THE BEST PART OF ME compiled and photographed by Wendy Ewald

Ewald, Wendy. ed. 2002. THE BEST PART OF ME: CHILDREN TALK ABOUT THEIR BODIES IN PICTURES AND WORDS. Hong Kong: Little, Brown. ISBN 0316703060

Review

Fifteen children write poems and paragraphs to describe their favorite part of their body.  Each written piece is accompanied by a photograph by Ewald.  The photographs are black and white, adding to the seriousness and realness of the soul behind the pictures and the words.  The tone is sincere, celebratory, and thankful.  Instead of dwelling on characteristics that are undesirable, this book focuses on the positive traits.

The initial topic is concrete as children focus on parts of their body.  But as students write and reflect on their feelings, the words become abstract.  MY HANDS written by Colette Cosner, reveals that her hands make her happy because they are the tool to turn the page of a book.  Most of the poems do not rhyme but are real and raw from the mouths babes.  Tim Mckoy does use rhyme, “Chest, chest, you’re the best/I like to rest on you, oh yes.”  Andrew Legge also uses rhyme at the end of his lines in his poem, MY WONDERFUL LEGS.  He rhymes “way” with “play” and “strong” with “long.”  In MY NECK! By Lidia Johnson, she repeats the line, “I love my neck.” Mari Garcia uses figurative language when she compares her elbow to a circle in her poem, MY ELBOW.    

For this sensitive subject, the positivity combined with the work being from children, gives readers and teachers a valuable resource for teaching multiple life lessons. 

Poetry in Action:

Introducing the Poem:  Have a large piece of paper on the board with the outline of a human body.  Give students post-its.  On the post-its, have students write their name and their favorite part of their body.  Have students place it on or near the area on the big paper at the front.  Read the poem by D. Elliot.

Follow up Activity:  If a Polaroid camera is available, take pictures of the students and the part of the body they like.  On construction paper, have students write why they like that body part.  Attach the paper to the pictures and hang somewhere for all to see.  If a camera is not available, have a large paper with the outline of a body like the one from the pre-reading activity.  Give students cut out paper for them to write their paragraph on and then attach them to the large body and hang. 

By D. Elliot

My eyes are brown and black.

Big and round.

I see lots of colors around.

I see me I see you.

I like my eyes I should not be

surprised. I see your eyes I see my eyes.

I know my eyes can see within me.

Without eyes you couldn’t see not one

tree you could see.

Not one eye you couldn’t buy.

The eye is good the eye is mad when

you are mad it can seem very

sad.

DIRTY LAUNDRY PILE selected by Paul B. Janeczko

Janeczko, Paul B. ed. (2001). DIRTY LAUNDRY PILE: POEMS IN DIFFERENT VOICES. Ill. by Melissa Sweet. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0688162517

Review

It’s personification to the extreme!  For this book, Janeczko selects poems written in voices of objects and creatures like washing machines, gloves, cats, and cows.  It’s not common to read about a vacuum cleaner taking revenge on everything found on the floor!  Playful illustrations compliment the out-of-the-ordinary poetry and create a tone and mood that’s carefree, fun, and light-hearted.  Common rhyme is used at the end of the sentences.  For example, in the first poem SHELL by Deborah Chandra, sentences end with “ear/where/hear.”  WINTER WIND by Judith Pacht rhymes words such as “bore/floor/door” and “play/way/stay/away.”  Author Marilyn Singer uses rhyme, repetition, adding on, assonance, and sense imagery in her poem, TURTLE IN JULY.  She uses vocabulary that makes the reader feel the hot July like “thick/sticky/icky” and the relief in a “cool pool.”  PLEA OF THE OLD HORSE ON LOOKING THROUGH THE KTICHEN WINDOW by Patricia Hubbell uses the same techniques.  She uses sense words such as “winter/warm/cold/dampness/shivering/blanket.”  The reader can really feel what the horse is going through.

The authors use different forms for the poetry.  THE MOSQUITO’S SONG by Peggy B. Leavitt is concrete as it is shaped like a mosquito.  THE VACUUM CLEANER’S REVENGE by Patricia Hubbell is written in couplets along with SCARECROW’S DREAM by Nina Nyhart.  The varied forms, characters, and approaches will hardly be noticed by readers as they delve into the charming stories of different voices!

 

Poetry in Action:

Introducing the Poem:  Ask students if they’ve ever seen a movie or television show with one of the characters being something that isn’t alive in real life.  Examples could be Spongebob or Handy Manny’s tools.  Then, explain personification.

During the reading Activity:  This book would work really well with the brown bag activity where the teacher has items in a brown bag to pull out at particular times.  These items correspond to the poems.  The teacher could have a pair of gloves, box of crayons, kite, scarecrow, small broom, and a real conch shell for students to pass around. Beside the door where students walk in the librarian or teacher could have the large items on display with big bug eyes attached for visual curiosity like a vacuum or one of the large animals in paper like the bear, cow, or whale. 

After Reading Activity:  For young students, provide large diamond shaped paper and colorful streamers and yarn for the string and help students construct a kite.  On the kite, have them write words that are associated with flying a kite like air, clouds, sky, trees, wind, string, summertime, fields, and so on.

Another activity could be to guide students through writing their own poem using personification.  Students could use paper to cut and create the character and then write their poem on the “thing” to be hung in the hallway or in library.

I’M UP HERE

By Karla Kuskin

I’m up here.

You’re down there.

And nothing in that space between us

But a mile of air.

Where I sail:

Clouds pass.

Where you run:

Green grass.

Where I float:

Birds sing.

One thin thing there is

That holds us close together:

Kite string.

EVERY THING ON IT by Shel Silverstein

Silverstein, Shel. 2011. EVERY THING ON IT. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061998164

Review

B

eloved author, Shel Silverstein left behind over 1,500 poems never published when he passed away in 1999.  According to NPR Books, members of his family met together to determine the best 145 to include in this new project.  The artwork is also Silverstein’s; a necessary part of keeping the work authentic to the author. 

The poetry in EVERY THING ON IT has an amusing and light-hearted mood and tone.  The poems are silly and perfect for readers of all ages. The tales are exaggerated and oftentimes funny.  For example, MER-MAID is about someone finding a mermaid who now lives in his/her sink.  GOING UP, GOING DOWN is about an alligator that eats everyone on the elevator. 

The vocabulary is for young readers but includes words that will be a stretch for beginning readers.  “Realize,” “leapt,” and “licorice” are a few examples of the more difficult words used throughout.  Rhyme is not in all poems but is exhibited in most.    Rhyme and assonance are often used together.  NEALS DEALS begins, “Neal’s deals, Neal’s deals/if you want a deal, come and see Neal/some of Neal’s deals are really steals/ and all of Neal’s deals are really unreal" and the poem continues as such.  Most of the poems are written altogether, with no white space between stanzas.  THE ROMANCE and THE CLOCKMAN are different, they are written in quatrains. 

All of the poems included can say they are written for sound.  The rhyme, rhythm, alliteration (found in RUDE RUDY REESE), and repetition (found in GROWING DOWN) make it difficult to not want to sing it or even dance and flail your arms!

Suggested use in dyslexic, remedial reading, or ESL classes:

Introducing the Poem:  Have a long, paper or cloth snake with the alphabet on the snake.  Have it hanging around the area where you will be reading.  Read the poem, OUCH! Discuss with students if they sometimes feel like they’ve been bit because reading can be so hard. 

Follow up Activity:  Read a couple of additional poems for fun, like maybe B.L…. WHAT? or FRIGHTENED.  Then, have students choose a poem from the book that they enjoy.  With materials like pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls, paper, boxes, cones, or whatever you have, have the students create something to represent their favorite poem – just like the snake does for OUCH!

OUCH!

If you’re learnin’ to read

But you haven’t learned yet,

And the B’s and the D’s

Are just givin’ you fits,

And you feel about twenty-six

Pains where you sit,

It’s that ol’ Letter Snake –

You’ve been alpha-bit.