Bibliographic Data: Mora, Pat. Dizzy in Your Eyes. 2010. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN 9780375843754
Plot Summary:
Dizzy in Your Eyes – Poems About Love is written by Pat Mora in the voice of a hispanic teenager. She takes the reader on a journey through the different facets of love; heartbreak, embarrassment, butterflies, family disputes, and the Catholic faith.
Critical Analysis:
This compilation of poems by Mora is dynamic and moving. Through the use of different poetry types ( pantoum, free-verse, haiku, anaphora, list-making, and so on) at the suggestion of her editor, she is able to show the reader that form, restrictions, “counting syllables, and stresses” make up new and exciting challenges in writing.
The sound of the poems is light, the emotional impact subtle, and the rhythm ever changing, not unlike the emotions found in the teenagers she is attempting to emulate. Mora’s use of figurative language is compelling and found in most of the poems, and it is used in a manner that elevates the poems and the reader’s connection to them.
The poems definitely speak to a younger crowd, as she had intended, and therefore, although adults can identify with the experiences, they may not be entirely captivated by the subject matter. The command Mora has of seamlessly sewing in Spanish and English side by side into a few of the sonnets and free-verse poems is a treat, and regardless of if the reader speaks Spanish, they will definitely be able to understand the meaning behind the foreign words. There are a few poems that seem to get off to a slow start, but that have very powerful and beautiful endings. “Back Then”, a poem about a young boy riding his bike past his significant other’s house never really had momentum that made me believe in it, but the last two lines, “knowing tomorrow at school, she’d smile/at me, and I’d feel like I’d swallowed/a slice of the sun” hit me hard as the combination of those words and phrases were so delicately and expertly placed together that I could not help but feel the weight of them.
The poems cover a myriad of sentiments, emotions and situations, and are ordered masterfully. The illustrations, which are truly more of a simple, repetitious pattern changing every poem nearly, seem like an afterthought to help break up the white space on the pages. As this book is suppose to be in the voice of teenagers, perhaps different doodles/designs, as if in margins, or even a notebook paper vibe would have given the book a more authentic feel. The table of contents is welcomed, as are the clearly marked page numbers, as I was easily able to flip back and forth to find specific poems.
Connections: I would use this grouping of poems as a basis for the young adults reading it to think more deeply about the quirks or traditions within their own family. They could use whatever topics they generate as prompts for their journals, and tell stories of their families special attributes.
Review:
Booklist--From family and school to dating and being dumped, the subjects in these 50 poems cover teens’ experiences of love in many voices and situations. Several entries incorporate Spanish words and idioms, as in “Ode to Teachers,” a moving tribute in English with a Spanish translation. A few poems hit a too-sweet tone with forced rhyme, but the best are wry, passionate, casual, and honest (“It’s nice having a sister especially when boys come over, / and some of them like you better”). One of the best is “Silence,” in which a girl speaks about waiting and waiting for her childhood friend to invite her to the prom. Mora writes in free verse, as well as a wide variety of classic poetic forms—including haiku, clerihew, sonnet, cinquain, and blank verse—and for each form, there is an unobtrusive explanatory note on the facing page. The tight structures intensify the strong feelings in the poems, which teens will enjoy reading on their own or hearing aloud in the classroom. Grades 7-10. --Hazel Rochman --
Plot Summary:
Dizzy in Your Eyes – Poems About Love is written by Pat Mora in the voice of a hispanic teenager. She takes the reader on a journey through the different facets of love; heartbreak, embarrassment, butterflies, family disputes, and the Catholic faith.
Critical Analysis:
This compilation of poems by Mora is dynamic and moving. Through the use of different poetry types ( pantoum, free-verse, haiku, anaphora, list-making, and so on) at the suggestion of her editor, she is able to show the reader that form, restrictions, “counting syllables, and stresses” make up new and exciting challenges in writing.
The sound of the poems is light, the emotional impact subtle, and the rhythm ever changing, not unlike the emotions found in the teenagers she is attempting to emulate. Mora’s use of figurative language is compelling and found in most of the poems, and it is used in a manner that elevates the poems and the reader’s connection to them.
The poems definitely speak to a younger crowd, as she had intended, and therefore, although adults can identify with the experiences, they may not be entirely captivated by the subject matter. The command Mora has of seamlessly sewing in Spanish and English side by side into a few of the sonnets and free-verse poems is a treat, and regardless of if the reader speaks Spanish, they will definitely be able to understand the meaning behind the foreign words. There are a few poems that seem to get off to a slow start, but that have very powerful and beautiful endings. “Back Then”, a poem about a young boy riding his bike past his significant other’s house never really had momentum that made me believe in it, but the last two lines, “knowing tomorrow at school, she’d smile/at me, and I’d feel like I’d swallowed/a slice of the sun” hit me hard as the combination of those words and phrases were so delicately and expertly placed together that I could not help but feel the weight of them.
The poems cover a myriad of sentiments, emotions and situations, and are ordered masterfully. The illustrations, which are truly more of a simple, repetitious pattern changing every poem nearly, seem like an afterthought to help break up the white space on the pages. As this book is suppose to be in the voice of teenagers, perhaps different doodles/designs, as if in margins, or even a notebook paper vibe would have given the book a more authentic feel. The table of contents is welcomed, as are the clearly marked page numbers, as I was easily able to flip back and forth to find specific poems.
Connections: I would use this grouping of poems as a basis for the young adults reading it to think more deeply about the quirks or traditions within their own family. They could use whatever topics they generate as prompts for their journals, and tell stories of their families special attributes.
Review:
Booklist--From family and school to dating and being dumped, the subjects in these 50 poems cover teens’ experiences of love in many voices and situations. Several entries incorporate Spanish words and idioms, as in “Ode to Teachers,” a moving tribute in English with a Spanish translation. A few poems hit a too-sweet tone with forced rhyme, but the best are wry, passionate, casual, and honest (“It’s nice having a sister especially when boys come over, / and some of them like you better”). One of the best is “Silence,” in which a girl speaks about waiting and waiting for her childhood friend to invite her to the prom. Mora writes in free verse, as well as a wide variety of classic poetic forms—including haiku, clerihew, sonnet, cinquain, and blank verse—and for each form, there is an unobtrusive explanatory note on the facing page. The tight structures intensify the strong feelings in the poems, which teens will enjoy reading on their own or hearing aloud in the classroom. Grades 7-10. --Hazel Rochman --