Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets

Naomi Shihab Nye, ed.

pictures by Ashley Bryan

Cover by Barnes & Noble

Nye, Naomi Shihab. Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets. Ill. Ashley Bryan. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2000. ISBN: 978-0-688-16193-4.

Poetic Elements

This anthology is chock full of poetic elements, all a testament to the teachings of Naomi Shihab Nye, who collected these poems over a period of twenty-five years, while teaching poetry workshops to children in various school systems around the country. Similes, alliteration, assonance, and personification abound in the poem “Monday Mornings”: (On Monday mornings I feel like/ a miserable mouse, more miserable/ than a monkey on Monday mornings.) and (On Monday mornings I feel like / a miserable millionaire, more miserable/ than money, more miserable than/ midnight). Others, although simple, reveal the truth and pain a young poet is feeling: (The mean is on me./ The family is on me./ The eyes of a dragon are on me./ The scream of my brother is on me./ The smoke of the chimney is on me./ The school is on me./ The wall is on me./ Well everything is on me, I don’t know/ why. Anyway I’m gonna get/ on them too, like they got on me./ I’m gonna scream on them./ I’m gonna be mean on them./ Well I’m gonna do everything / they did to me.) The age or grade level of the individual poets with a short note about their life or chosen profession at the time the book was published would have been a nice addition to this anthology. In Nye’s afterword, she only reveals that the poet of “Patterns” became a dentist.

Appeal

Although this collection is mostly free verse, it includes many poems with graphical elements such as “Whispers”, in which the word “waving” is shaped as to imitate the “whisper of a flag/ waving/ in the wind.” There are also a few shape poems such as “For My First-Grade Teacher”, whose lines will stimulate the emotions of readers and prod them to reflect back upon their own first-grade experiences: (I remember the time when you made/ me and some/ other kids/ stand in/ front/ of the / class/ But now it doesn’t matter at all/ because/ I/ don’t see/ you/ anymore). Although Salting the Ocean is recommended for grades three through eight, it may be better suited as a teacher’s resource rather than reading for pleasure. With that being said, many young readers may gather confidence and be inspired by seeing published works by poets their own age.

Overall Quality

The poems are as consistent in quality as one might expect from one hundred different school children ranging from grade one through twelve over a span of twenty-five years. However, they could be the perfect tools in which to spark a young poet’s imagination, and give them the confidence they need to write their own poetry.

The Poet

This anthology is a collection of poems by one hundred different poets never previously published, nor famous. They were selected from over twenty-five years of classroom led poetry workshops Nye conducted in many of the fifty states. The poets are now dentists and dancers and teachers and students and construction workers, and still others-- Nye was never able to reach. Nye is a poet, songwriter, novelist, and anthologist who has won many awards and fellowships, among them four Pushcart Prizes, the Jane Addams Children’s Book award, the Paterson Poetry Prize, and many notable book and best book citations from the American Library Association.

The illustrator, Ashley Bryan, earned a degree in philosophy at Columbia University after studying art at Cooper Union in New York City. He has created more than thirty books for young people and earned numerous awards, including several Coretta Scott King Honors and a Fulbright Scholarship. Bryan currently resides in Islesford, Maine.

Layout

At the front of the book, a note about the poems reveals the circumstances surrounding the manner in which Nye selected the poems, categorized into four groups:

·       The Self and The Inner World

·       Where We Live

·       Anybody’s Family

·       The Wide Imagination

The three part introduction was lengthy with the first titled “To Anyone, and to a Couple in Nova Scotia” with personal information about the author and the kindness a couple showed her in Nova Scotia. The second is advice to teachers, librarians, parents, and other friends who may pick up the book. The third introduction is basically a thank you to the young poets along with further encouragement for them to write. Bryan’s bold, vibrant, tempera-paint illustrations spice up the young poets work at the beginning of each section, and lend a generous helping of multicultural imagery. Salting the Ocean concludes with an “Afterword, Acknowledgements, Suggestions for Further Reading, Index to 100 Poems, and Index to 100 Poets.”

Spotlight Poem

My Mind Is an Empty Jug

      by Alex Lagunas

I wonder where it went.

In the morning I felt like

an empty jug so I felt

my pillow it was not wet

but my mind was empty

I wonder where it went.

Poetry Break

Introduction: Introduce this poem by displaying a large empty jug in full view, and asking for a few guesses at what it could represent.

Extension Activity: After reading the poem a few times, suggest a topic and have students write ONE line of poetry relating to the topic onto a strip of paper and drop it into the jug.

Afterwards, for fun, display the lines of poetry and let students arrange them into the most logical order to write a class “Jug Poem.”

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

by Paul B. Janeczko

Cover by Barnes & Noble

Janeczko, Paul B. Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7636-4727-8.

Poetic Elements

This powerful, moving collection by Paul Janeczko exposes the horrific circumstances endured at the Terezin Ghetto, deemed by Hitler to be a haven for European Jews. Although the narratives are accounts of mostly fictional characters (with the exception of one), they are based on extensive research of historical events and facts. The first poem, narrated by a displaced resident during the transformation of Terezin, Czechoslovakia, speaks of the nightmare on the streets in front of his Jewish shop: “delicate handkerchiefs/ now fallen white leaves” and “A white linen tablecloth/ edged with pink roses--/ Mama’s favorite pattern--/ flowed like a bride’s train/ from sidewalk to curb to gutter./ Papa stared at black boot marks/ crossing it like sins.” Janeczko’s masterful figurative language also gives voice to a would be inmate as her transport number is being called, “Beasts of burden,/ we shouldered bundles/ of what pieces of the past/ we were allowed to keep/ as we joined the river of fear,/ a current of shuffling feet, sobs, and whimpers/ that crept past dark mouths/ of archways and windows/ to Terezin.”

Appeal

Requiem, written in free verse, is a valuable asset to the collection of Holocaust literature and gives a courageous voice to the 140,000 European Jews who suffered unspeakable and inhumane treatment by Nazi guards. Although Hitler hailed the Czech collection and transport camp, Terezin, as a haven for artistic and intellectual Jews, it was little more than a pit stop en route to the gas chambers. In “SS Captain Bruno Krueger” an older Jewish man and a young boy tried to escape but were dragged back for “the lesson.” Captain Bruno narrates their fate: (We herded all the Jew swine/ close to the gallows/ where the old Jew stood on the wagon/ noosed./ I ordered my Jews closer./ Close enough to hear the twig snap of his neck.) These harrowing poems are sure to fill readers with undeniable feelings of sadness, anger, and confusion about how something this despicable could happen.

Overall Quality

These dark, narrative poems by prisoners, guards, and residents of the transformed town are thought provoking and consistent in quality. Janeczko’s Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto was the recipient of the following awards:

·       CYBILS’ Poetry Award Winner for 2012

·       Children’s Books of the Year 2012

·       Notable Books for a Global Society 2012

·       Notable Children’s Books in the English Language Arts 2012

·       Teachers Choice 2012

The Poet

Paul Janeczko grew up in New Jersey and presently resides in Maine. He never dreamed of being a writer until attending college and being around kids who had read a lot and could talk about music, literature, and the arts. That’s when he realized he had wasted a lot of time in high school. He has taught high school English as well as college courses, and published nearly fifty books. He has received multiple awards including ALA Books for Young Adults, ALA Notable Books, New York Public Library Best Books, and School Library Journal Best Young Adult Books of the Year awards, in addition to being the recipient of the 2012 CYBILS’ Poetry Award Winner for Requiem.

Layout

Requiem includes a table of contents for more than thirty poems, mostly titled with a fictional prisoner’s name and number. In an afterword, Janeczko explains that Terezin was different from other Nazi death camps as the inmates were Jewish intellectuals and artists of Prague. He further explains, “As a result, it became a prison in which the arts were tolerated, then encouraged as a Nazi propaganda tool.” The Author’s Note confirms that “Valtr Eisinger/11956” was the one exception to fictional characters as the poem was taken from actual letters written by Eisinger, who was shot at Buchenwald on January 15, 1945. A short glossary of foreign words, an extensive bibliography, and a list of websites consulted are also appended. The book concludes with art credits for the illustrations accompanying the poetry. The drawings are by actual adult and child inmates from the prison camp that were discovered after World War II.

Spotlight Poem

Excerpt from: SS Captain Bruno Krueger

As he hung and finished his death dance,

a guard brought forth the other man.

Man? Was he old enough to shave?

No matter.

He will be a teacher,

playing his part in today’s lesson.

He was, perhaps, saving other Jews

who dreamed of freedom.

Hands tied behind his back,

kneeling in the mud

he looked at me with defiance.

I enjoyed the chance to show him,

to show all,

the impracticality of defiance.

Another Jew fetched a bucket

filled with paving stones.

I selected a stone,

carefully,

looking for one with sharp corners.

Poetry Break

Introduction: For introduction purposes, I would allow students to listen to a couple of readings from this book of poetry:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkZSuEsdLgQ

Extension Activity: For an extension activity, share this interview with Paul B Janeczko with the class:

https://maclibrary.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/poetic-conversations-paul-b-janeczko/

This interview tells how Janeczko was inspired to write Requiem and about visiting the site for research purposes. It also explains how the drawings used for illustrations in the book were smuggled out of the camp, while others were hidden until the Russians liberated it.

OR

Share I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp 1942-1944 by Hana Volavkova.

Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (poems)

by Linda Sue Park
pictures by Istvan Banyai

Cover by Barnes & Noble

Park, Linda Sue. Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (poems). Ill. Istvan Banyai. New York: Clarion Books 2007. ISBN: 978-0-618-23483-7.

Poetic Elements

This collection of 27 Sijo poems by Linda Sue Parks is unique, comical, and entertaining! As Parks explains in the foreword, Sijo is a traditional Korean form of poetry similar to Japanese haiku. It is not necessary for Sijo to rhyme, such as in “Pockets,” the featured spotlight poem below. Some of it uses end rhyme schemes such as “Art Class”: (Keesha says my fish doesn’t look like anything she’s ever seen./ “Flowered fins? Plaid scales? And the tail—tie-dyed weirdo green?”). In “October,” Parks personifies the wind using both, internal and end rhymes: (The wind rearranges the leaves, as if to say, “Much better there,”/ and coaxes others off their trees:/ “It’s lots more fun in the air.”/Then it plays tag with a plastic bag,/ and with one gust uncombs my hair!).

Appeal

In Sijo’s most common form it contains three lines, each with fourteen to sixteen syllables. The first line introduces the topic and the second line further develops it. The third line includes a surprise or humorous twist. In the alternate form, Sijo is divided into six shorter lines. This collection includes both the three-line and six-line formats of Sijo poetry. These poems spark the reader’s imagination and tap into familiar childhood experiences with titles such as “Long Division”, “School Lunch”, and “Art Class.” The humorous turn of events on the last line of Sijo poetry will be a treat for all readers.

Overall Quality

Tap Dancing on the Roof contains all formats of Sijo poetry and everything one needs to know in order to try their hand at writing it.  It’s quality is confirmed by the starred reviews handed out by Booklist, Horn Book, School Library Journal, and Kirckus, along with being named an ALA Notable Children’s Book for 2008.

The Poet

Linda Sue Park, the daughter of Korean immigrants, grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She published her first poem at the age of nine and had several more poems published during elementary and high school. She graduated from Stanford University and has published many books for young people, including A Single Shard, which was awarded the 2002 Newbery Medal. She currently resides in New York with her husband and wants to be an elephant scientist when she grows up!

The illustrator of this book, Istvan Banyai, was born in Hungary and is well known for his editorial illustrations for The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He is the creator of the award-winning wordless picture book Zoom, as well as Re-Zoom and The Other Side. He now resides in the woods of Connecticut.

Layout

An “About Sijo” page in the front of the book describes what Sijo is, and it’s structure in both, three-line and six-line formats. Banyai’s comical illustrations complement each poem and command the reader’s attention as much as Park’s humorous language. In “Shower,” a bubble forms the letter “o” in the word terrycloth. In “School Lunch” the square mouth has been molded by the “square pizza here, square brownie there;/ milk carton cube, and rectangle tray.” The author’s note in the back includes a historical background section on the history of Sijo poems, further reading suggestions, and tips for writing your own Sijo poety. Parks concludes the book with one last delightful poem accompanied by Banyai’s whimsical illustrations:

              WISH

For someone to read a poem

again, and again, and then,

having lifted it from page

to brain—the easy part—

cradle it on the longer trek

from brain all the way to heart.

Spotlight Poem

Pockets

by Linda Sue Parks

What’s in your pockets right now? I hope they’re not empty:

Empty pockets, unread books, lunches left on the bus—all a waste.

In mine: One horse chestnut. One gum wrapper. One dime. One hamster.

Poetry Break

Introduction: Introduce this poem by emptying out a pocket full of likely as well as unlikely contents.

Extension Activity: To extend this activity, put student poets in pairs and let them attempt Sijo poetry paying special attention to the following tips by Linda Sue Parks:

1.     Start with a single image or idea. Try to make the first line a complete unit of thought. This is easiest to do by writing it as one sentence.

2.     In the second line, develop the image further by adding details, description, or examples. Again, think of this line as a single unit or sentence.

3.     Most poets regard the last line—the “twist”—as the hardest part of writing sijo. I try to think of where the poem would go logically if I continued to develop the idea of the first two lines. Once I’ve figured that out, I write something that goes in the opposite direction—or at least “turns a corner.” For example, in “Breakfast,” the logical extension would be another line about eating. Instead, the poem ends with an image of sleeping.