POETRY FRIDAY: This Is Just to Say

THIS IS JUST TO SAY, Joyce Sidman’s new poetry collection, is now available. Most of you may know that Sidman is the winner of the first Cybils Award for Poetry for her outstanding book BUTTERFLY EYES AND OTHER SECRETS OF THE MEADOW. I just picked up my copy of THIS IS JUST TO SAY on Tuesday—and couldn’t wait to write a review of the book.

On Wednesday morning, I wrote to Joyce Sidman. I told her I thought her most recent book was quite a departure from her other poetry collections. I also asked her if there was anything she would like to tell readers of the Blue Rose Girls blog about her new book of poems. Within an hour, Joyce emailed me her response! (How great is that?)

Here is what Joyce Sidman wrote:

Yes, THIS IS JUST TO SAY is very different from my other books. It is the only one so far to have come out of my work as a writer-in-residence at schools. The "sorry" poem is a lesson I do with kids, using W. C. Williams' poem as a model. They apologize for all sorts of things--things that we adults can't imagine they'd worry about! It started me thinking about the guilt we carry around--what things we regret, and why. "Sparkling Deer" is straight from my life (see jacketflap)--as are a few other poems which I won't claim!

This book came pouring out of me in a way that other books haven't; the characters seemed to come alive and talk to me. In fact, I'm still not sure which "Anonymous" student stole the lizard . . . I think my favorite poem is "The River of Forgiveness," which is such a hard river to cross, and yet so important to our growth as human beings and our ability to truly love one another.




THIS IS JUST TO SAY
Written by Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
Houghton Mifflin
2007

About the Book

Mrs. Mertz, a sixth grade teacher, asks her students to write poems of apology modeled after the famous poem about the cold, delicious plums written by William Carlos Williams. The children like their “sorry” poems so much they compile them in a book. Then they get the people to whom they wrote their poetic apologies to write responses. Bao Vang, one of the students, illustrates the book with the help of the art teacher.

Organization of THIS IS JUST TO SAY
- Table of contents
- Introduction written by “student” Anthony K.
- This Is Just to Say, the poem by William Carlos Williams
- Part 1: Apologies
- Part 2: Responses

Sidman displays her poetic versatility in THIS IS JUST TO SAY—a book in which each poem is, supposedly, written by a different individual. The author captures a variety of tones and voices in her poetry. Because of the nature of this book, many of its poems are less lyrical than those found in the author’s other works. Sidman does, however, include quite a bit of figurative language. For example, in What Was I Thinking?, Mai Lee writes that the principal’s dress “is the color of ripe plums”; that the principal’s eyes “are like hot sparks”; and that she, Mai Lee, slinks out of the principal’s office “like a whipped dog.” Sidman also includes a number of different poetic forms. There is a pantoum(unrhymed), a haiku, a poem in two voices, and a takeoff of Roses Are Red.

Sidman provides a whole range of reasons for why the young poets have feelings of guilt: hitting a friend too hard with a dodge ball, making fun of the dress a teacher is wearing just to get a laugh in class, pilfering jelly doughnuts from the teachers’ lounge, stabbing a sister with a pencil, breaking a mother’s precious glass deer, stealing the class lizard that dies in the thief’s possession. There is a poem by Anthony apologizing to his disappointed mother for not winning a spelling bee—a poem that reveals the angst of a child who feels pressured to always be a champion. In one poem, a child apologizes to her absent father for not being perfect—for being the reason he keeps leaving home. In some of the poems, the young writers reveal a true sense of sadness and remorse; in others, the writers appear to be—at most—mildly apologetic.

Some response poems provide sincere forgiveness to the “guilty” parties who wrote the apology poems; some response poems are written by people who were not the intended receivers of the “sorry” poems. For example, Tenzin pens the response to Anthony—not Anthony’s mother—and Ricky responds to the poem he wrote to his hamster Manga in the voice of Manga, the pet he had apologized to for keeping him locked up in a cage.

Some of the poems are very serious in nature; some are light-hearted and have a touch of humor.

From FASHION SENSE
Written by Carmen to Mrs. Metz, her teacher

I am so sorry for my rude words.

The classroom was so dead.
No one had anything more to say about Old Yeller,
and we were all crazy to go outside.
The silence seemed like a hundred crushing elephants.
So I raised my hand and made that comment
about your dress,
and everyone burst out laughing.

You smiled,
but your smile looked like a frozen pond.

Carmen goes on to explain how she feels “like a traitor” and how the words that slipped from her mouth keep echoing in her head. Then she writes:

You are really a queen, not a princess.
Our queen. Reina de la clase.
I hope you will overlook the transgressions
of your loyal but loud-mouthed subject
and forgive me…

Mrs. Mertz responds to her student in her HAIKU FOR CARMEN

Just these few warm words,
and spring sunlight fills the room;
my dress turns to sky.

There’s The Black Spot, written by Alyssa to Carrie, in which the writer apologizes for stabbing her sister with a pencil. Alyssa explains how there are two black spots left to remind her of her nasty deed: the dark spot on her sister’s palm and “the nugget of darkness/that made me stab you.” The poem ends:

Both marks, still there.
Small black
reminders.

Alyssa responds to Carrie’s apology in ROSES ARE RED

Roses are red,
violets are blue.
I’m still really
pissed off at you.

The poems in THIS IS JUST TO SAY encompass a myriad of emotions that children actually feel. Sidman has worked with youngsters and it is evident she understands their “inner world.” I think this collection of apology and response poems would be an excellent springboard for a poetry writing exercise and would also be an exceptional vehicle for helping children learn how to express their feelings on paper.

From THE RIVER OF FORGIVENESS
A Response Poem to Mai Lee from Bao Vang

Here I am,
reading Mai Lee’s poem.
I am wading into the river of forgiveness…
Thinking…
…of confusion,
and the fear that crushes your heart
when you’ve done something wrong…

Will I ever make it across?
I keep thinking of a friend
who helped explain the world,
whose hand is always around my shoulder,
a friend who stands with me in the crowd.
There she is—my friend,
on the other side of the river.

This poem ends happily with words telling Mai Lee that Bao Vang has crossed the river and forgiven her.

THIS IS JUST TO SAY includes seventeen “sorry” poems and seventeen response poems. I think that it's another terrific package from one the best poets writing for children today.

Note: This is just to say that THIS IS JUST TO SAY is a great collection of poems for kids...and adults! It’s an inspiration for creative writing. I wrote a poem of apology and a response poem after reading the book.

Thanks for the inspiration, Joyce!!! And thanks for giving me permission to include excerpts from your new book in my review.

The following two poems were written by Elaine Magliaro; they were not taken from Joyce Sidman’s book.

This Is Just to Say: A Poem to My Daughter

I have eaten
the chocolate bunny
I bought you
for Easter

a big-eared, brown hunk
of deliciousness
you probably saw
hidden
in the closet
and were expecting
to unwrap and savor
on a flower-filled Sunday

Forgive me
it was bittersweet
and creamy
and melted in my mouth
like snow
on the first warm day
of Spring.

A Daughter’s Response to Sweets-loving Mother

Mom! How could you???
You know
I love chocolate, too!

You’re an adult
and should have better control
of your candy cravings.
Set an example
for your only child
who also has
a significant sweet tooth.

Next year,
open your wallet a little wider
and buy two bittersweet bunnies
so we can rhapsodize
in a duet
of ooohhhs and uuummmms
and indulge
in our chocolate Easter dreams
together

About the Illustrations

Pamela Zagarenski did the artwork for THIS IS JUST TO SAY—and I would “say” that her illustrations definitely complement Sidman’s text. Zagarenski’s mixed media illustrations are hip, playful, expressionistic, and add touches of humor in just the right spots. I'd like to add that I was really impressed with the art she did for Maxine Kumin’s poetry collection MITES TO MASTODONS, which was nominated for a Cybils Poetry Award last year.

Read my reviews of Joyce Sidman's other wonderful poetry books!
Joyce Sidman, Part I
Joyce Sidman, Part II

POETRY FRIDAY: Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars

COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS

Poems and Paintings

by

Douglas Florian
Harcourt, Inc.

2007

Last Friday, I had just returned home from the Banbury Cross Children’s Bookshop with a copy of Douglas Florian’s newest poetry collection, COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS: SPACE POEMS AND PAINTINGS, and had sat down at my computer to troll the kidlit blogs…when I came upon Roger Sutton’s post “Keeping Up.”

Roger wrote:
“It's an unfortunate fact of life-in-print that books get overtaken by events, and Horn Book editors have been busy blue-penciling reviews of all the astronomy books that haven't caught up with the events of August 26th of last year…”

I assume most of you bloggers who reside on planet Earth know that poor Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet last summer. Now it’s just considered an insignificant cosmic sidekick for the big galactic gasballs—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Roger continued:

“But a new--and gorgeous--book is hep to the zeitgeist:”

Pluto was a planet.

But now it doesn't pass.

Pluto was a planet.

They say it's lacking mass.

Pluto was a planet.

Pluto was admired.

Pluto was a planet.

Til one day it got fired.

Leave it to a children's poet to keep up with the planetary times. Yes, that poem about Pluto was taken from Douglas Florian’s new book—and COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS is a fine poetry collection. It comes in the same large square format as all of his books of animal poems. Each of the book’s illustrations spans a two-page spread—and every two-page spread contains one poem printed in large size text. The illustrations, done with gouache, collage, and rubber stamps on primed brown paper bags, are bold statements. Many include symbols, objects, and words related thematically to the subject of each poem. For example, the painting that illustrates the poem about the planet Neptune includes a cutout picture of a mosaic of the god Neptune’s face, the top of a trident, and a small ancient sailing vessel. Many pages also have small circular cutouts in them, which give the effect when one reads the book of peering through a telescope into another page of Florian’s artistic cosmos.

In his poems, Florian writes about the EIGHT planets, the asteroids, the phases of the moon, the names of constellations, the different shapes of galaxies, a comet, the gravitational pull of a black hole, “the great beyond”…and, of course, the once-upon-a-time-but-no-longer-a-planet-anymore Pluto. This book is traditional Florian. Its poems are rhythmic, rhyming, and light-hearted. He coins some inventive language: super-dupiter Jupiterterrific and Saturning. And while his verse may be playful in nature, Florian is adept at including tidbits of astronomic information in his poems. Let me provide you with some examples of this:

From URANUS

Gaseous like Neptune,
But slightly more wide.
Heaven knows how
It got knocked on its side.

The painting that accompanies this poem illustrates how Uranus’s rings "appear" to spin around the blue-green gassy sphere--or sideways planet--from pole to pole rather than its equator because of the odd way in which the planet rotates.


From THE SUN

Ninety-three million miles from Earth.
Nearly a million miles in girth.
4.6 billion years old.
Core eight times as dense as gold.


From THE MOON

A NEW moon isn’t really new,
It’s merely somewhat dark to view…

A HALF moon is half dark, half light.
At sunset look due south to sight.

Although not every poem in this collection blazes like a supernova on the page or closes with a pithy ending or clever turn of phrase, most shine with bouncy meter and enough delicious end rhymes to delight young readers. COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS is an excellent book to use in conjunction with a unit of study about space. Not only does the collection contain poetry that will appeal to children and entice memorization—it includes “A Galactic Glossary” with additional information about the subjects of all the poems and a selected bibliography for further reading. Yes, Florian did his celestial homework—and, heaven knows, he succeeded in writing another poetry collection that is sure to be a favorite with young children.

Florian aptly ends this book with the poem The Great Beyond—and ends the final poem with a little “play” on words.

From THE GREAT BEYOND

Great galaxies spin,
While bright comets race.
And I’d tell you more,
But I’ve run out of space.

Florian's latest collection deserves a gold star!

COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS is blasting off the publishing launch pad at an opportune time. The best children’s poetry books about astronomy--Myra Cohn Livington’s SPACE SONGS, Lee Bennett Hopkins’s BLAST OFF!: POEMS ABOUT SPACE, and Seymour Simon’s STAR WALK--have been unceremoniously sucked into the out-of-print black hole of the literary universe. (The sound of weeping, gnashing of teeth, and slamming of doors!)

__________________________________

Excerpts from COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS by Douglas Florian. Text (c) 2007 by Douglas Florian. Published by Harcourt, Inc.

Review of COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS written by Laura Purdie Salas at Children's Literature Network.

__________________________________

Here is a poem of address that was written by one of my second grade classes on March 3, 1996:
Comet,
shooting around in space,
whizzing past the sun,
your long tail glowing,
where are you going?

Click on Budding Poets and you will slip through a wormhole and emerge in an outta this world galaxy of prize-winning children’s science poems written by my second grade students in 2000.


I will leave you with a silly little ditty that I wrote many moons ago. I just changed the last line yesterday.

Hickory dickory docket,
I sped into space in a rocket.
I traveled past Mars
And seventeen stars
With a picture of Earth in my locket.

Just one more poem from an astronomy buff! I wrote the following old moldering poem nearly twenty years ago.

ASTEROIDS

Tiny planets
together in a cosmic kindergarten
holding hands in a circle
playing Ring around the Sun
yearning to grow up
and have orbits of their own

POETRY FRIDAY: Animal Poems by Valerie Worth

Valerie Worth (1933-1994) is one of my children’s poetry idols. A recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in 1991, Worth was an incredible crafter of poems. For the most part, her poetry spoke of little and seemingly insignificant creatures and things: crickets, a slug, an amoeba, pebbles, a safety pin, a hose, weeds, potatoes, and mud. Yet, in her “small” poems, she made the mundane seem marvelous; she carved the commonplace into fine art.

I was so excited when I opened a package from Farrar, Straus and Giroux a few weeks ago. Inside the large, padded envelope was ANIMAL POEMS, the second book of Valerie Worth’s poetry to be published posthumously. It was a review copy sent to me by the publisher. Imagine a book with twenty-three new Worth poems—poems that were not published in her earlier collections. It was like a little miracle. What makes the book even more special is the art done by Steve Jenkins to illustrate Worth's poetry.

ANIMAL POEMS
Written by Valerie Worth
Illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Published by Farrar Straus Giroux

2007

To quote the beginning lines of a poem by my friend, the late David McCord:

Books fall open,
you fall in,
delighted where
you’ve never been…

Yes, I fell right into Worth’s book of animal poems. I was delighted and dazzled by the way she wrote about rabbits and minnows, the gorilla and the hummingbird—by the way she perceived these animals with her poet’s eye.

ANIMAL POEMS is quintessential Worth—another tour de force of poetry writing. Its poems are imbued with rich vocabulary and the precise use of words. The images are original and fresh and the figurative language is par excellence. If words were carbon, I have little doubt that Valerie Worth would have been able to fashion flawless diamonds.


A Close-up Look at Some of the Animal Poems

Look at Worth’s use of the letter “l” in the poem Snake. As you read the following lines, you’ll see how her language slips off the tongue. With the sounds of words, she captures the fluid movement of this legless reptile.

From SNAKE

Loosed
From
Limbs to
Run like water,
Spilled to
A liquid
Silt, a
Slurry
Of scales…

She goes on to compare the snake and its movement…

To one
Glazed
Stream
Of latticed
Panes, or
Mottled mosaic
Of pebbles
Tumbled
Smoothly along,
Their slender
Landslide
Filing
Down
The narrow
Channel
Grooved by
The guiding
Head…

Look at Worth’s use of language and rhythm to describe how minnows, “glisteners that shine,” and their coordinated movements in a school make them appear to be the body of one fish.

From MINNOWS

That their slivers
Sift together

In a scintillating
Mesh,

A smooth-
Linked flesh,

Like the whole
Rushing shimmer

Of a solid
Silver fish.

Here is the full text of Bear—along with its accompanying illustration by Steve Jenkins. Note how the bear stares out at us from the page—how Jenkins captured the essence of Worth’s poem.

BEAR

The bear’s fur
Is gentle but
His eye is not:

It burns our
Way, while
He walks right

And left, back
And forth, before
Us: he

Looks, and we
Look, and his
Hot eye

Stings out
From the dark hive
Of his head

Like a fierce
Furious
Bee.

I am always surprised by Worth’s poetry, in awe of her exquisite use of language. Who else could describe a gorilla as “that/Glaring/Legendary/Ogre/Of rough/Black iron/And ebony?” Who else could imagine a porcupine to be “Held fast/In the thicket/Of its own/Thorns?”

For the book, Steve Jenkins set most of his animal collages against plain white or blue or black backgrounds. There is a simple elegance to his illustrations—just as there is an easy elegance to the words of Valerie Worth. His art is a fine and respectful complement to her poetry.

ANIMAL POEMS is an outstanding poetry book. Every two-page spread contains a gem—a finely cut, multi-faceted poem, which sparkles like a diamond in the sunlight—a poem that rests on a platinum setting carefully crafted by Jenkins. I think this will be one of the most notable children’s books of 2007.

Excerpts from ANIMAL POEMS by Valerie Worth, pictures by Steve Jenkins. Text copyright (c) 2007 by George Bahlke. Pictures copyright (c) 2007 by Steve Jenkins. Used by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. All rights reserved.

A Little More Worth

Valerie Worth was an artist who worked in a medium of words—and with words, she was able to create distinctly defined images that a reader could picture in his/her mind’s eye. She saw—and showed us how to see—the wonder of the “small” things. She could make the most mundane objects, insignificant creatures—and even garbage—seem like treasure.

From EARTHWORMS

(This poem first appeared in MORE SMALL POEMS.)

Put on the palm,
Still rough
With crumbs,
They roll and
Glisten in the sun
As fresh
As new rubies
Dug out of
Deepest earth

Some people think that young children don’t like poems with lots of imagery and figurative language. Some people believe that young children only enjoy humorous poetry or poetry that rhymes. I do not agree with them. Children often come to value what the adults in their lives value. If children are exposed to fine poetry like that of Valerie Worth, most will come to understand and appreciate it. I shared Worth’s poetry with my second grade students often. Some of them came to appreciate her poetry so much that they tried to emulate her writing style when they were creating their own poems.

I believe there is no better way to teach children how to write well than to read them fine literature—especially poetry. And Valerie Worth was—and always will be—one of the finest writers of poetry for children.

For those of you who may doubt my words, I provide the following:

STARS
by Valerie Worth
(This poem can be found in STILL MORE SMALL POEMS and ALL THE SMALL POEMS AND FOURTEEN MORE, both published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.)

While we
Know they are
Enormous suns,
Gold lashing
Fire-oceans,
Seas of heavy silver flame,

They look as
Though they could
Be swept
Down, and heaped,
Cold crystal
Sparks, in one
Cupped palm.


BURNING STARS
by Shaina, Grade 2
March 25, 1996

When I look up in space
at night
I see stars
that look like cold silver crystals
so small they could fit
in my hand.
But I know
the stars are giants
exploding gases
and bubbling with red flames.


I hope I proved my point!


Other Poetry Books by Valerie Worth

ALL THE SMALL POEMS

AND FOURTEEN MORE

Illustrated by Natalie Babbitt

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994

PEACOCK AND OTHER POEMS

Illustrated by Natalie Babbitt

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002

Learn More About Valerie Worth

Valerie Worth Biography at Farrar, Straus and Giroux: Books for Young Readers

Profile of Valerie Worth at the NCTE website


Happy Poetry Friday!

SNEAK PEEK: Janet Wong & Julie Paschkis

If you haven’t read my interview with Janet and Julie yet, I suggest you check that out before you read today’s post.










Interview Addendum

Elaine: Does either of you have any other books that will be published in 2007?

Julie: I am very excited about a book I illustrated that is coming out later this year from Henry Holt. It is called GLASS SLIPPER, GOLD SANDAL: A WORLDWIDE CINDERELLA and it was written by Paul Fleischman. It weaves together Cinderella stories from all around the world. It will be released in September.

Janet: Do you know about BEFORE IT WRIGGLES AWAY, my Meet the Author book (Richard C. Owen Publishers) that came out in January of this year? It's still not available through amazon.com (groan), but RC Owen sells it directly:
http://www.rcowen.com/MTA-JanetWong.htm




A Sneak Peek at a “Potential Project” from Julie and Janet

Elaine: Do the two of you have any plans to collaborate on a fourth book that you'd be willing to share with us?

Janet: Julie and I currently aren't actively working on a new collection but on a possible collection. Let's see if Julie is interested in "going public" with that, though, since it's still very tentative...

Julie, do you want to share an image from your Liberty Notes along with one or two of my DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE poems?

Julie: I'm happy to talk about this possible project! I've attached two of the images illustrating the 1st amendment (freedom of speech) and 4th amendment (freedom from unreasonable search and seizure) from a series of cards I made and sell to benefit the ACLU. The National Endowment for the Humanities recently used one of the images (The Pursuit of Happiness) in a library program they have.

Janet: Here's the text of the poems "Liberty" and "Declaration of Interdependence," both written to go with Julie's Liberty Notes (and hoping that they will be part of a fourth book called DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE):

Freedom of Speech

Declaration of Interdependence
by Janet Wong


We hold these truths to be not-so-self-evident

(but think about them a while, and hopefully you might agree):


all men are created equally a puzzle, made up of so many parts;

each of us makes up part of the greater puzzle that is our nation.


Lose one piece and the picture is incomplete. Recognizable, but

what happens when too many pieces, one by one, become lost?


Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness: do your best to find

the pieces that fit, that need you, as much as you need them.

Freedom from Unreasonable Search and Seizure

Liberty
by Janet Wong


I pledge acceptance

of the views,

so different,

that make us America


To listen, to look,

to think, and to learn


One people

sharing the earth

responsible

for liberty

and justice

for all.

Elaine: Janet and Julie, Thank you so much for the wonderful interview and for an inside look at your collaborative process that brought us TWIST: YOGA POEMS—your third fine book of poetry and art. I do hope the “possible” project that you two have been working on gets published in the not-too-distant future. It looks like a great book in the making!

A Few More Words

I’d like to tell everyone how much I enjoyed conducting my “interview via email” with Janet and Julie. They responded promptly to all my questions and were so forthcoming with information about their author and illustrator process for TWIST: YOGA POEMS that writing up the interview for Blue Rose Girls was easy—easy once I color coded their responses in my Word document draft.

I should tell you, too, that it was Janet who suggested I include Julie in the interview. I had originally planned to write a blog interview with Janet about her poetry books. When I saw a copy of TWIST, I wrote Janet to tell her how much I liked the book—and Julie’s gorgeous illustrations. So Janet asked Julie if she’d participate with her in an interview about the book. How lucky can a blogger get?

Two Other Great Poetry Books by Janet and Julie

NIGHT GARDEN: POEMS FROM THE WORLD OF DREAMS (2000)

















KNOCK ON WOOD: POEMS ABOUT SUPERSTITIONS (2003)

(Both of these books were published by Margaret K. McElderry Books.)

POETRY FRIDAY: Yoga Poems

TWIST: YOGA POEMS
Written by Janet Wong
Illustrated by Julie Paschkis
Margaret K. McElderry
(2007)

What a gorgeous book! Julie Paschkis outdid herself with her art for TWIST, a poetry collection written by Janet Wong. I thought YELLOW ELEPHANT was one of the best-illustrated children’s books of 2006. I know it’s early March—but I think TWIST may well be one of the best-illustrated books of 2007.

This is the third book of poetry written by Janet Wong that Paschkis has illustrated. NIGHT GARDEN: POEMS FROM THE WORLD OF DREAMS, the first collaboration between Wong and Paschkis, was a stunner. It was designated a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2000 and a National Council of Teachers of English Notable Children’s Book. Their second book, KNOCK ON WOOD: POEMS ABOUT SUPERSTITIONS, was a Riverbank Review Books of Distinction Finalist. Needless to say, I waited with anticipation for my review copy of TWIST to arrive from the publisher. As soon as I looked at the front cover and read the first poem, Breath, I knew I had in my hands another wonderful pairing of art and poetry from these two talented and accomplished women.

TWIST is a collection of poems about different yoga positions. There’s nothing fussy or pretentious about Wong’s poetry in this book. With well-honed writing and lyrical language that is accessible to young children, she captures the poetic essence of the yoga poses and creates tangible images of sixteen different body positions—including Warrior, Tree, and Crow. Paschkis’s vibrant watercolor illustrations are striking and meld into a visual harmony with Wong’s fine text.

This is an attractively designed book. The format of TWIST suits the subject matter of the poetry perfectly. Each two-page spread includes a poem that explains the meaning of a particular yoga position and a painting that illustrates that position. Both the illustration and the poem are set inside frames of the same size—with the illustration on the left-hand page and the poem on the right-hand page. This gives the effect of the poem and the painting being mirror images of each other. The framed paintings are set inside larger border-like illustrations, which also mirror each other. These larger illustrations include design details that extend the yoga theme of each of Wong’s poems.

Here are three examples from the book to show you how the art and text work together so beautifully to provide us with a unique artistic and literary interpretation of yoga.


From BREATH

Breath is a broom
sweeping your insides.

Smooth and slow:
You pull scattered bits of dream fluff
And heart dust into neat piles…

Breath is a broom
sweeping you fresh.


From TREE

Trees watch.

This is why
they grow tall,
this is why they bend
and sway,
so they can see around
a house, over a hill,
beyond a fire…

At the tip of each branch
there is an eye.


LOW CROW

Crow depends on his elbows.

You cannot always fly.
You need to rest
the weight of yourself.


TWIST has the elements that I look for in an illustrated poetry book for children: well-written poetry with a new “twist” and art that not only adds visual interest to the book, but also adds another dimension to the author’s text.


An Interview with Janet Wong & Julie Paschkis

Janet and Julie were kind enough to let me interview them about their most recent collaboration on TWIST. Here’s a little background information first: Julie and Janet are friends. They met through Laura Kvanosky, author of ZELDA AND IVY: THE RUNAWAYS. Each of their three books has been submitted as an author/illustrator package, which is pretty unusual in the publishing world.


Elaine: Janet, in your Author's Note at the end of TWIST, you tell readers that you wrote the poems for Julie, who loves yoga and loves to stretch. Did you just sit down one day and decide you were going to write these poems for Julie...or was there something in particular that inspired you to so? I’d also like to know if you practice yoga.

Janet: Even though it has been years (and pounds) since I have practiced yoga, I did do the poses as I wrote the poems. I think my dog Nissa found it quite strange to see me typing away on the computer, then flopping suddenly down on the floor, stretching, then hopping back up to my desk for more typing. I'd be straining on the floor and she would come and lick my face in encouragement (or maybe sympathy).

I don't do enough exercise, and it was very good for me to have a reason to "have to" do yoga (apart from the health and spiritual benefits). One review suggested that this book was inspired by the "current yoga craze" but, actually, I started writing these poems in 2002, after Julie finished the paintings for KNOCK ON WOOD, and finished the poems in 2003. I was so pleased with what Julie had done in that book and wanted to give her another project, an "irresistible project." I chose yoga, knowing that she is passionate about yoga and practices it several times a week. I was a bit worried when I started seeing children's yoga books coming out. With each passing year, I worried that "the market" was disappearing. But this isn't a how-to book. I'm hoping that kids who have learned yoga will stumble on this book and feel a jolt of excitement at discovering a celebration of an important part of their lives.

Elaine: Julie, did you enjoy illustrating this book of poems that Janet wrote especially for you?

Julie: TWIST was great fun to illustrate. I do a lot of yoga so I felt like I knew the poses from the inside out (less googling than usual for reference). Janet's poems were surprising and just right. So many of the poses have animal names. She pushed those connections in ways that brought imagery to mind that was fun to paint. Now when I do yoga poses I often think of lines from her poems. I will be in cat pose and suddenly think of a pleasant bowl of cream.

Elaine: Janet, reviewers of TWIST have noted the variety of ethnicities Julie depicts in her paintings. Was this something the two of you discussed before she did the art for the book?

Janet: I like the fact that Julie varies the ethnicity of the children in our books. We have never discussed this with each other, but I feel it is very important for kids to see a variety of looks. Not just different races, but different hairstyles and body shapes. I'm happy to have inspired the roly-poly round-bellied "jelly doughnut" of a girl in the poem "Finding the Center" in TWIST. There's a secret truth in that painting that Julie didn't intend: the green apples in the foreground (painted by Julie to symbolize envy), actually (in my mind and personal history) symbolize Asians. When my grandfather learned that I was dating a white man (who later became my husband), he said, "There are green apples, red apples. We are green apples. But you need to try all kinds." My grandfather was about 85 years old when he told me this. He was quite poetic, a natural storyteller—and a very wise man.

The Jelly Doughnut and the Green Apples

Elaine: Julie, would like to speak to this diversity represented in the books you have illustrated for Janet?

Julie: I always want to include lots of different ethnicities so that children can see themselves. But also that reflects reality; on my block alone there are Indian, Chinese, Korean, Hispanic, black, white, and mixed race children.

Elaine: Julie, where did you get your inspiration for the art in TWIST?

Julie: I looked at a lot of Indian miniatures as I did the illustrations for TWIST. Since yoga comes from India it made sense for those pictures to influence the art in the book. I studied the miniatures for the colors and for the way space is divided up. I love how saturated the colors are in the Indian paintings. One interesting fact that I learned is that the intense yellow pigment in the miniatures was made from feeding mangos to the cows and then making paint from their dried urine. (I didn't use that technique.)

When I painted the clothing and the borders I looked at the Indian miniatures, at paintings of people in Indian clothing and at a Dover book of paisley patterns. I put all those ingredients in my head and painted the patterns based on those inspirations; they aren't exact copies of anything. I tried to make the patterns fit the poems. For example, in the illustration for the poem Triangle all of the patterns on the clothes are based on the triangle shape. Or in Cobra the border and clothing have lines that snake around.

Elaine: Janet, tell me about your author-illustrator relationship with Julie and why you love working with her.

Janet: Perhaps the most amazing thing about Julie is that she has made each book of ours significantly different from the last. People who look quickly might not notice the little differences, but all together they add up to something quite important.

For instance, NIGHT GARDEN: POEMS FROM THE WORLD OF DREAMS had no glossary of "dream interpretation" at the back. I thought that was fine; Julie, too, wanted to emphasize the poems and not distract the reader with psychobabble. Why, then, did we include "back matter" in KNOCK ON WOOD: POEMS ABOUT SUPERSTITIONS? Julie's curiosity about (and even, I would say, fascination with) superstitions, as well as the folkloric element of her paintings, led me to justify including a glossary (of sorts) at the end of the book. I say "of sorts" because, again, she encouraged me not to distract the reader with dry academic text, but rather to try to provide commentary that would be playful and inspire wonder. With TWIST: YOGA POEMS, I sought to replicate KNOCK ON WOOD's back matter with commentary or even instructions on the poses, but Julie was quite firm about not wanting that. I think that she has become increasingly certain with each book about how she wants it to look.

Julie is the only illustrator with whom I have this level of "back and forth"--or maybe I should say "back and back"! I like to consult her when the book is still being written, but she makes it pretty clear that I am to leave her alone to paint as she sees fit, once the manuscript is finalized.

Elaine: Julie, tell us what makes working with Janet and her texts so inspiring.

Julie: Our friendship grew out of working together. I think we spur each other on to create good work; I hope that A plus B equals more than C. I like illustrating Janet's poems because her imagery is like a diving board for my imagination. Also, her poems are subtle. When I read them over and over I notice the artistry in the construction of the poems and I find layers of meaning.


Come back on Sunday for a “sneak peek” at a potential Wong/Paschkis project!

POETRY FRIDAY: Fairy Tale Poems

It all began last week with my Fairy Tale Friday post. I entered the imaginary kingdom of fairy tales…and I’m still here—much longer than I had intended to be. You see…I couldn’t find the trail of breadcrumbs Hansel had left for me in the forest. (He knows how directionally challenged I am.) I’m trying to stay calm and make the best of my situation since there’s no cell phone service in this neck of the literary world.

There’s a lot to see here in the land of enchanted woods, gingerbread cottages, fairy godmothers, talking wolves, little guys who know how to spin straw into gold, and slimy frogs who keep insisting they’re royalty! Wait a minute. What’s this I see? The Baba Yaga Bookstore! Imagine a little shop walking around on chicken legs. Maybe I’ll just jump over the threshold and see what’s inside.

Oh, look! Here’s a book by one of my favorite children’s poets!

YOU READ TO ME, I’LL READ TO YOU:
VERY SHORT FAIRY TALES TO READ TOGETHER
Written by Mary Ann Hoberman
Illustrated by Michael Emberley
Published by Little, Brown
(2004)

Great! It’s a book of short, rhyming fairy tale stories told in two voices. The text is printed in three different colors: red for the first voice, magenta for the second voice, and blue when both voices speak in unison.

Mary Ann Hoberman, recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in 2003, is a master of meter and rhyme. The stories in this book are rhythmic and playful and a lot of fun to read aloud. Here’s an example from the book to give you a flavor of these tales told in two voices:

From THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

I’m Big Bad Wolf.

I’m Little Pig.

You’re very small.

You’re very big.
But now I’ve got you
In my pot.

The water’s getting
Very hot.

I’ll cook you up
And make a stew.

Why, that’s an awful
Thing to do.

Pig keeps Wolf in the cooking pot until he apologizes for eating Pig’s siblings. Pig then lets Wolf out of the pot and gives him a block of ice to sit on so he can cool his hindquarters. Then both characters sit down and read together:

What will you read?

A tale that’s true.
A tale about
Both me and you.

Can I read, too?

If you know how.

Of course I do.

Then let’s start now.

We’ll read Three Little Pigs
Right through.
You read to me.
I’ll read to you.

This book is great from start to finish. It includes eight tales for two voices. I just wish it had been available when I was still teaching second grade. I know my students would have loved to do choral readings of the tales in this book.

Michael Emberley’s cartoon-style illustrations complement Hoberman’s lighthearted text. The facial expressions of the humans and animals really enliven their characters and add to the humor of the tales.

One thing I especially like about YOU READ TO ME, I’LL READ TO YOU is the way Hoberman ends the book by encouraging readers to read the old tales that were the inspirations for the rhyming stories in her book—as well as other fairy tales they haven’t yet read:

From THE END

And so our fairy tales
Are through.

We’ve read them all.
What shall we do?

We could reread them.

Yes, we could.

That might be fun.

That might be good.

But, then again,
We could read some
Of these old tales
That these are from…

And I am pleased to tell you that the characters in this book live—and read—happily ever after!


Ooops! Crash! Oh no! I think I just cracked the dainty little glass slipper that was displayed on the bookshelf near the Cinderella stories. The slipper that was sitting next to the sign: You crack it—you wear it!

IF THE SHOE FITS: VOICES FROM CINDERELLA
Written by Laura Whipple
Illustrated by Laura Beingessner
Published by Margaret K. McElderry
(2002)

This is a book of poems told in different voices—including the voices of Cinderella, a rat, feet, Cinderella’s slipper, and the nasty stepsisters. Most of the poems do not rhyme; they are not humorous parodies. The “voices” express their thoughts and feelings. The stepmother bemoans her poor life before she married Cinderella’s father and her new husband’s weakness, the queen doubts the beautiful young maiden who “sparkled at the ball,” the other slipper feels abandoned and then repulsed and pained by all the big feet struggling to stuff themselves into it.

Here are a few excerpts from the book:

From FATHER’S GHOST

Hear my voice first.
Blinded by a cunning woman,
I was the unfortunate fool
who set the stage
for the ashes and tears in this tale.

From THE STEPSISTERS’ PROMISE

Cinderella, stir those ashes.
Cinderella, tie my sashes.
Cinderella, you’re always much too slow.

Cinderella, place these laces.
Cinderella, paint our faces.
Tonight’s the ball, but you’ll stay home, you know.


From THE OTHER SLIPPER

Each day, a tougher trial.
Heavy, ugly, big feet
pushing down on my very sole!
Oh! I shuffle with pain!
Oh! I shudder silently!
The threat of shattering!
Oh! The strain on a shoe!

Why? I demand to know why!
When will he search for my mate?
When will we step together again?

This would be an excellent book to read in conjunction with a unit of study of Cinderella stories from around the world. It could also serve as a springboard for a creative writing activity in which students are encouraged to write their own “voices from Cinderella” poems.

Laura Beingessner’s illustrations are done with a deft and delicate hand. There are several colorful two-page spreads. Most of the pictures, though, are smaller spot illustrations set against a white background. The format and size of IF THE SHOE FITS help indicate it as a book for middle readers.


Crikey! Baba Yaga just got into her mortar and went flying off over the treetops. I think I’ll put the cracked glass slipper back on the shelf, jump back over the threshold, and try to find my way home once again. Oh…look! The old witch left a pile of discarded, out of print books by her woodpile.

Hmmm…this one looks interesting.

TRAIL OF STONES
Written by Gwen Strauss
Illustrated by Anthony Browne
Published by Alfred A. Knopf
(1990)

I think I’ll start by reading from the introduction.

Strauss says she began writing these poems many years ago when she was “exploring the theme of metamorphosis in fairy tales.” Anthony Browne had also been working with fairy tale themes. They both wanted to “approach fairy tales from a new perspective” and “decided to collaborate on a book in which a combination of drawings and poems would form a collection of portraits, in the hope that such a collection might open a small door into the quieter moments of transformation and reveal those dark and startling events that lie buried within the stories.”

This is definitely a book for older readers. The twelve “portrait” poems are persona poems in which fairy tale characters speak in their own voices—as in The Prince and The Waiting Wolf:

From THE PRINCE

Imagine this: we’re in the garden harvesting,
and you’re telling me how our children suckled,
Their mouths opened like dark moons.

When you speak to me like this,
I want to say everything,
And I want to put my hands on your lips.

For a long time I was blind,
Even before the thorns of roses tattered my eyes.
I was bored, handsome, a prince.
The thrill was in what I could get away with.


From THE WAITING WOLF

She will have the youngest skin
I have ever touched, her fingers unfurling
like fiddleheads in spring.

My matted fur will smell to her of forest
moss at night. She’ll wonder about my ears,
large, pointed, soft as felt,
my eyes red as her cloak,
my leather nose on her belly.

These portrait poems and Browne’s black and white illustrations in TRAIL OF STONES transport us to another dimension—a quieter, darker realm of fairy tales that few of us have ever visited.

I don’t suppose Baba Yaga will mind if I take this book. After all, she left it outside where it would get soaked in the first drenching rain. Besides…now I have this “trail of stones” to help me find my way back home.

I hope you enjoyed our visit to The Baba Yaga Bookstore as much as I. Now, before I leave this enchanted kingdom, I’d like to send you off to find a fairy tale poem—one written by Jane Yolen. Just wave your magic wand, click on the link, and you will be whisked away to Poetry 180. Then,

with a wave and a click, transport yourself to Poetry for Children for two Cinderella poems.

Happy Poetry Friday!