POETRY BY KIDS: Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky; Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School Compiled by Timothy Mclaughlin

Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky

Bibliography:

McLaughlin, Timothy P. Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2012. 

Review:

Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky is artwork that is bound together to create a beautiful piece of art-erature (art+ literature). Each of the seven sections opens with a short excerpt about the subject title. These excerpts are a summary of sorts of the different themes that are present in the collection of poems. These excepts also guide the reader though the beauty of the Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School.

The editor of the collection Timothy P. McLaughlin strings together many different formats of poems including free verse, haiku, extended metaphor, diamante, I am, and many more. The variety of the poems contribute to the versatility of the collection. In addition, to the different formats there is also many different perspectives that are present. From a hopeful child in I Still Dream to the solemn tone of Quiet. The feelings of the speaker and the mood they create for the reader are exemplary examples of how to create feelings within the reader. 

Furthermore the imagery that is used to explain their feelings is deep yet relatable. For example, in the poem Silence by Julia Martin she writes and repeats the line "Silence is the loudest noise I ever heard." The reader can connect to this moment maybe not in the same sad way, but every kid knows that feeling when silence seems deafening. I also like the line from Quiet by Tia Catches when she writes "Quiet is the ringing in the ear" while the line is so simple I think it shows children perfectly how irony is actually something that can be lived. 

Overall, the collection is one that should be shared to children throughout the year. I would use this as a reference when I wanted to teacher different literary concepts because the collection has a depth of different merits and should be spoken about as much as possible. 

Spotlight Poem:

The element of suspense is highly prevalent in the poem Ugly Life on Dirty Rez. The reader isn't sure of the poems mood or tone until the third line and even still there is a question of the connotation of dirty as you complete the final lines. 

Ugly Life on Dirty Rez

Life on
Life on reservation 
Life on reservation is dirty 
Life on reservation is dirty, filthy
Life on reservation is dirty, filthy dogs. 
-Dena Colhoff

Follow-up Activity:

As a poetry break, I would assign each word in each line to a different student to make a total of 23 assigned words, then I would have the students read this poem aloud a couple of times. The emphasis on life would become apparent and we could talk about the different symbols that life could mean in this poem. The poem has little variety of words, but that only makes the words that it does have more meaningful. Also, reading the poem aloud will help identify that emphasis.