Bibliographic Data: Sidman, Joyce. 2007. THIS IS JUST TO SAY: POEMS OF APOLOGY AND FORGIVENESS. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 9780618616800
Plot Summary
Mrs. Merz has her class write apology poems to people (or things!) they have wronged, and they enjoyed the assignment so much that they requested a response. This book is a compilation of the two, with beautiful illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski.
Critical Analysis
For this first time in a long time, it has finally happened. I have fallen in love with poetry written and geared toward children. Typically only funny animal poems, or poems written by children who are clearly just learning to speak have captured me, but this book breaks all the molds.
The poems in this book are beautiful in their purity, sincerity, and eagerness for reprieve. The language chosen is thick with intention, and riddled with subtle genius. Like this; “so sweet/and so gloppy”, YES, gloppy IS the perfect word for jelly donuts. Why has no articulated this connection before? The dodge ball poems from Kyle and Reuben to one another utilize different formatting techniques to paint a clear picture. Reuben’s descending sentence structure forces the reader to read his poem as if they are out of breath, and whizzing balls through the air at their opponents. Is he really sorry? No other poem is, however, as gripping as “Lucky Nose”, a poem about a little girl who rubs a statue’s nose for luck, and whose nose is subsequently weathered due to this practice. Even more magnificent is the response, written by the original apologetic poet to herself. “So, come rub my nose again, girl/come warm me up a little”. The fact that this child can write from the point of view of this statue, and do so in a manner that is hauntingly beautiful is bewildering. You feel the longing, loneliness, and kindess in the statue’s poem, and that is something one cannot fake.
Yes I can talk about meter, and hyperbole, and giving inanimate objects a voice, and similes, but this book is not about that. It is about feeling. If you want to smile, tear up, and aw, read this book.
The illustrations, too, are incredible. The use of mixed media, from pastel, collage, painting, pens, crayon, batiking, paint splatter perfectly accompanies the tone, feel, and age of this story. Zagarenski has outdone herself, and even if the poems were duds, the illustrations could captivate the reader to the very end.
Reviews
Kirkus Reviews: “Packed with the intensity of everyday pain and sorrow, kids and adults exchange the words that convey grief, delight, love and acceptance of themselves and others.“
School Library Journal: “Her skill as a poet accessible to young people is unmatched. Zagarenski’s delicately outlined collage drawings and paintings are created on mixed backgrounds–notebook paper, paper bags, newspaper, graph paper, school supplies. This is an important book both for its creativity and for its wisdom.”
Connections
This is absolutely the book to teach children to write poetry. It shows examples of all different methods, and takes the stuffiness out of it. Choose a subject; love, hate, sorrow, secrets, anything at all, and have the children write and model using this book as an example. For extra credit have them illustrate the poems they write.
Spotlight Poem(s)
Plot Summary
Mrs. Merz has her class write apology poems to people (or things!) they have wronged, and they enjoyed the assignment so much that they requested a response. This book is a compilation of the two, with beautiful illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski.
Critical Analysis
For this first time in a long time, it has finally happened. I have fallen in love with poetry written and geared toward children. Typically only funny animal poems, or poems written by children who are clearly just learning to speak have captured me, but this book breaks all the molds.
The poems in this book are beautiful in their purity, sincerity, and eagerness for reprieve. The language chosen is thick with intention, and riddled with subtle genius. Like this; “so sweet/and so gloppy”, YES, gloppy IS the perfect word for jelly donuts. Why has no articulated this connection before? The dodge ball poems from Kyle and Reuben to one another utilize different formatting techniques to paint a clear picture. Reuben’s descending sentence structure forces the reader to read his poem as if they are out of breath, and whizzing balls through the air at their opponents. Is he really sorry? No other poem is, however, as gripping as “Lucky Nose”, a poem about a little girl who rubs a statue’s nose for luck, and whose nose is subsequently weathered due to this practice. Even more magnificent is the response, written by the original apologetic poet to herself. “So, come rub my nose again, girl/come warm me up a little”. The fact that this child can write from the point of view of this statue, and do so in a manner that is hauntingly beautiful is bewildering. You feel the longing, loneliness, and kindess in the statue’s poem, and that is something one cannot fake.
Yes I can talk about meter, and hyperbole, and giving inanimate objects a voice, and similes, but this book is not about that. It is about feeling. If you want to smile, tear up, and aw, read this book.
The illustrations, too, are incredible. The use of mixed media, from pastel, collage, painting, pens, crayon, batiking, paint splatter perfectly accompanies the tone, feel, and age of this story. Zagarenski has outdone herself, and even if the poems were duds, the illustrations could captivate the reader to the very end.
Reviews
Kirkus Reviews: “Packed with the intensity of everyday pain and sorrow, kids and adults exchange the words that convey grief, delight, love and acceptance of themselves and others.“
School Library Journal: “Her skill as a poet accessible to young people is unmatched. Zagarenski’s delicately outlined collage drawings and paintings are created on mixed backgrounds–notebook paper, paper bags, newspaper, graph paper, school supplies. This is an important book both for its creativity and for its wisdom.”
Connections
This is absolutely the book to teach children to write poetry. It shows examples of all different methods, and takes the stuffiness out of it. Choose a subject; love, hate, sorrow, secrets, anything at all, and have the children write and model using this book as an example. For extra credit have them illustrate the poems they write.
Spotlight Poem(s)