PERFORMANCE POETRY: The Friendly Four

The Friendly Four by Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist

Bibliography: 

Greenfield, Eloise, and Jan Spivey Gilchrist. The Friendly Four. New York: HarperCollins/Amistad, 2006. Print.

Review:

The Friendly Four is a precious story of four friends who find authentic friendship despite their individual struggles at home. The book opens with Drummond a young boy who sick of waiting around for his baby sibling to become alert, so he can live his life. Alas Drum finds friendship in Dorene a young girl who is new to the neighborhood. Next the duo meets Louis who has been adopted by a new family and is new to the neighborhood as well, finally they meet up with Rae who is Dorene's cousin who is just visiting until her mother gets well. The story of these young friends is told in six parts each one articulating how the friends meet, what they do to have fun during the summer, and finally the dreadful goodbyes at the end of summer. Greenfield tells the story of each friend through verse and a form of dialogue. The poems bounce between different speakers with each speaker represented by a different color, in addition their are also lines written as "all" to indicated that this is a line spoke by each of the Friendly Four. '

Eloise Greenfield writes a touching story that should be spoken by a young audience. The verse picture book tells the complicated stories of four young friends dealing with lives difficult situations, but the voice and the word choice keeps the story age appropriate.

Spotlight Poem:

The poem Punished is read by all of the four friends and is best when it is read aloud. The poem is accompanied by a picture of each child looking out the window with a hint of regret for their poor choice from earlier in the day. The use of punctuation, specifically commas, gives the poem a rhythm that mimics that of a stream of thought. Also, the use of line breaks puts the emphasis on what the children have done wrong or what they wish they were doing. This would be a great way to teach purposeful line breaks. 

Punished 
All: I'm looking out my window,
wishing I hadn't done it.
I could be with my friends, right now,
having fun.
It's not as if we didn't know. 
We went where we weren't 
supposed to go.
The grown-ups had told us not to travel
beyond the corner tree. 
When they looked, they couldn't find us
not to forget to remember 
where we're supposed to be. 

Follow-up Activity:

Of course this poem has to be assigned roles and read aloud. So, I would do just that I would assign each group a page or pages depending on the number of students; then I would have those students read and act out each of their assigned pages. I can also see this entire book being used as a grade wide play or musical almost. It is so engaging and so many different ways for students to interpret the roles. The thoughts and feelings of each of the Friendly Four are well-crafted through a thoughtful voice, it would be heart-warming to see it being read to an audience of adults. 

HOPKINS AWARD POETRY: UNDER THE MESQUITE Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Bibliography: 

McCall, Guadalupe Garcia. Under the Mesquite. New York: Lee & Low, 2011. Print.

Review: 

Under the Mesquite is a verse novel that tells the story of Lupita, the eldest of eight, over the course of around eight years. True to the nature of a young adult novel, Under the Mesquite is a combination of coming of age events, including the devastation of  cancer and disease on a family, and specifically the implications of cancer in a Mexican-American family. Garcia-McCall creates a free verse novel that reads with the strong voice of Lupita. The emotions and thoughts of Lupita are so accurately articulated that you feel as though the young girl herself is telling the story. However, the descriptions are not childish in literary merit. For example, the line "the lawns looked well behaved/and boring. The grass grew obediently/ beside the clean sidewalks/along the paved streets,/each green blade standing upright/ like a tiny solider. While this is an innocent description of the grass and land in which her family now lives, it is not a watered down version of a description. 

The novel is also divided into six parts mapping out the life of Lupita through their losses and triumphs, and Garcia-McCall includes a helpful glossary of Spanish words and cultural references. Under the Mesquite also won the Pura Belpre Award for its outstanding work of literature for children and youth. The award is much deserved and accurately portrays the struggles and intimacies of a Mexican- American family. 

Spotlight Poem:

Chismosa, a word that is so often spoken in Hispanic families, a word that takes on its own meaning depending on the family and its usage, a word that is both endearing and punitive. In my own experience the word can become playful and silly as well as insulting and rude, and this poem does a similar pattern. In the moment when the mother calls her daughter a chismosa it is because she is embarrassed, but in the end you can tell that it was because she was taken by surprise at her daughters gumption. I like this poem because it shows the interpersonal side of a culture and its language.  

Chismosa

I thought I was being clever
by sitting just outside the kitchen window, 
but I was wrong. 

!Chismosa! Mami chastises me
when she catches me eavesdropping 
on her and her comadres.
Then she orders me to go scrub
the bathrooms, toilets, and all.

After her friends leave, 
Mami calls me into her and Papi's room.
"You embarrassed me today,"
she says, sitting on the edge of the bed
with her arms folded. 
...
"It's okay," I whisper
against her cheek. "I know."
My heart aches
because I have heard the word 
that she keeps tucked away
behind closed doors.

"What do you know?" Mami asks.

We lock eyes,
and she knows I know.

"Don't tell the others," she begs,
and I hold her while she cries it out.

Follow-up Activity:

As a follow-up, I would have students brainstorm a list of words that he or she uses within their family that can be used as an insult or a term of endearment. I would point out that it is these words that create a small family culture that contributes to an overall culture. I would also ask the students to share their list of (school appropriate words) so that students can enrich their own knowledge of various cultures, within a broader culture. 

SIDMAN POETRY: Meow Ruff by Joyce Sidman

Meow Ruff by Joyce Sidman 

Bibliography:

Sidman, Joyce, and Michelle Berg. Meow Ruff. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Review:

Meow Ruff is the epitome of well-written concrete poems. Every picture, every character and every piece of the book is a concrete poem. The illustrations aren't just delightful pieces of art, but rather each picture is a poem. While this is a children's book, the reader can stay on the same page for several minutes reading and discovering new poems within the illustrations. For example on page
four there are about eight different poems that don't just tell you what is happening, but show you through word position and concrete poems.

Furthermore, the illustration created by Michelle Berg are simple in design but detailed with words. For example, in the spotlight poem the words "black bottomed storm brewing" take on the beauty of the clouds and the storm, but still create an ominous mood.   Some of the poems pictures are accompanied by graphics that indicate a wag of a tail or a flutter of a crows wing. It is this attention to detail that makes Meow Ruff a unique, engaging, and versatile piece of literature.

Spotlight Poem:

This artistic display of poetry perfectly captures what is great about Joyce Sidman. There is so much to teach just on one page; for example, you can teach characterization and inferencing with the animals thought poems, you can teach figurative language with the onomatopoeia's that are present throughout the poem; you can teach tone and mood through the cloud formation poem. The versatility of this poem also stretches through age groups. It is simplistic enough for early readers to comprehend the different components, but it is thoughtful enough for advanced readers to investigate the intricacies of a concrete poem.

Follow-up Activity:

As a follow-up I would group students into pods of four and have them start a project that includes choosing a piece of figurative language and developing it into a children's concrete poem book. Having the students mimic the model of Joyce Sidman will help them deepen their understanding of grade level TEKS such as analyzing word position, punctuation, capital letters, and figurative meaning. (7.4A)