the city lying below them, “lit up like fireworks.” Grant no longer wears his farm overalls. Instead, he dons city clothes and a beret. He grows a beard and spends many hours talking to other artists in cafes.

   Grant and Marvin paint outdoors, creating paintings in a style that is new and exciting. Marvin’s creations sell quickly, but Grant’s do not. For some reason he is not able to connect with Paris in a meaningful way, and when he tries to paint a cow – something that is familiar to him - that does not work either.

   Back at home, on the farm, Tillie is missing Grant terribly. She loses interest in her food, and she does not go for walks anymore because she does not have Grant to show her the way. Tillie grows sad and thin, and Grant’s family members do not know what to do to help her.

   In this delightful picture book Monica Kulling weaves together fact and fiction to give readers a heartwarming story about an artist who has to leave home to find out what kind of an artist he is. Children will be delighted to see how Grant and Tillie both get something priceless from their relationship.

   In an author’s note at the back of the book readers will find further information about Grant Wood and his art.

Merry Christmas!

A Very Merry Christmas!

Poetry Friday with a review of Little poems for tiny ears

It is so wonderful to share poetry with little children. The rhyme and rhythm feels natural to them, and they are happy to enjoy poems without needing to understand the exact meaning of every word. Theirs is an organic appreciation which anyone who loves the written word can appreciate.

Today's poetry title was written just for little children and it is delight to share.

Little poems for tiny ears

Lin Oliver

Illustrated by Tomie dePaola

Poetry Picture Book

For babies and toddlers

Penguin, 2014, 978-0-399-16605-1

Sharing poetry with babies, crawlers and toddlers can be so much fun as children who are this young have a natural affinity for the sing-song cadences of verse. Even if they are too young to fully understand the words, there is something about the sounds in poetry - which are similar to the ebb and flow found in music - that little children love.

   In this book Lin Oliver gives his readers a delightful collection of poems that were written with very young children in mind. On these pages we will meet a little girl who sees a baby in the mirror and who marvels at the way in which the mirror baby copies everything she does. Another little one tries walking and he is not discouraged when he falls down. After all, if he does fall down all that happens is that he lands “on my behind.”

   Further along in the book we encounter a little baby who is going out for a walk in his stroller. From his vantage position, being pushed by a grownup, the baby sees two cats and a dog. He sees a girl jogging and waves to her.

   Other poems talk about noses, toes and tongues. We hear about dogs, who “give me love that never ends,” and cats, who are “silky, soft and furry.” There are poems about bath time and diaper time, a poem about a blankie and a poem about “daddy’s beard.” In short, on these pages readers will find poems that perfectly capture a little child’s world.

   Throughout the book Tomie dePaola’s warm and cozy illustrations perfectly complement Lin Oliver’s poems.