COME SUNDAY by Nikki Grimes

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Grimes, Nikki. 1996. COME SUNDAY. Ill. by Michael Bryant. Michigan: Eerdmans. ISBN 0802851088

PLOT SUMMARY

COME SUNDAY is a book of poems describing a young girl’s typical Sunday at church.  By the end of her day, our character views the day as “long” but is thankful for her day in “Paradise – Paradise Baptist Church.”

                                                              

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The poetry included in COME SUNDAY incorporates the use of rhyming sounds but does not require it.  “At the Altar” begins with the first two lines ending in rhyme: open and hopin’.  The third line ends with place and the poem never ends with rhyme again.  Other poems, one for example “Ladies’ Hats” utilizes rhyme throughout.  Elements such as repetition and alliteration are used as well.  One selection, “Baptism” begins with the repetitive words, “Down, down, down into the water” and continues with “Gone, gone, gone,” “Up, Up, Up,” and “Joy, joy, joy.”  The language could best be described as descriptive.  The reader can envision exactly how things looked, felt, and happened based on the author’s words.  The reader can picture the blue-haired ladies pinching her cheeks, and the movement during Rock-a-my-soul like clapping, swaying, and dancing.  One can even picture her anxiety for lunch as she dreams of fried chicken and pumpkin pie.  Not only does the reader imagine the events but can also feel them.  As a reader, you sense the excitement as she runs to church, her delight in wearing white gloves like her Mommy, and the “shiver” that takes over as she listens to the lady preacher in the afternoon.  The emotions are natural and relatable.  The watercolor illustrations by Michael Bryant are vivid and support the stand-alone poetry.  The arrangement of poems is sequential and allows for young readers to walk-along with the girl through her day.  The cultural component is enticing for students who can relate but also gives other readers a look into what an African- American Sunday might be like.  It is a book with captivating pictures and language that speaks to the senses. 

                                                      

REVIEW EXCERPTS

KIRKUS REVIEWS –“While some of Bryant's watercolor paintings are more skilled than others, the overall effect is one of exaltation tempered by serene faith. Whatever their religious background, readers will smile at the jubilation.”

Starred review by Publishers Weekly – “Reverent, funny and wildly energetic all at the same time, this is a wonderful book for introducing children to church life.”

                                                                                      

CONNECTIONS

*Compare to SIDEWALK CHALK: POEMS OF THE CITY by Carole Boston Weatherford

*Plan on reading another Nikki Grimes book on another day and have students bring their favorite snack to share with everyone like a potluck. 

*With various common materials, have students create a hat like one that the main character would see at her church.

BLUE LIPSTICK: CONCRETE POEMS by John Grandits

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Grandits, John. 2007. BLUE LIPSTICK: CONCRETE POEMS. New York: Clarion. ISBN 0618568603

PLOT SUMMARY

BLUE LIPSTICK is a book of concrete poems which utilize shape and art to make things interesting.  The book is written from the perspective of a teenage girl, Jessie, who writes about her experiences with school, family, and fitting in. 

                                                              

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In this compilation, each poem tells a story and leads into the next.  The reader is captivated and pulled in by the elements and is able to easily read from poem to poem.  Each individual poem has its own rhythm.  “Zombie Jocks” is written in four-line stanzas and includes repetition and rhyming at the end while “Pep Rally” is not in equal stanzas and does not have any rhyming qualities.  However, “Pep Rally” does flow nicely and provides dramatic pauses.  The book of poems incorporates sound elements such as onomatopoeia in the poem, “Talking to My Stupid Younger Brother…” which uses the words burp and achoo. The language is reflective of a teenager girl and incorporates words like duh, jeez, jerk, road kill, whatever, uh-huh, and bummed. 

There are over thirty poems and each is written in a shape that reinforces the message of them poem.  “Bad Hair Day” is written in the shape of crazy hair and “Happy B*Day, Mom” is in the shape of a hot air balloon.  In this poem about her mother’s birthday wish of flying in a hot air balloon, Jessie ends the trip by barfing and the word barf is repeatedly seen in the shape of cascading barf from the sky.  Though written by Grandits, an older man, the reader falls right into the events Jessie is writing about as if the author has lived them. 

One selection, “Silver Spandex” is a poem written about a conversation with Andrea, a cheerleader who is also a guitar player.  Jessie finds that Andrea is just a regular person, though “annoyingly pretty” and that they might have more in common that she originally realized.  The poem is shaped like a guitar and a cello. 

REVIEW EXCERPTS

KIRKUS REVIEWS –““All My Important Thinking Gets Done in the Shower,” possibly the best selection, features gentle streams of blue words emerging from a showerhead, each forming a sentence completely unrelated to the one next to it.”

ReadKiddoRead – “How John Grandits, a man, has gotten under the skin of a ninth grader with such resonance, honesty, and humor, I can't fathom, but if you were ever a ninth grade girl, you'll marvel. And if you weren't, you'll learn a lot.”

CONNECTIONS

*After learning about shape poems and assigning students to write their own, read/show BLUE LIPSTICK to give students an example. 

*Have students get into groups and choose one of Jessie’s poems to discuss.  Students can discuss how they can relate to her and how she can solve the problem [if there is one].

*For personal character-related units, have students pick a poem of Jessie’s that they can somehow relate to and create a similar poem identifying how they relate and the importance of being themselves.

ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES by Sonya Sones

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sones, Sonya. 2004. ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0689858205

PLOT SUMMARY

Ruby is a teenage girl who suddenly finds herself uprooted from the life she has always known and separated from her Mother, friends, and boyfriend.  After her mother dies, Ruby is sent to live with a father that was never there for her before and to attend school with other privileged teens.  Determined to be bitter, Ruby is reluctant to acknowledge her father’s efforts but finds she can relate to him.  When she learns the truth of his absence, her relational walls begin to fall and she slowly opens up to her new father, friends, and even Wyatt, the “Brad Pitt wannabe” from her dream interpretation class.       

                                                              

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

A novel in poetic free verse, this story is an easy read and utilizes both short lines and long lines. The rhythm requires times of sentence-long speech as well as dramatic pauses suitable to any young girl’s life story.  As Ruby journals through her experience, the novel incorporates intrapersonal and interpersonal dialog, letters, and even conversations with her dead mother. Different fonts are used to emphasize the battle and confusion going on in her head as well as for the letters from back home.  The language Sones uses is reflective of the typical teenager, especially when Ruby expresses her feelings.  For example, Ruby said “She’ll die when she sees yours,” “I swear to God,” and “it made me feel like such a moron.”  The language also provides the reader with a mental picture of her new over-the-top and dramatic life: her father’s name, “Whip,” and her new bedroom being “literally the room of [her] dreams.” Throughout the verses, the reader can feel the sense of desperation in Ruby through the language.  “I just give up,” “I’m not that depressed,” and “You traitor, you deserter” are just a few of the lines that Ruby expresses.  As she works through her new venture, the language, emotions, and feelings change.  “Wow… And I fling my arms around both of them,” “and the three of us crack up.” Emotions of depression, anger, and sadness are replaced with excitement, joy and anticipation… and the verses shout it to the reader.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

KIRKUS REVIEWS – “It’s a hugely artificial form, but its free acknowledgment thereof (“my life better not turn out to be like one of those hideous books where the mother dies and so the girl has to go live with her absentee father . . . ”) allows the text, and Ruby, to explore the possibilities behind the fantasy.”

Publishers Weekly - "winning portrayal of a teenage girl's loves and losses."

Iowa Teen Award

CONNECTIONS

*Read the novel with other similar poetic novels such as JINX by Margaret Wild and KEESHA’S HOUSE by Helen Frost.  Students can compare and contrast the novels.

*Discuss first impressions: hers on her father and friends.

*Have students write a similar poem about themselves.  They could include intrapersonal thought as well as dialog and letters. 

*Identify language that shows imagery and provokes emotion.

*Students could write the next poem that would come after the ending.  What happens next?