Soft Hay Will Catch You: Poems by Young People by Sandford Lyne and Julie Monks

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Bibliography:

Lyne, Sandford, and Julie Monks. Soft Hay Will Catch You: Poems by Young People. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2004. ISBN 0689834608

Review and Critical Analysis:

When editor Sandford Lyne made a “barter trip” back to his home state of Kentucky to teach a poetry-writing workshop and stay with relatives on their farms, it resulted in this collection of poems. The poems are written by 100 young people, ages eight to eighteen. The poems are written about real life for these young students - “corn, soybeans, and tobacco, about cattle and tractors and creeks and hills and barns, about their mamas and daddies, their aunts and uncles and cousins … loneliness and solitude, about loss and recovery.” This collection of poems tells the story of how these 100 young people discovered the beauty of poetry.

The book begins with acknowledgments and an introduction explaining the background of the poems. Following that, the poems are written in a variety of forms and are divided into six categories: poems about the search for self, poems about solitude and loneliness, poems about the home and family, poems about the soul’s journey and the circle of life, poems about awakenings and discoveries, and poems about our connection to place. The book ends with an index of poets and a note about the editor, Sandford Lyne.

It’s incredible how young writers are able to evoke such strong images in these short poems. The strong imagery begins with the very first poem, written by a fifth grader, that speaks of having the courage to explore the darkness rather than “run from / the shadows and sounds” because “there I / find / myself.” The poem “Integrity,” written by a seventh grader, says, “Keep going, I tell myself, alone in my rowboat. / A full moon flanks me in the dark, / making reflections like little candles / against the soft, dark water.” What an incredible image, and so beautifully written. Other poems stand out because of their emotional impact. The poem “Sad” says, “I’m sad / when I see / children with their grandparents. / I’m sad / when I see / kids with two parents, not one. / I’m sad / when I see / what I’ve missed.” Sixth grader Lynne Schwarzer grips the hearts of her readers with this simple poem written to express her sadness about what she is missing.

Because these poems are written by a wide age range of students, they also cover a wide range of writing ability and life experience. This makes the book appealing to young readers. Students of all ages will enjoy the book. They might find some poems too mature or too juvenile, but no matter the age, they’ll find some poems that speak them, whether it’s about nature, family, or their own search for self.

Randomly placed throughout the book are Julie Monk’s illustrations. Each one is a full page, folk style, pastel oil painting. The illustrations have a childlike feel to them. They are simple, and their colors and lines add to the poems. They capture the mood of the poems, while providing a nice break in reading for young readers.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis:

A Wonderful Place

By Crystal Kim, Grade 4

In my dreams I dream of a barn,

not just any barn,

a special barn.

When you go inside, a bright light shines,

and a ladder to heaven stands before you,

and if you fall -

no worry -

soft hay will catch you.

The title of the book comes from this poem. I would read the poem to students, and we would discuss the images and language the writer uses to describe this wonderful place, the barn. What is it that makes the barn such a wonderful place to her? Can you picture yourself in the barn she describes? What does the line “and a ladder to heaven stands before you” make you picture in your mind? Could the barn in the poem represent any other place? We would further discuss how to use imagery and figurative language to describe a place in such a way that readers feel like they are there visiting the place you are describing. I would have students choose a “wonderful place” that’s probably wonderful only to them. I would have them make a list of what makes that place wonderful and then think of images and figurative language to use to describe those things. In the end, they would put their thoughts together and write a poem to describe their own wonderful place.

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems by Paul B. Janeczko and Melissa Sweet

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Bibliography:

Janeczko, Paul B., and Melissa Sweet. Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2014. ISBN 9780763648428

Review and Critical Analysis:

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems is a collection of poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko, categorized by the four seasons of the year, and beautifully illustrated by Melissa Sweet. The collection includes thirty-six poems evenly distributed between seasons. The book begins with a table of contents including the titles of each poem, their author, and the page number where they can be found. This table of contents offers a quick guide for teachers or anyone who is browsing for poems by a particular author to use in a unit about that author. The book concludes with “Acknowledgments,” or a list of sources and permissions to show where each poem was printed from.

This collection of poetry is titled A Year of Very Short Poems, and the poems are just that - very short. The bookseller’s description of this book says, “It takes only a few words, if they’re the right words, to create a strong image.” The poems in this book have found the right words to create strong images. Each poem, in its simplicity and incredibly short amount of space, shows young readers how the right words can give an object or a thought brand new beauty and meaning. One of my favorite poems written for fall by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser says, “What is it the wind has lost / that she keeps looking for / under each leaf?” This is such a simple question, written poetically, that begs to be read over and over for enjoyment and beauty. Another poem written for summer by J. Patrick Lewis called “Firefly July” says, When I was ten, one summer night, / The baby stars that leapt, / Among the trees like dimes of light, / I cupped, and capped, and kept.” What a unique description of fireflies, calling them “baby stars.” I can think of a more beautiful image for fireflies than that - baby stars that will someday make their way to the sky to be an adult star.

Another thing I love about his collection of poetry is that it includes poems from authors new and old. It includes poems by J. Patrick Lewis and Joyce Sidman, as well as William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson. This provides readers with a well-rounded book of poetry to introduce them to new and old poets alike. Because of their simple and short nature, these poems would be easy for teachers to include daily. They could be written at the top of the board, included in announcements, printed at the top of an assignment, or shared in many more ways.

These simple poems would do well on their own, but Melissa Sweet’s mixed-media collage illustrations certainly bring color and life to them and tie them together in a unique way. For each new season, she creatively includes the season word into the illustration. She does this so subtly that if you’re not careful you’ll miss it. You might find yourself immersed in poems about fall and wonder how you got there. One of my favorite illustrations is the one for “Window” by Carl Sandburg. The poem is about what can be seen at night from a railroad car window. The two-page spread is filled with windows, each showing a different scene that one might see through a railroad car window. I truly found this collection of short poetry to be delightful and I hope to use it with my students in the future.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis:

A Happy Meeting

by Joyce Sidman

Rain meets dust:

Soft, cinnamon kisses.

Quick, noisy courtship,

Then marriage: mud.

I would use “A Happy Meeting” in a lesson on using adjectives to describe objects in a new way. I would have the poem projected on the board for students to see. I would read it to them a couple times and then follow it up with a few questions such as: What do you think about the poem? What were you picturing as I read it? What is your favorite part of the poem?

I would ask students to point out the adjectives in the poem. What images do they bring to your mind? What effect does using these adjectives to talk about mud in a new way have on the poem and on the reader? Why doesn’t the poem just describe mud as it is? We would further discuss using adjectives to describe something in a new way.

As a class, we would come up with some more examples. I would give them an object or idea and ask for suggestions for describing it in an unordinary way. After practicing this several times as class, I would set students free to work in groups to come up with their own object to describe in a new way. They would illustrate it and share it with the class when everyone is finished.

Jumping Off Library Shelves: A Book of Poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins and Jane Manning

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Free Choice Poetry:

Bibliography:

Hopkins, Lee B., and Jane Manning. Jumping Off Library Shelves: A Book of Poems. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: WordSong, 2015. ISBN 9781590789247

Review and Critical Analysis:

Jumping off Library Shelves: A Book of Poems is an anthology compiled by the famous anthologist, Lee Bennett Hopkins. This book is a collection of 15 poems, written by well-known poets in children’s literature such as J. Patrick Lewis, Nikkie Grimes, Jane Yolen, and Lee Bennett Hopkins himself. The poems take the reader through a day in a library. Beginning with “Breakfast Between the Shelves” and ending with “Midnight in a Library,” library lovers will read through these poems and feel like their thoughts have been creatively, warmly, and sometimes humorously, written into poetry.

The poems in this collection are written in a variety of forms. Most of the poems are featured on a two-page spread, with Jane Manning’s colorful illustrations leading the way. All of the poems are short and simple, quickly grabbing the reader’s interest and leaving them with one after another sweet taste from the library. The poems are written in all different forms and stanzas. Some rhyme and some are written in free verse. Some weave themselves into the illustrations, making the poem and the illustration become one. The variety of style is appealing because the poems are arranged in a way that they flow well from one to the next.

Each poem in this anthology conjures strong images of library experiences. With a few simple words they create the warm and cozy feelings a library offers. “Refuge” by Nikki Grimes talks about the library as a refuge, a place “to rest, to explore - / to dream.” “Enchantment” by Jane Yolen compares a library card to a magic wand, portraying the power of a library card. “Storyteller,” a tribute to one of Hopkins’ personal friends, creates the feeling of being so enchanted during story time that the child says, “I believe in / once-upon-a-time, / I believe in / happily ever after.” These poems have the unique ability to make the library an even more endearing place to a young child than it already is.

Jane Manning’s beautiful, colorful illustrations truly make this anthology the delight that it is. Her illustrations were created with gouache and pencil, and their soft lines and vibrant colors contribute to the warmth the poems exude. The poems seem like they are woven into the illustrations, making them one - a rare art. The illustration for “Internet Explorer” show a boat, the “S.S. Library,” sailing away, with the words to the poem written into the wave the boat is riding. In “Book Pillows” by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, the poem alludes to several classic pieces of literature. Manning creates a dreamy swirl of well-known literary characters dancing above children who are asleep on books. This book is a school library must-have. Children of all ages will read it again and again.

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis:

My Card

By Cynthia S. Cotten

This may look

like a plain,

pocket-size

piece of plastic,

but it’s really

a super-card.

More powerful than

the smartest phone,

more powerful than

a TV remote,

more powerful than

a hundreds apps.

My library card

unlocks the world

and more

with a single

scan.

What I love about this poem is its creativity - it takes a simple object and imagines how powerful it truly is. A library card is really just a small piece of plastic, but because of what it is used for, Cotten imagines it as being more powerful than some of the most powerful things we use in our everyday lives. So powerful that with a single scan it unlocks the world and more.

I would read this poem along with the next poem in the anthology, “Enchantment” by Jane Yolen. This poem portrays a library card as having magical powers, similar to “My Card.” I would ask students some discussion questions such as: How is a library card more powerful than the smartest phone? How is it more powerful than a hundred apps? What does Cotten mean that it “unlocks the world?”

I would place students in groups of two or three and have them think of other objects that are powerful like a library card. Think beyond the object to what it allows to happen in the world. After making a short lists, students would choose an object (one that could actually be brought to school). Students would write a few sentences to describe the object’s power. I would ask students to bring their object to school the next day, present it to the class and talk about the power of that object.

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Retrieved from www.amazon.com

Bibliography:

McCall, Guadalupe G. Under the Mesquite. New York: Lee & Low Books Inc., 2011. ISBN 9781600604294

Review and Critical Analysis:

Under the Mesquite tells the coming of age story of Lupita, the oldest of eight siblings, who faces the terror of her Mami’s cancer diagnosis and eventual death to cancer. By writing this book in verse, Guadalupe Garcia McCall gives Lupita’s story a beautiful rhythm that could not be matched with any other style of writing. McCall captures all the emotion that comes with this difficult topic and creates a tragic and hopeful story. She uses Lupita’s story to show how teens are able to endure the most unthinkable difficulties with incredible resilience.

The book begins with the word “mesquite.” McCall includes its pronunciation, origin, definition, and further description of the tree. She says, “To survive in harsh climates, the mesquite can adapt to almost any soil, can endure droughts by reading deeper than other trees to find water, and can grow back from even a small piece of root left in the ground.” The mesquite is a symbol throughout this novel in verse, and this beautiful description is not just a description of the tree, but of Lupita’s endurance. In the story, Mami tries to get rid of the mesquite tree in her garden, but with great resilience it keeps growing until Mami gives in and lets it grow into a beautiful tree. It’s under that same tree that Lupita comes to find her escape by writing poetry. She says, “No matter how bad things get, / I can always be found here, / planted firmly in what’s left / of Mamie’s rose garden, / with a pen in my hand, / leaning against this same sturdy trunk, / still writing poems / in the shade of the mesquite.”

This book is divided into six parts, which offers opportunities to look back into Lupita’s childhood and for time to pass more quickly when necessary. The story is written in English, but many Spanish words are mixed into the story. Lupita is fluent in English and Spanish, and the mixture of languages throughout the story allows readers to see into Lupita’s two different worlds - the one her family left behind in Mexico and their new one in los Estados Unidos. It helps readers experience Lupita’s struggle of being uprooted from her home and laying down new roots. McCall concludes the book with a “Names, Spanish Words, and Cultural References” section to help readers understand the Spanish language and other cultural references throughout the book. Personally, I found this unnecessary, but I also understand how it might be very helpful to those less familiar with Spanish language and culture.

McCall wrote this book in free verse, which gives the story beautiful flow and freedom. Each poem is unique, including stanzas of different lengths. For the story of a girl who has so much freedom stolen from her, yet who walks away from the novel with a newfound freedom, the freedom of free verse is a perfect fit. Lupita’s final words of the book as she leaves for college to find a new life exemplify this perfectly. She says, “I don’t know where I’ll go from here, / but I want to make my own way. / This feels right to me -- / starting to walk toward the doors, / holding Mami’s old, blue suitcase, / and remembering / the love I carry with me.”

Poem Used to Support Critical Analysis:

Señorita

Mami said life would change

after I turned fifteen,

when I became a señorita.

But señorita means different things

to different people.

For my friends Mireya and Sarita,

who turned fifteen last summer,

señorita means wearing lipstick,

which when I put it on

is sticky and messy,

like strawberry jam on my lips.

For Mami, señorita means

making me try on high-heeled shoes

two inches high

and meant to break my neck.

For Mami’s sisters, my tîas

Maritza and Belén, who live in Mexico,

señorita means measure me,

turning me this way and that

as they fit me for the floral dresses

they cheerfully stitch together

on their sewing machines.

For the aunts, señorita also means

insisting I wear pantyhose,

the cruel invention that makes

my thick, trunklike thighs

into bulging sausages.

When my tîas are done dressing me up

like a big Mexican Barbie doll,

I look at myself in the mirror.

Mami stands behind me

as I pull at the starched

glowered fabric and argue

with Mami’s reflection.

“Why do I have to wear this stuff?

This is your style, not mine!

I like jeans and tennis shoes.

Why can’t I just dress

like a normal teenager?

En los Estados Unidos, girls

don’t dress up like muñecas.”

“Señoritas don’t talk back

to their mothers,” Mami warns.

When my aunts aren’t looking,

she gives me a tiny pinch,

like a bee sting on the inside

of my upper arm. “Señoritas know

when to be quiet and let their

elders make the decisions.”

For my father, señorita means

he has to be a guard dog

when boys are around.

According to my parents,

I won’t be allowed to date

until I graduate from high school.

That’s fine with me.

I have better things to do

than think about boys --

like prepare for my future.

I want to be the first on in our family

to earn a college degree.

For my sisters, señorita means

having someone to worship:

it is the wonder of

seeing their oldest sister

looking like cinderella

on her way to the ball.

But for me, señorita means

melancolîa: settling into sadness.

It is the end of wild laughter.

The end of chewing bubble gum

and giggling over nothing

with my friends at the movies, our feet up

on the backs of the theater seats.

Señorita is very boring

when we go to a fancy restaurant

decorated with Christmas lights

for the upcoming Posadas.

We sit properly, Papi, Mami

and I, quietly celebrating

my fifteenth birthday

with due etiquette because

I’m trying my best

to be a good daughter and accept

the clipping of my wings,

the taming of my heart.

Being a señorita

Is not as much fun

as I’d expected it to be.

It means composure and dignity.

Señorita is a niña,

the girl I used to be,

who has lost her voice.

“Señorita” captures the essence of McCall’s free verse poetry in this novel. It shows Lupita’s struggle and loss of innocence. She should be enjoying her newfound life as a señorita, but instead she’s facing great responsibility as the caregiver of her younger sisters and brothers during her mother’s battle with cancer. The word “señorita” is not the thrilling word to her that it should be, and that it is for most teenage girls.

During our reading of this book as a class, I would spend more time on this poem. We would review all the different meanings of señorita for different people in Lupita’s life. We would talk about how one word can mean many different things to different people. I would ask the students what other words they can think of that might have different meanings to different people like señorita has in this story. What are the reasons they mean different things to different people? What circumstances change their meaning?

Students would then choose a word to write about. First, they would spend time brainstorming all the different meanings of the words and the different circumstances that might change its meaning. Then, students would write a free verse poem about the word, including 4-5 stanzas, showing how it means different things to different people.