Hip Hop Speaks to Children

Giovanni, Nikki (ed). Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A celebration of poetry with a beat. Sourcebooks, 2008.

This book is a great way to get kids involved in poetry without ever thinking it's poetry. Nikki Giovanni has compiled numerous African-American poets, artists, and singers together in one spot to demonstrate the richness and rhythms of poetry and the African-American culture as well. The CD that is included with this book has poets reading their works (including Langston Hughes), children performing works, and even vocal artists like Queen Latifah performing. This is a culturally rich book with wonderful illustrations by a multitude of artists. It even includes the "I Have a Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Overall, this is a good book to get children interested in finding poetry outside of the poetry books in the library. By demonstrating that speeches and songs can be considered poetry too, it forces children to see poetry in everyday life.

This book can include so many pre and post activities it's hard to know where to begin! I would introduce this book by having an older grade level (say grade 3) bring in a copy of the lyrics (and possibly the music) to their favorite school-appropriate song. I would then play "Long Track Blues" (written by Sterling A. Brown, performed by Josephine Cameron) from the CD. Having the students close their eyes and listen to the music and the words then discuss the imagery it evokes. I would then discuss the types of imagery the words and/or music their chosen songs evoke to them and perhaps take two or three and have the class listen to them and see if the songs bring to mind the same images as the original contributor.

Excerpt from "Long Track Blues" by Sterling A. Brown

Lanterns a-swingin',

An' a long freight leaves the yard;

Leaves me here, baby,

But my hear it rides the rod.

Sparks a flyin',

Wheels rublin' wid a mighty roar;

Then the red tail light,

And the place gets dark once more.

Behind the Museum Door

Hopkins, Lee Bennett (comp.). Behind the Museum Door: Poems to Celebrate the Wonder of Museums. ill. Stacy Dressen-McQueen. Abrams Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8109-1204-5

This anthology gives readers a peek behind museum doors. With excellent illustrations and a comfortable layout, Lee Bennett Hopkins demonstrates how exciting museums can actually be. Poetry in this book is from both contemporary and traditional poets, including notable ones such as Jane Yolen, Myra Cohn Livingston, J. Patrick Lewis, and Hopkins himself. After reading this book, kids can enjoy the museum long after their field trip has ended.

The poems in this book are varied in style, format, rhythm and rhyme. The reader is drawn in at the beginning with sneak peek and led out as the museum closes. It is a consistently quality book that evokes imagery and meaning from its words and rich illustrations and certainly support the purpose of the book. A note on the illustrations: many different cultures are represented throughout the book which I feel is so important when presenting works to children.

It is hard to pick only one poem to share! For a more creative project, I would read "Stirring Art" to the students and show them a picture of the artwork featured in the book. I would then have them create art that could be "stirred." This could be a mobile, papier mache birds, or even free-form construction paper cut-outs. (Depending on the grade and class...) Then I would showcase as many of the different works as possible.

"Stirring Art" by Heidi Bee Roemer

Beauty

suspended in

suspense.

A breath of air

awakens

lifeless form-

See

it

dance.

Put Your Eyes Up Here

Dakos, Kalli. Put Your Eyes Up Here. ill. G. Brian Karas. Simon and Schuster, 2003. ISBN 0-689-81117-9

In this book, Penny tells us about her classroom experiences through her eyes as well as her teacher's. She tells us all about how her underwear is silly but no one knows, how she bites her nails just like Ms. Roys, "dead" pencils, how silly Ms. Roys is, and how Ms. Roys made Penny feel so special by writing a poem about her. Dakos has taken a child's point of view of school and brought to life so many things we may never have thought about before.

This book holds meaning for anyone in school or who has attended school at one point in time. The poems are a mixture of concrete, rhyming, free verse, short, and long. Some are silly and others are serious. There is a rich sense of imagery that can stimulate emotions and imagination for the audience...both students and teachers! The only downside of this book its overall layout. Some poems end on the verso side of the page which feels awkward sometimes. Other poems may start at the bottom of a page that had enough space and continue onto the next. Within the layout, the illustrations were not in color. This might provide more room for imagination within the context of the poems, however, it might be even better if they were in color.

My favorite poem from this book is a rather long one about patting yourself on the back. I will present you with the last few stanzas of the poem. As an introduction, I would ask the students how they congratulate themselves on a job well done, a good grade, or just making it through a bad day.

Preface: Penny has described the large collection of plastic hands that Ms. Roys has collected. One day after school she went back to the classroom to get a pencil she had forgotten.

"The Hand Collection"
...
Ms. Roys was
Sitting at her desk,
Patting herself
On the back
With a giant inflatable hand.

"I survived today," she said.
"And it was horrendous.
Sometimes you have to
Pat yourself on the back
Just for surviving."

"I remember the pencil
That I forgot,"
I told Ms. Roys.
"Do you think
I could have
A pat on the back too?"

Ms. Roys laughed
And gave me
A giant green hand.

We stood together
Patting ourselves
On the back-

One teacher,
One student,
And six hands.

Poetry for Children and YA

I've created this blog to share my musings and reviews of poetry for the young and young at heart.