SOCIAL STUDIES POETRY

EUREKA! POEMS ABOUT INVENTORS

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sidman, Joyce. 2002. Eureka! Poems About Inventors. Ill. by K. Bennett Chavez. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press.  ISBN 9780761316657.

SUMMARY

As its title states, Eureka! Poems About Inventors is a collection of poems dedicated to inventors throughout history.  Each poem honors a single inventor for his or her invention and contribution to our modern world.  

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Poet

Joyce Sidman is a renowned, award-winning children’s writer. She is the 2006 recipient of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award for Song of the Water Boatman and ALA’s Best Book for Young Adults for The World According to Dog.  She is known to write works related to nature and set in nature, such as Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors. Sidman is also known for writing poems in different voices that she imagines, creates, and tells stories through.

Layout

Eureka! is made up of 16 poems altogether.  A “Contents” page at the beginning of the book not only lists poem titles and page numbers but also sets forth an organizational structure that makes the chronology of the poems clear to readers.  The poems are organized into 4 parts: The Tapestry of the Past, which consists of 4 poems; The Age of Invention, which consists of 5 poems; A Light Interlude, which consists of 1 poem; and Dawn of the Modern Age, which consists of 6 poems. Each part focuses on a different time period, beginning with primitive cultures with no recorded history and ending with modern culture. Each of the 4 parts ends with biographical information about each inventor, which includes what he or she is invented and how he or she came up with the invention.

K. Bennett Chavez’s illustrations accompany the poems, depicting each single inventor as well as the creation.  Drawn with careful details and bold colors, these illustrations nicely complement the poems and help readers envision these important historical figures.

Poetic Elements

Due to the nature of the content, the poems in Eureka! mostly focus on creating concrete meaning.  Since Sidman aims to inform readers about historical figures and their inventions, the poems primarily seek to do just that.  Most of the poems are written in free verse, which is an appropriate form for the purpose Sidman sets out to establish with this collection.  She does, however, incorporate elements such as rhyme, as in “Those Fabulous Frenchmen” where every alternating line rhymes.  Sidman also makes use of other sound elements like alliteration, such as when she writes about how Mary “Caresse” Crosby “fashioned [her] own freedom” in “A Length of Pink Ribbon” and how Barbara McClintock “was drawn deeper and deeper” into her scientific studies in “This Is My Life.”  Another element Sidman uses throughout her collection is similes.  In “The Light—Ah! The Light,” for instance, she describes how Marie Curie “swept aside” obstacles “like a handful of cobwebs,” emphasizing Curie’s persistence and dedication to her discovery of radioactivity. Similarly, in “Cockleburs,” Sidman describes how burrs “grip like mad to the fur/beneath my dear old Fifi’s chin,” helping readers visualize the attachment strength that burrs have and helping tell the story of George de Mestral’s Velcro invention.  Yet another poetic element that Sidman uses in this collection is sensory imagery, which can be seen in virtually every poem.  In “Ode to Spode,” for instance, readers will be able to visualize the “Fine-boned plates” and the “dainty cups” that are “carv’d, fired and painted/with such gentle art” and will be able to hear how the cup “shatters” as well as Josephine Cochrane’s “weep[ing]” at the loss of such delicate china. This exquisite imagery allows Sidman to narrate the history behind Cochrane’s invention of the dishwasher, making Cochrane’s story relatable and allowing readers to sympathize with her reasons for pursuing her invention.  Each poem, whether told through the eyes of the inventor or through third-person narration, carries a light-hearted tone that will resound within readers.

Appeal

Eureka! is perfect for older readers. The subject matter of the book is highly sophisticated, and many of the poems use elevated, academic vocabulary that is not easy to understand for young readers.  The poems are also lengthy, which may not catch young readers’ attention but will surely be of appropriate length for older readers.  The free-verse, narrative style of the poems will present stimulating information to older readers who will enjoy the history just as much as the lyricism behind the poems.  This collection will surely inspire readers to conduct further research into these noted inventors as well as to research other inventors.

Overall Quality

As usual, Sidman consistently employs high poetic quality in this collection.  It is apparent that the subjects are well-researched and Sidman does a fantastic job of bringing these people and their stories to life.  She is able to give these figures voices and characterize them in ways that make them real.  Readers will certainly be inspired by these histories, thanks to Sidman’s careful poetic craftsmanship.

SPOTLIGHT POEM AND ACTIVITIES

“Walt Tells It Like It Is” (Walter Morrison invented the Frisbee in 1957) by Joyce Sidman

It wasn’t a new idea.

People have been tossing lids

around for years.

I just did a little design work.

Aerodynamics.

Before the war, the ex-wife and I

would hit the beach

with a few cake pans and throw ‘em around—

called ‘em Pluto Platters.

We were deadly.

Someone would get between us

& we’d lift their hat off.

One day, a guy from Wham-O comes along,

likes what he sees.

Helps me get a patent.

The rest is history.

Sure, I came up with some other stuff:

a water-filled bowling ball, for one.

Never took off.

But that Frisbee, man!

The dough keeps rolling in.

I’m just sitting back, enjoying it.

When you’re poor, you start thinking of things.

When you don’t need it, you relax.

I’m just like anyone else.

Except I always liked throwing rocks.

“Walt Tells It Like It Is” is a perfect example of the way Sidman capture’s a character’s voice, a technique she often uses in her poems. This poem, written in first-person, narrates Walter Morrison’s story in a non-linear way, evoking a conversational tone that students will enjoy and respond to.

To introduce this poem, I would first tell students to pretend they will be interviewing an inventor about his or her invention. I would ask them to come up with a list of questions they would ask during the interview, and we would share these questions in a whole-class discussion. Before reading the poem, I would tell students that the poem “Walt Tells It Like It Is” tells about Walter Morrison’s Frisbee invention—all told through his point of view. I would tell them to pay attention to the sequence of events as they unfold in the poem and the way in which this sequence affects the story itself. I would then read the poem aloud, asking students to follow along with their own copies of the poem. After reading, I would lead a class discussion about the sequence of events in the story and have students create a chronological timeline of these events to help them get a better sense of the history behind the invention of the Frisbee. Finally, I would display students’ timelines on a wall. As an extension, I would have students research another inventor and write a poem using “Walt Tells It Like It Is” as a model.