Module 6-Fiction and Poetry/LS 5663-20

Fiction-John,Antony. Five Flavors of Dumb. Dial Books, 2011. ISBN 9780803734333
Poetry-Nye,Naomi S.. Time you let me in. Greenwillow Books, 2010. ISBN 9780061896378
Teens face many hardships and will encounter new struggles daily. The book that I have chosen to review is one of the winners for the Schneider Family Book Award. This award is given to honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies the artistic impression of the disability experience for a child or an adolescent. The book that I have chosen to review is called Five Flavors of Dumb. It is the Teen 2011 Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award.
The story introduces us to the character of Piper, who daily faces life as a deaf teenager. Through a bizarre set of circumstances and a bit of a dare, she becomes the manager of a group of budding musicians from her high school. All of Piper’s efforts to improve the band and have them be taken seriously are constant being undermine by the lead singer and his would be girlfriend, who is brought into the band to be used as eye candy. As a deaf person in a world that tends to focus only on the negative aspects, she longs to stand out and be known as something other than a deaf girl among her friends and her family. She overcomes many prejudices and stereotypes by working with the band, and throughout the book discovers the importance of family and true friendship.
The book of the poetry that will correlate with this book is called Time you let me in. It is a collection of poems by poets under the age of twenty-five. Each of the poems in this book gives an insight into their lives and their profound life-altering words. The following poem is one that I feel explains the transformation that the character, Piper, goes through.
Rootless
Like a net my fingers skim
Tap water, cleaning mung beans
Sprouts
The way you showed me.
From my palm I find the whole
Ones, fetal curvatures with scalps
Blossoming on tiny yellowed skulls.
My nail bisects the vertebrae
From primordial tail, roots
Cast away in the sink.
Though I never learned
The purpose , it’s a habit that remind
Me
Of a time that you let me in.
I feel that this poem represents breaking lives into different pieces. As a matter of protection and privacy, teenagers notoriously do not always let many into their very personal thoughts and feelings. As a way of protecting themselves, others are often alienated. When layers of sharing are dissected and opened up, a deeper understanding is achieved. Each of the poems included in this book help to reinforce the purpose of allowing young poets to share what they are feeling without fear of rejection. Each of the poems can be appreciated and understood by those who allow themselves to absorb the words. Many of the experiences that are being written about are familiar to readers and could serve as a healing experience.
I would use both of these books when working with middle school or high school students. Both of these books would be very beneficial when encouraging students to share their feelings through writing either poetry or prose. I would use the poem as a catalyst to encourage adolescents to share about areas of the life that others may not know about.

Module 6-Janeczko Collection/LS 5663-20

Module 6-Janeczko Collection
Janeczko,Paul B.. Dirty laundry pile, poems in different voices. China: Harper Collins Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-688-16251-7
How you ever wondered what ordinary household objects would say if they only had a voice. Paul Janeczko has compiled a group of poems that answer that very question. These types of poems are called persona or masks poems. The poem is told from the point of view of the object.
Each of these poems take you inside the mind of the object and it is as if it is speaking directly to you. The poems are written with a natural rhyme and flow easily when read aloud. The following poem is a fun and interesting way to look at something that we all deal with everyday and most of us really do not want to deal with.
Dirty Laundry Pile
By Marcy Barack Black
Ignore me now
On the floor
By the door.
But you’ll notice
When I swell
By my smell.
Each of the poems included in this book are naturally fun ,and could prompt children into thinking about what different objects would say if they were able to verbalize their thoughts. Paul Janezcko has included poems that are high in quality and are consistently fun and creative. The persona poems include work about a variety of objects, such as vacuum cleaners, kites and snowflakes. The poems use very descriptive language and use unique and fun words that students will want to use over and over.
I would use the following poem as a fun way to introduce persona poems in the classroom or library.
Broom
By Tony Johnston
I am the trusted consort
Of floors, accomplice
Of water and swash,
Confidant of corners
Where skulks shifty, fugitive
Trash.
I am a blunt whisker,
Ghost-voiced shadow-sweeper
(suspicious of the dark),
Collector of exquisite
Scraps,
Confessor to expiring
Flies,
Seeker –of-the –lost,
Keeper-of-the-uncherished,
The crushed.
I share the deepest secrets
Of the dust.
I would bring a broom in as a prop to use while reading the poem aloud. I would have students brainstorm words that describe the broom. Afterward, I would have the students each take turns holding the broom and modeling the actions one would use when using the broom. Students could then discuss how they think the broom feels as it is being used. I would also ask students what other household objects would they think that the broom would want to be. As an extension, I would give students the chance to write their own version of the poem or choose another object and create their own persona poem.

Module 6-Poetry by Kids/LS-5663-20

Module 6-Poetry by Kids
Things I have to tell you: poems and writing by teenage girls. Betsy Franco. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-7636-1035-7
Teenage girls are mysterious individuals. They are precious, wonderful, will be loving one minute and screaming at you the next. This book is composed of the writing of young adolescent girls who were able to verbalize their feelings and frustrations through poetry. The editor of this book began the process of writing the book when a family friend shared some the struggles that she was going through. The idea started in the local high schools in the area and, eventually spread across the country.
Each of the poems included in the book reinforce the purpose of the book, which is to allow the voice of young girls to be heard in a setting where they feel that someone is listening and not judging. Many of the poems are very frank and explicit about a variety of topics, such as sharing a part of themselves with a boy and then having the boy leave them for someone else, or always expected to be perfect in every way. The following poem is very descriptive and to the point in regards to the feelings of a teenage girl.
Escape
I look inside me and I don’t see it
I don’t see the power
The confidence you say I have
You say I can do anything
That I’m sure of myself and my intentions
And I wonder
But I don’t know
If it’s all there
Waiting for the opportunity
To jump into you
And try to help you
Fix you
Ask you
Why? Because I don’t know
I wait anxiously
Feeling my stomach
A block of ice
Chipping away, melting,
Then freezing up again
Who can I follow?
Theresa Hossfield, age 16
The excerpt given stimulates the feelings and emotions felt by many teenage girls, as well as adults who have experience the same feeling during their teen years. I would use this book as a way to allow adolescent girls to sharing their feelings. Due to explicit language and the personal nature of some of the topics, I would use the book in a setting where the girls would feel comfortable sharing their feelings and similar frustrations after hearing the poems read aloud. I feel that the appropriate setting could be among girls in a youth group or in a group of girls in an English class. I feel that these poems could be better understood and appreciated if read aloud. I would have the girls in the group share either written or orally their feelings and opinions after listening to the poems. Students could also be encouraged to write their own poetry about similar experiences.
Several of the poems could be shared in a classroom setting with both sexes present. The poems could be used to allow the boys to share their feelings from a male point of view. I feel that if this is used then ground rules must be set to ensure the feelings that are shared will be respected.

Module 5-Performance Poetry/LS-5663-20

Franco,Betsy. Messing around on the monkey bars and other school poems for two voices. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7636-3174-1
Poetry is meant to be shared and this book provides many excellent opportunities for performing with others. The author has provided a guide for using each of these poems by writing each of the lines with different levels of boldness. Different strategies are provided for reading the poems, such as by two individuals, two groups, or all together. The call and response strategy for performing is probably best suited for this work.
Each of the poems have a definite rhythm, and would work well with clapping or snapping by the students as they read them. The rhyming of each of the poems is natural and flows well. The following poem will appeal to students and can be used as a poetry break or even used during physical education classes.
Messing Around on the Monkey Bars
Time for recess!
Here we are,
Messing around on the monkey bars!
Hand over hand,
Fast or slow,
Calling to our friends below.
Skipping two bars,
Skipping three,
Dangling down by just our knees.
Swinging up
Above the ground,
Missing bars and tumbling down.
Hooting, howling,
Here we are,
Messing around on the monkey bars!
This poem could be acted out with students moving the hands and body to match the motions mentioned in each of the lines.
Each of the poems touch upon an area that each student will encounter ,or has already encountered in their school experience. The poems help the reader to see the school experience from the student perspective. Students will share their honest feelings about topics, and many will be able to identify with each of these poems. A multitude of thoughts and emotions will be felt and expressed as the reader journeys through this book.
I would use the following poem as a way to welcome a new student in the classroom. The poem could calm fears of being the new kid and would help the other students have a fun way to introduce themselves. Each student could write their own version after modeling and performing the poem with the class. Younger students could write a class version, instead of individual poems.
New Kid at School
Where did you come from?
Far away.
Miss your friends?
Every day.
Where do you live?
Maple Street.
What’s your name?
Call me Pete.
How old are you?
Just turned eight.
You like hoops?
Yeah, great.
Got any friends?
Nope, not yet.
Wanna play?
You bet!

Module 5-Hopkins Award Poetry/LS 5663-20

Florian,Douglas. Beast Feast. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1994. ISBN 0-590-13158-3
What is the animal that you like the most? Which animal scares you? These are the questions that triggers responses of excitement, fear and fascination. Douglas Florian has created fun and exciting poems about several feared “beasts” .
This book was the recipient of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award. The criteria for winning this award is that it must be accessible to children and its presentation must serve the poems in an attractive and appropriate manner. Beastfeast was the recipient of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award in 1995.
Each of the poems are appealing to children and are full of fascinating and interesting details. The details included in each of the poems will stimulate the emotions felt when reading about or even seeing the animals featured in the book. Students will want to share information about each animal and most students will have a story or two to share gleaned from a show on television or on the computer. This book could be used in conjunction with many different areas of thematic study, such as the rainforest, a study of bugs, or a study of ocean animals.
Each of the poems are consistently high in quality and reinforce the purpose of allowing the reader to view the animals in a more meaningful way. The poet uses very descriptive language and students may be encouraged to expand their vocabulary after reading the poem. In the following poem, a lobster is described as an underwater mobster with two claws to catch and crush.
The Lobster
See the hard-shelled
Leggy lobster
Like an underwater
Mobster
With two claws
To catch and crush
Worms and mollusks
Into mush
And antennae
Long and thick
Used for striking
Like a stick.
So be careful
On vacation
Not to step on
This crustacean.
I would use this poem when studying a thematic unit on the Ocean and Marine Life. Students are fascinated by animals that are unique. As an extension for this activity, I would have students view pictures of lobsters and other crustaceans. After viewing the pictures, I would have the class brainstorm describing words. Depending on the grade level of the students , the class could create an acrostic poem for different crustaceans or create a poem similar to ones written by Douglas Florian.

Module 5-Sidman Poetry/LS 5663-20

Sidman,Joyce. This is just to say: poems of apology and forgiveness. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0-618-61680-0
Sometimes it can be very hard to say I’m sorry. Joyce Sidman has shared a variety of unique poems in which different people ask for forgiveness. The first part of the book explains the problem in each situation and the second part of the book includes the responses. Each pair of poems reveals different relationships and connections between sisters, brothers, parents, children, and best friends. The reader is able to see both sides of the situation and understand the feelings felt on both sides.
Each of the poems is based upon a childhood experience that many people encounter, such as fighting with a sibling, or being disrespectful to an adult. The poems will stimulate emotions, such as anger or fear. In the following poem, we see the frustration felt by a young man after misspelling a word at his school spelling bee,
To my mother,
Spelling Bomb
I can’t believe that I lost
I know that I disappointed you.
Do you really think I don’t care?
I know how important it is to win.

I know that I disappointed you;
I saw it in your face when I misspelled.
I know how important it is to win;
I studied hours and hours.

I saw it in your face when I misspelled.
I saw you turn away from me.
Even though I study hours and hours,
I never seem to be your champion.
I saw you turn away from me
And in that moment would have given anything
To be your champion.
To see your bright, triumphant pride.

In this moment, I would give anything-
Do you really think I don’t care?-
For your bright, triumphant pride,
Which I can’t believe I lost.
By Anthony
*The author shares that this type of poem is called a pantoum. The second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines in the next stanza. The answer back to Anthony is given in part 2 of the book and Anthony’s mother expresses her thoughts on working hard and building character. Through Anthony’s words, he shares that he feels that he has let his mother down due to misspelling a word in his spelling bee.
Each of these poems uses language that can be understood and appreciated by the audience. Many of the poems feel like conversations between two people ,who are trying to work through a problem. The poems included in this book reinforce the simple, yet difficult concept of asking for forgiveness.
As an extension after reading these poems, I would allow students to share about a time when they have had an experience similar to the ones described in the book. Students very seldom get the chance to truly share about what is truly happening in their life, due to time constraints or fear of sharing what is truly happening. This activity could be done with any age group and ability level. For the older students, individual poems and experiences could be shared. For younger students, a class poem could be written by including the thoughts and ideas of the whole group.