Irene Gach Lá

BIBLIOGRAPHY Florian, Douglas. 2010. SHIVER ME TIMBERS. Ill. by Robert Neubecker. New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780375843754. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Ahoy, matey! SHIVER ME TIMBERS is a topsy-turvy poetry collection which even the scallywags will love! Aargh!  This really is a bookful of fun. Florian delights with 19 rhyming poems all about the life of pirates. It’s playful, but sneaks in a fair amount of historical information. Florian includes poems about piracy terms, the code of conduct, pirate flags and even too much turtle food.  Turtle Day Turtle eggs for breakfast.  Turtle stew for lunch.  Turtle shell for dinner.  Crunch!  Crunch!  Crunch! While SHIVER ME TIMBERS might be light-hearted, it is no lightweight. The poems encourage participation through anticipatory rhyming for young children. At the end of each poem, there is a final line which serves as an “Aha” moment for the reader and leads to higher-level think...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Grimes, Nikki.  2004.  WHAT IS GOODBYE? Ill. by Raúl Colón.  New York: Hyperion Books for Children.  ISBN 0786807784. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Death is an uneasy topic to explore for any children’s author. Done well, it helps kids to process loss in their own life. Done poorly, it can retraumatize a child struggling with their own grief. WHAT IS GOODBYE? is an exploration of grief done well. Told in the alternating voices of brother and sister Jesse and Jerilyn, distinguishable by the font color of their poems’ titles, i.e. Jesse in blue and Jerilyn in orange, WHAT IS GOODBYE? examines their emotional journey in the year following their older brother, Jaron’s, death. Through the poems, Grimes siphons off the pain of death and sorrow in order to reach healing. Jesse shows his grief via outward struggle, as in the poem His Name. His Name ~ Jesse Mommy won’t say Jaron’s name So I write it everywhere, On the walls, my book, his...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Mora, Pat. 2010. DIZZY IN YOUR EYES; POEMS ABOUT LOVE. New York: Knopf. ISBN 9780375843754. CRITICAL ANALYSIS DIZZY IN YOUR EYES is a collection of 50 poems written by Pat Mora. The narrative voices of the poems are youthful, although there are different perspectives offered throughout the collection. The theme is, naturally, love. In her author’s note, Mora categorizes the collections as a symphony with four movements, each representing a piece of love’s cycle. The first poems explore young love with all its giddiness and joy. Then, the poems transition to the challenges and heartache of enduring love. As a balm, the third movement offers healing; and then, in true cyclical form, Mora guides the reader to fall in love again. Cycle complete.  Sprinkled throughout the collection are references to poetic forms. Found on the bottom, lefthand side of the page, Mora provides the name of specific poetic forms followed by explanations. They are in gray ...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Hopkins, Lee Bennett, ed. 2010. Sharing the Seasons . Ill. By David Diaz. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. ISBN 978-4169-1832-5. CRITICAL ANALYSIS SHARING THE SEASONS is a collection of 48 poems chosen by Lee Bennett Hopkins. This is an upbeat collection which will teach the seasons to younger readers, while enriching the older ones. The poems are organized around each season with twelve poems per section, each bringing forth the mood and rhythm of its season. The book begins with Spring and then cycles through Summer, Fall and Winter. Lee Bennett Hopkins anchors each section by contributing the first poem. His second stanza is repetitive across all the sections with the pattern always / always introducing a vivid seasonal action, like always / always / cloud-bursting showers for Spring. The remaining authors vary, although some poets appear more than once. Readers might recognize contributors, like Marilyn Singer and April Wayland, from other poetry bo...

BIBLIOGRAPHY Koertge, Ron. 2001. The Brimstone journals. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. INSB 9780763617424 CRITICAL ANALYSIS THE BRIMSTONE JOURNALS is a free verse novel by Ron Koertge. Through the eyes of fifteen students, we learn about the realities of Branston High School, Class of ‘01. There is white supremacy, broken romance, bullying, anorexia, obesity, sexual abuse, black pride. There is also communication and peer support, albeit fragile. And, most importantly, there is problem solving. The narrative arc of the poems surrounds the character of Boyd, a white supremacist who is developing a “hit list.” As his list develops and his weapons stockpile, his plan for a school shooting at Branston give the story an urgency. As each character interacts directly or peripherally with Boyd, the puzzle pieces merge into a coherent set of poems which have the reader desperately imploring the students to intervene. We, too, know Boyd. As the reader, we are omn...