Poetry Book Review #6 - Free Verse Novel

Hesse, Karen. (2001). Witness. Cover Art by Kim McGillvary. New York: Scholastic.

Reviews

Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 5-9. Using real events, Hesse tells a story of the Ku Klux Klan in a small town in Vermont in 1924 in the same clear free-verse as her Newbery winner, Out of the Dust (1997……Add this to the Holocaust curriculum, not because every racial incident means genocide, but because the book will spark discussion about how such a thing can happen even now.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2001
What Copeland created with music, and Hopper created with paint, Hesse deftly and unerringly creates with words...

Awards
2002 The Christopher Award
ALA Notable Children's Book
2001 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
2001 Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year

Witness is free-verse poetry, with a journal format that is divided into five acts. Written as a lyrical novel the story almost reads like a play. The story is told from the perspectives of 11 different voices that bring it to life. Of interest is the lack of capital letters, perhaps it is to illustrate the innocence and ignorance of those times. Although the book is written for grades 5-9, it may be more appropriate for middle and high school due to its format and content. The novel may be used to teach history, past and present, and to generate discussions about tolerance of indifference. Readers experience the events of terror and peace; witness the characters capacity for love, hate, kindness and change.

Hesse, in her novel tells the story of what happens to a small town when it is suddenly torn apart by the Ku Klux Klan. By using multiple perspectives of the same events she allows each character to tell their version. By doing this, personal biases are made known, and judgments about the temperament of the characters can be made. Witness as it is written helps the reader hear the voices and feel their emotions as you are drawn into the story. Although there are many voices being heard the story revolves around two children who are new to town Leonora Sutter, 12, who is black, and Esther Hirsch, 6, who is Jewish. The dialect of the two girls comes through vividly and contrasts both. Nonetheless, the story as it comes to life through the poems, is compelling and holds the reader's attention.

I have included excerpts from the novel to invite you in.

leanora sutter

separated on the stage from all those limb-tight white girls.
    The ones who wouldn’t dane with a negro.
    they went home in a huff that first day,
    but some came back.
    they told miss harvey they’d dance,
    but they wouldn’t
    touch any brown skin girl.

ester hirsh
    So I made a long walk by myself.
    I did follow the train tracks and
    pretty quick daddy did have comings after me. 

Poetry Break #5 - Poem in Unusual Form

Pearson, Susan. 2005. Grimericks. Illus. by Grimly, Gris.
Tarrytown, New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp.

Introduction –
This witty limerick can be read at anytime during the year, but would be great to use on Halloween. The poem is colorful, spooky, creepy, ghoulish, and humorous. The grimly illustration by Gris Grimly is cleverly done in watercolor and ink. The teachers are comically portrayed as ghouls. Although limericks are short they can say much.


A banshee named Mrs. O’Toole

Teaches wailing at Spookytime School,

Mr. Bones teaches dances,

Ms. Ghost teaches trances,

and grades are passed out by Miss Ghoul.


Extension –
Copy a life-size image of the illustration and tack to a wall before reading the poem. Set the mood for the poem by turning off the lights. Use a flashlight to illuminate while reading. Have students draw their favorite teacher in a ghoulish embodiment. Place the student’s creations on a wall. Have them guess the teachers by using post-its. Students can then choose their favorite illustration.

Poetry Book Review #4 - Author of Color

many colors of mother goose
adapted by Cheryl Willis Hudson
illustrated by Ken Brown, Mark Corcoran & Cathy Johnson

Most children in the United States grow up hearing and learning Mother Goose nursery rhymes. This book collects 31 classic rhymes, presenting them in a way that reflects a variety of cultures and races. The poems in this book are short, simple, and fun for young children. The upbeat rhymes reflect the music (jazz), rhythms, and lives of diverse people in a multi-faceted world. The poems seem to convey a message of happiness or lessons to be learned. (Rooster crows in the morning time/to tell all children to rise/for those who sleep late/will never be wise). The use of figurative language permeates throughout the books bringing the characters to life. In the poem There was an Old Woman the shoe could represent the world filled with people from all walks of life and nationalities living together peacefully.

There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe.
She cared for lots of children
And knew just what to do.

She gave them hugs and kisses-
She shared happy dreams and good wishes.
And they lived, laughed and loved
All year through.

The illustrations for these well-known rhymes have traditionally reflected only a western European perspective. The illustrations seem to contribute to the overall tone of the collection The paintings are brightly colored filled with a plentitude of characters of color. There are also many elements of the African-American culture. For example, the jazzy poem Little Boy Lou is about a young boy, or perhaps the personification of the great jazz musician Louis Armstrong. As you read the poem you can almost feel yourself dancing behind the boy as he plays his horn.

Little Boy Lou,
Come blow your horn.
We’re jammin’ in New Orleans
Where jazz bands are born

In the poem Ole King Cole the author refers to musicians as happy cats who play a non-traditional type of music such as blue grass, soul, hop and rock n’ roll.

Ole King Cole was a partying soul
And a partying soul was he.

I recommend this book of poems as a fun, creative, good mood addition to any children’s library.

Hudson, Cheryl Willis, 1997. Many Colors of Mother Goose.

Illus. by Ken Brown, Mark Corcoran and Cathy Johnson. New Jersey: Just Us Books.

Poetry Break #3- A Poem by NCTE Award Winning Poet

Introduction –
The poem is simple and easy to read, and wonderfully humorous. The author uses colorful words, which help transcend beautiful pictures in a readers mind. In reading this poem to your students you can invite them to bite, touch, lick—to make the poem part of themselves.


How To Eat a Poem
by Eve Merriam

Don't be polite.
Bite in.
Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that
may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.

You do not need a knife or fork or spoon
or plate or napkin or tablecloth.

For there is no core
or stem
or rind
or pit
or seed
or skin
to throw away.

Extension –
Students and teacher will read aloud; the emphasis at this point is on the poem as a work of art meant to be heard. Several readings will allow the students to get the sense of the poem as a whole; the reading done by students will be a quick gauge on understanding.

Following the readings a lesson on metaphors and non-literal language can be introduced using a chart. Different fruit containing pits can be used as examples to differentiate between the metaphors in the poem and literal language.

Cullinan, Bernice E. 1996. A Jar of Tiny Stars, Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets. Illus. Andi MacLeod. Boyds Mills Press.