Book Review Wednesday (on Thursday, oops!)

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Sidman, Joyce and Zagarenski, Pamela. This Is Just To Say. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2007.

Perhaps it is fitting that I begin this post with an apology. I’m so sorry that I missed Wednesday. It startled me, then melted away like the first snow. (Responses welcomed in the comments.)

In the first section of Joyce Sidman’s poetry collection, This Is Just To Say, fictitious sixth grade students and their teacher are inspired to write poetic apologies after reading William Carlos William’s (often anthologized) “This Is Just To Say.” In the second half of the book, those they have injured answer with poetic responses.

The whimsical collage illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski fit the collection perfectly. The student introduction tells us that a student and the art teacher created the images and Zagarenski’s minimalist drawing approach makes this believable. I especially applaud her use of school related papers in the images. Houghton Mifflin editors chose the same illustrator for Sidman’s, Red Sings From Treetops, for her wonderful ability to create fantastical settings.

The subject matter of these poems is enough to evoke emotion in the reader: a dying dog, a hurt sibling, an absent father, a missing class pet. However, some of the apologies are lighter: a stolen jelly donut or brownie, a hard hit in dodge ball, a loved school statue.

I suppose I am a little bit of a poetry traditionalist but I thought that the poems that employed more formal devices were the most effective. “The Black Spot” uses an imbedded dot of pencil lead as a metaphor for the simmering anger between siblings. “Dodge Ball Kings” a poem in two voices that captures the excitement and energy of the boys with onomatopoeias. “Haiku for Carmen” which follows the traditional 5-7-5 syllable form. “What Girls Want” in which the student poet uses a series of metaphors and parallel phrasing that builds to a final contradictory line that really packs the emotional punch of the poem.

When the poems are less formal in their organization the collection lags. Many of the poems are prose poems and I felt that the line breaks were somewhat arbitrary. Many of them could have used more condensed language and the line breaks could have been better chosen to create more impact. If you read some of these poems aloud the listener might think you were just reading a paragraph.

That said, I highly recommend this book for any middle grade reader. By immersing the reader in the characters that people Mrs. Merz sixth grade class, Ms. Sidman makes each of these situations relevant and readable to a child audience. If children visit her website, they can hear Ms. Sidman reading her poems.

The book, published in 2007, has won many awards including:

Claudia Lewis Poetry Award

Cybils Poetry Award

Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book

IRA Teacher’s Choice Book

Texas Bluebonnet Award Nomination

New York Public Library’s "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing"

School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

Book Links Lasting Connection Book

If you are looking in your library for This Is Just To Say, it is probably housed in the juvenille poetry section where some of the most wonderful and overlooked books are just waiting to be rediscovered.

Congratulations to Melissa Sweet!

Melissa Sweet, fellow Maine illustrator and amazing collage artist, recently received the Caldecott Honor for Jen Bryant’s,A River Of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams. The Caldecott Award "is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children." You might wonder then, why Hugo Cabret won last year. If you look deeper you find out that the award is about the perfect marriage of words and text. This marriage means that the illustrations are not redundant, they expand and grow the story making it full and satisfying. Melissa takes this marriage one step further and incorporates the text of WCW’s poetry in her images.

It is not easy to incorporate letters and images. Each letter has a swoop or line of its own as well as its own negative and positive space. Melissa’s illustrations allow the reader to step into William Carlos William’s shoes and experience the joy of creating poetry. Spending time with each collage, the viewer discovers the poems anew, finding words, like treasures, within the illustrations.

In her illustrator’s note, Melissa says that she had a lot of false starts before she stumbled on the idea of using old books as a centerpiece of the collages. The use of the book covers is genius. The viewer wonders was William Carlos Williams, a doctor by education and a poet at heart, trapped by his medical studies or released from his daily doctoring duties by the poetry the books contain?

The use of color in the images is stunning. In a reinvention of the The Figure Five in Gold by Charles Demuth, Melissa adds shocking pink and various other hues of red that take fans back to Carmine, A little more red. My favorite page illustrates the poem I posted yesterday, "This is just to say" Melissa uses the color chord that includes violet, its complement (yellow) and the two colors on either side of yellow, yellow-green and yellow orange. It is brilliant: the yellow-green and yellow-orange vibrating with the violet plums.

The final page of the book is most stunning. So instead of describe it I’ve scanned it here. (Click to see it bigger.)

Melissa describes this book as a gift to her career but it is the viewer who feels the outpouring of love on every page.

A Poem

My college friend Lori Sabian tagged me in Facebook with the charge to post a favorite poem. There are so many to choose from but here is one from William Carlos Williams.

This is just to say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
the were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

More about William Carlos Williams and how he connects to Maine illustrator Melissa Sweet coming soon…

The Manuscript-a poem

The Manuscript
By Anna J. Boll

Two copies of my WIP
bounce and zip
through Manhattan island
postal machines
"Priority"
to my agent
and
(cross-your-fingers)
editor.

This closure
brings lightness.
Removing work.
Cleaning the desk.
Sending it away.
But then you wait.

Waiting is not light
or heavy
but a spasm,
a knot
twisting your gut
whenever you remember
the WIP
is out of your control.

Perhaps some one is reading it,
or it is in the to- be- read pile,
or it is in a tote bag
hauled back and forth
on the subway
(are the clean pages now crumpled and coffee stained?),
or maybe
(God forbid)
they didn’t want it in the first place.

The good thing about waiting
is that it is not yet,
no.

Five on Friday

1. Looking over my blog posts recently I can report that they are decidedly political. (Go figure) I am not apologetic because politics is a lot of what makes me, me. But, since this blog is mostly about me and my pursuit of the allusive book contract, I’m posting more policy and political stuff on my Obama.com blog page here. So many feel a sense of ownership after this week’s amazing events. Come on over if you’d like to stay apart of the Obama community.

2. Like d_michiko_f I have a husband who is often out and about on business. (I haven’t counted the total days this year Debbie, but I’m sure you’ve got me beat.) To those of you who single parent all the time you know that it is no piece of cake. But I think the difference is that when you are always the single parent you own that constant sense of decision making and responsibility in a way that on again off again single parenting does not allow. Hubby will be home on Sunday. Good thing because I’ve run out of energy. Last night we went out for dinner, this morning we ate breakfast at McDonald’s, and tonight we had macaroni and cheese (and broccoli) Needless to say, I’m ready for my sweetie to come home.

3. The reason we ate at McDonald’s is because my children left their homework papers at school. This has been a regular issue for my organizationally challenged (OC) child so last night I barked, "We will wake up and go to school at 7 to get those papers and you will complete your work!" Well at 7:30 we did indeed make it school. "Mom," says my OC child, "it’s not going to be open." "Why didn’t you say that to me last night," I asked, "or this morning when we got in the car." "Because I didn’t think you’d really make us do it," he said. I got a chuckle out of that one. Once in, we got the papers and staked out the McDonald’s fun room as a quiet study hall away from the old guy coffee club. (free refills) They finished everything.

4. I finished my freelance newsletter and a press release in the midst of election euphoria. So glad! Today, I worked on getting out the rest of the workshop contracts. Now onto the folks who are doing any sort of crits. Hopefully I can take a few days to just do novel work and not worry about freelance stuff. I’ve noticed that my internet cruising has decreased sharply since the election was decided.

5. Today is poetry Friday. Here is a fall acrostic from my son. E.C. Boll (his own spelling)
Leaves chanje color
Evereone is playing
Apples are ripe
Varee quiet
Everething is still
Sharing
It reminds me a little of cfaughnan ‘s thoughts today.

A Poetry Friday Post on Sunday

I’m a little behind on my postings. I wanted to tell you all about my visit to Newport, RI last weekend and the amazing group of volunteers at the workshop committee meeting, how thoughtful and considerate everyone was. This is not that post. This post really should be on Friday (as in Poetry Friday) but I’m posting it now because I have time.

A scene from my home on Thursday last:

E: Mommy. I was on the bus and I made a poem.
Me: Do you remember it? I’d love to hear it.
E: Uh-huh. Red, blue, yellow, green, my favorite colors, especially green.
E: But green isn’t my favorite color.
Me: Right, I thought it was purple, has that changed?
E: No.
Me: What do you want your reader to feel when they read or hear that poem.
E: I don’t know.
Me: I think you have a really good first draft. Sometimes, that’s the hardest part, getting past the white paper and writing down an idea. Remember when I came into your class we talked about creating a picture for the audience with words.
E: We used your toolbox.
Me: Right, metaphors and similes. But how do those colors make you feel. Close your eyes. What do you feel or see when I say red?
E: Hot.
Me: What about blue?
E: (Closing eyes) Blue is like a cool breeze at the ocean.
Me: E. that’s beautiful, and it’s a simile. You’re using the tool box.
E: (excited) I’m going to do it again, I’ll be back.

The new poem…by E.C. Boll, reprinted with permission.

blue like a cool breeze at the ocean
red on a hot summer day
yellow like a sandy park
green like morning dew
purple like the sky at sunset
the best of all

Stuck in the middle

I haven’t disappeared. I’m here, but working. Writing each morning from 5:30 am until 7:30 then getting my kids out the door. But right now I’m stuck and I figure that if I just keep my fingers moving an idea might come. I’m in the middle of my novel. Page 55. That middle point just before the climax where I need to start ramping up the action but I’m not exactly sure what the climax is so I’m typing, but not really liking the results.

This week I’ve been leading a poetry workshop for a first grade classroom. I love being with them, their excitement is infectious. This class is my son’s class and his teacher is fabulous. She spends the entire month of April celebrating Poetry Month. I am the finale to their month of reading and writing. This week we’ve looked at their own class-written poetry noticing figurative language that they are already using to “paint pictures in the reader’s head.” We are focusing on metaphor and alliteration and the writing process. I explained how I am constantly revising my work. I showed them drafts and notes and drawings in my sketch book that informed my poetry. When I got the kids settled at their desks for some writing time, Mrs. K leaned over to me and said, “First graders don’t really like to change things.” I had to laugh. As a substitute teacher I know that first graders are the most inflexible of creatures. They always correct you explaining that, “That’s not the way we do it, Mrs. Boll.” So getting them to revise has been difficult.

The other thing is that they have been working all year on writing complete sentences. Their poetry tends to be a couple of really nice sentences without the rhythm or song of poetry. They can find rhyme and alliteration and metaphor in poetry that is already written. Now they need to be able to transfer that knowledge into their own writing. Anyone who writes poetry knows that is no easy task. Now they have two rough drafts. One done on a rainy day and one done on a sunny day. I’m hoping that they can take their ideas and build it into a piece they feel proud of.

Tomorrow is poetry Friday. I’ll post the sonnet I made for the Prairie Home Companion contest. Happy writing and re-vising.

A Poetry Class Plug, The Conference, and Friends

A Plug:
On May 3rd I will be teaching an all day workshop on Writing Poetry for Children through the University of Southern Maine’s Continuing education program. Check out more information about the class here. If you have any questions for me about the class I’m happy to answer them through comments. I hope to see some of you Mainers who I met at the conference!

The Conference:
Conferences are a celebration of the essence that community. This weekend, our New England SCBWI community celebrated in a big way. Five hundred fifty people on Saturday and almost 300 on Sunday, came together to learn and “Stretch their wings.” As a conference coordinator I am flying high.

When Saturday came I was braced to put out fires all day long. What would go wrong and would I be able to handle it? I worried. It turns out that I shouldn’t have worried. As Sally Reilly reminded me, all the work that you did in the 10 months leading up to the conference pays off. She was right. So many wonderful attendees stopped to tell me how much they enjoyed the conference. From workshops, to friendships, to speakers people have been so positive. It is great to read everyone’s blog this morning and hear how much fun and learning went on.

The conference is a group effort and I give huge kudos to Francine Puckly, and Janet Arden, my co-directors. The speakers, Kevin Hawkes and Laurie Halse Anderson were lovely. Down to earth and well prepared. The workshop presenters gave it their all and the volunteers kept the whole thing running behind the scene. The staff at the hotel, were fabulous as always.

I’m especially proud of the Illustrator Academy and the poster showcase. These events brought the talents and craft of illustrators, and the illustrators themselves, out of the studio and into the light.

Thanks goes to Dick Blick Art Supplies and Picture Book portfolio directory for the amazing prizes. Also, thank you to

laurajacquesart

Laura Jacques for organizing the showcase. You will be seeing her art on the 2009 conference materials!

Brian Lies, Susan Sherman, Lita Judge and Victoria Jameison were the amazing faculty for the Illustrator Academy. I learned so much from their critiques and presentations. Mostly, I learned that as Edison said, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Drawing after drawing, after sketch, after color study, after research for reference all combine to make great illustration. Revision is not an option it is a necessity just as in writing. No one gets it right the first time. Those who I most admire, authors and illustrators, dig in deep and accept the challenge of hard work. Everyday.

In personal conference news. My critique editor requested the full manuscript of my novel. I feel that I should whisper that instead of shouting it from the cyber-rooftop. Do not mistake this announcement as a solicitation of congratulations. Instead it is the of the acknowledgment of the challenge ahead. A happy challenge and an important step on my journey but I’ll need your support. This is the novel I started during JoNoWriMo.
Thanks Jo!

jbknowles

Friends:
Speaking of support, thank you for your kind words on the passing of my dog Sam. I notice today the lack of noise in the house. No click, click of doggy nails on the wood floor, or jingling of collar as he scratches beneath his chin. I miss him and these flashes of memory will certainly stop me in my tracks from time to time. I gave myself permission not to write yesterday and to feel the grief fully. Don’t think me callus, but I’m also noticing the lack of black fur in my house and the extra time I have to enjoy the morning. Today, I am writing and working and moving forward.

Write On!

Sonnet Worksheet

I’m trying to upload this sonnet worksheet I made for anyone who wants to give it a go. This might make the iambic pentameter a little easier to deal with. You should be able to click on it and get a bigger version but not exactly full letter size. You can get the idea and then copy it on your own or put your email in the comments and I’ll email you a PDF of it.

Sonnet Contest

Garrison Keillor is having a sonnet contest. The winner gets a sleep number bed and a dozen roses. “A bed of roses…” if you will. A sonnet is a 14 line poem where each line is in iambic pentameter and it often (not always) uses the rhyme scheme: a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. I’m not going to go much further on this for fear of stepping on the toes or our resident poetry form expert

kellyrfineman

I’m sure she has posts that you can find that give lovely examples of sonnets and the exceptions to the rule. In fact, if you are interested in the ways you can stretch your poetic wings, don’t miss her two part workshop on Saturday the 12th at the NESCBWI conference. Until then, try your hand at the sonnet and enter before you go to Nashua!

Speaking of Nashua. We are at seven days and a wake-up. Spring must be here.