SIDMAN POETRY

RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS: A YEAR IN COLORS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sidman, Joyce. 2009. Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors. Ills. By Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN 0547014947.

SUMMARY

In this poetry book, Joyce Sidman chronicles the changing seasons through descriptions of the way different colors appear in each season.  Beginning with spring, Sidman uses personification to describe the colors of the season, continuing this pattern for summer, autumn, and winter.  As winter comes to an end, the red cardinal reappears just as on the first page, emphasizing the circular cycle of the seasons.

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

This book is laid out to follow each season, therefore broken up into 4 parts: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.  Each section then includes descriptions of the colors of that particular season.  The pages are dedicated to a particular color of that season, making the flow of the narrative easy to follow.

Pamela Zagarenski’s brilliant colors and whimsical illustrations complement Sidman’s poetic language.  Zagarenski skillfully blends colors visually recreate Sidman’s descriptions. A drawing of a girl appears throughout the book, driving the narrative forward as the seasons change, and a red cardinal that appears on every page serves as a reminder of the cyclical nature of life.

Poetic Elements

Joyce Sidman uses free-verse poetry to bring the beautiful colors of the seasons to life. Through unrhymed verse, she is able to direct the reader’s focus to the imagery that describes each season.

Sidman employs various sound techniques like alliteration and onomatopoeia throughout this collection of poems that celebrate the colors of the seasons.  When describing blue, for instance, she says that the sun brings about a “sudden[],/sparkling spring sky!” By using the alliterative s sound, Sidman accentuates the sprightly color of blue.  In her description of white, Sidman says that the color “sounds like storms:/snapped twigs and bouncing hail,/blink of lightning/and rattling BOOM!”  By using various onomatopoeic sounds, readers are able to synesthetically experience the color white.

To accentuate the colors of the season, Sidman uses figurative language like personification and similes to further create imagery for readers.  When describing the yellow of Spring, for instance, she writes that “Yellow and Purple hold hands” as “They beam at each other with bright velvet faces.” By personifying these two colors, the reader is able to imagine how they blend seamlessly and how they coordinate together so well.

Appeal

Readers of all ages will fall in love with Sidman’s beautiful poetic craft as she describes the way colors change and interact in each season.  The musicality of her word choice and vivid descriptions will resonate with readers, who will feel fully immersed in the speaker’s experience.  The language used in this poetry collection is accessible enough for young readers while still through-provoking, encouraging readers to use language in new ways.  After reading this collection, readers will see the world in new, fascinating ways.

Overall Quality

Each poem in this collection is clearly representative of Sidman’s literary quality.  Through her effortless yet skillful use of language, Sidman evokes not only sensory images but, more importantly, emotional connections.  While describing something ordinary like colors and seasons, the unfolding of the narrative is complex, demonstrating how each season and color is interwoven.  Sidman’s choice of free verse in these poems provides a natural flow that instead lets readers enjoy colors and seasons in every sense possible.

SPOTLIGHT POEM AND ACTIVITIES

Excerpt from “Green” by Joyce Sidman

Green is new

in spring. Shy.

Green peeks from buds,

trembles in the breeze.

Green floats through rain-dark trees,

and glows, mossy-soft, at my feet.

Green drips from tips of leaves

     onto Pup’ nose.

In spring,

even the rain tastes Green.

This poem is exemplary of Sidman’s best poetic skill. Here, she uses personification, imagery, metaphor, assonance, and synesthesia, all of which help create a beautiful picture of the titular color. This poem would serve as an excellent introduction to a unit on colors or even figurative language.

I would introduce this poem by having students think about a description of a color using senses other than sight.  In groups, students would randomly pick a color and create a list of ways to describe that color using the sense of smell, touch, taste, and sound. Students would then share their lists with the class. Afterwards, I would tell students that the poem “Green” by Joyce Sidman uses a variety of senses to describe the color green.

During my oral reading of the poem, I would stop to ask students what sense each image appeals to. I would then invite students to read the poem again with me, this time having them join in by reading the word “Green” each time it appears.

As an extension, I would have students model their own color poems after Sidman’s. I would also have students draw their own illustrations to accompany their poems and post these on a wall for a gallery walk.

PERFORMANCE POETRY

THE FRIENDLY FOUR

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Greenfield, Eloise. 2006. The Friendly Four. Ill. By Jan Spicey Gilchrist. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780060007607.

SUMMARY
In this book, Greenfield introduces readers to 4 characters—Drummond, Dorene, Louis, and Rae—who develop a lifelong friendship one summer.  Written in the point of view of the characters, these poems gradually include multiple voices as characters meet each other, play together, exchange stories, create an imaginary town, and become the “friendly four.”  As summer comes to an end, these 4 children must say goodbye, but only until the following summer.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Poet
Eloise Greenfield is a prolific children’s book writer, having written over 30 books, namely poetry books. Her poetry focuses on the African-American experience. Greenfield has received numerous awards for her works, such as the Carter G. Woodson Book Award and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.

Layout
The Friendly Four is broken up into 6 parts: Drummond; Drum and Dorene; Drum, Dorene, and Louis; Drum, Dorene, Louis, and Rae; In the Town of Goodsummer; and Goodbyes.  A “Contents” page at the beginning of the book lists these 6 parts as well as the individual poems that make up each part, making it easy for readers to follow.

The first part follows a young boy named Drummond, or Drum, and consists of 4 poems as he expresses his boredom due to not having anyone to play with. In part 2, he meets Dorene, a new neighbor, and the two quickly become friends. In part 3, they meet Louis, a new neighbor, and in part 4 they finish up their “friendly four” group with Rae, Dorene’s cousin.  The poems all follow a from reminiscent of dialogue lines one would find in a play. As characters come into the storyline, the dialogue between them alternates, turning the poems into performance poems meant to be read by different voices.

Gilchrist’s illustrations depict young children and capture their emotions through facial expressions and body movements, allowing readers to follow the storyline and understand the characters’ feelings and changes. Gilchrist’s illustrations also help readers determine how to perform their lines in each poem.

Poetic Elements
Greenfield’s poems in this collection primarily focus on concrete meaning, allowing readers to fully engage with the characters and the storyline.  Readers will feel for Drum, for instance, when they learn that he feels lonely and left out since all his family’s attention is focused on his baby brother, and they will sympathize with Louis as he feels uncertain in his new foster home after having been in others where his foster parents were not emotionally invested in him.

As a collection of performance poetry, most of these poems do not follow formal poetic form. Instead, their free verse nature allows them to be read as spoken word that focuses on the characters’ experiences. 

Greenfield uses an array of poetic sound techniques such as rhyme and onomatopoeia.  In “Who I Am,” she uses an abcbdefgghi rhyme scheme which, although not consistent, still resonates in readers’ ears.  In “The Race,” spoken by Drum and Dorene, the two talk about racing each other, ultimately “Huffing, puffing!” as Drum wins the race.  These onomatopoeic sounds bring the poem to a climactic end.

Greenfield also uses vivid imagery to appeal to readers’ senses and bring the characters and their experiences to life. In “Play ground,” for instance, readers are able to visualize the 4 friends as they are “running,…/sliding,/swinging” in the playground, “Water drip[ping] from [their faces,/[Their] backs…wet” as they play at a playground.  These sensory images let readers connect to the characters and the act of playing in a playground.  Similarly, in “Here Comes the Truck,” readers can see and feel the “sheets of cardboard,/cans of paint, and brushes,…/sticky tape,/and colored paper,/and markers” and a myriad of other art supplies that the four youngsters will use to create their Goodsummer cardboard playtown.

Appeal
The performance poetry structure of the poems in this collection entices readers to read them aloud, as Greenfield intended. Slightly older children will find this collection especially appealing for this reason.  Having different voices in each poem in different-colored text makes it easy for readers to follow along and read aloud.  Readers will also be inspired to use gestures and body movements to portray the characters as well.

Since this collection focuses on young children’s experiences, young readers will certainly relate to these poems.  They will see themselves in Drum as he dreads having to spend a boring summer alone but will then rejoice when they discover that he makes new friends. Readers will also connect to the experience of making new friends and spending a glorious summer with them.

Overall Quality
Undoubtedly, Greenfield exhibits a consistent quality throughout this collection.  Each poem is carefully crafted to spotlight her expertise in poetic technique.  Greenfield, as a skilled poet, discretely incorporates poetic elements so that these enhance but not overshadow the characters and storyline of the collection.  Readers will appreciate her poetic style while still maintaining their focus on the performance poetry aspect of the poems.

SPOTLIGHT POEM AND ACTIVITIES
“Playground” by Eloise Greenfield
All:         We’re running,

Dorene:  we’re sliding,

Louis:     swinging,

Rae:       sweating.

All:         Water drips from our faces.

Drum:     Our backs are wet.

Louis:     Get out the bottles of water.

All:         Find some shade.

Rae:       Sit.

Dorene:  Drink.

Louis:     Flop.

Drum:     Rest.

All:        Ahhhhh.

This poem, which incorporates all 4 voices, is a great introduction to performance poetry and multi-voice poems. Its simplicity makes it easy for readers to understand the form and to read aloud, yet Greenfield uses sophisticated imagery, alliteration, and onomatopoeia that are rich examples of effective poetic elements for readers to understand and enjoy.

A great way to introduce this poem is to ask students to brainstorm one-word ideas of things they associate with a playground. After writing some ideas on the board, I would ask for 2 volunteers to choose one word each to read aloud together. Then, I would ask a third volunteer to join in by choosing a different word and then have all three students read their words together. I would then ask the students to try taking turns reading their own word instead of reading them together. Afterwards, I would engage students in a class discussion about the effect of having words read together and read apart, as demonstrated by our volunteers, helping them understand that these two varieties emphasize different “voices” and, therefore, experiences or perspectives.

To read the poem, I would ask for 4 volunteers, each student taking on the role of one of the four characters. I would then have the students read “Playground” aloud, encouraging them to act out their lines.

As a culminating activity, I would turn this into a whole-class performance, having multiple students read the lines of each character. We would then perform the poem together!

HOPKINS AWARD POETRY

BEAST FEAST

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Florian, Douglas. 1994. Beast Feast. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company. ISBN 9780152951788

SUMMARY
In this collection, Florian dedicates each of his 21 poems to a different animal, or beast.  From fireflies to lobsters, poems detail different animal characteristics, often from the animal’s point of view.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Poet
Douglas Florian is a distinguished children’s writer and illustrator.  One of his best-known works, Beast Feast, won the Lee Bennet Hopkins Poetry Award. His poetry tends to focus on the natural world in a humorous way.

Layout

The poems in Beast Feast are thematically linked in that they all discuss animals.  The collection includes a “Contents” page at the beginning that lists the poems’ titles and indicates the page number that each poem appears on.  Each poem appears in a two-page spread so as to include Florian’s illustrations as well.  Because most of the poems are short, there is plenty of white space around the poem, allowing readers to truly focus on the poem’s meaning and to enjoy the accompanying illustrations.

Florian’s unique illustration characteristics shine in this collection.  Most illustrations are close-up portraits of the animals showcased in the poems. Florian uses a wide range of color schematics to complement the particular animal in each illustration. For “The Barracuda,” for instance, he uses cool blue hues throughout the painting, whereas in “The Lobster” he uses warm red tones.  His illustrations also pick up on Florians’ humorous nature, such as in his illustration of a chameleon with a painter’s palette and brush.

Poetic Elements

The poems in Beast Feast primarily focus on concrete meaning to highlight the characteristics and traits of the animals they are written about.  In “The Toad,” for example, Florian describes a toad’s “squat and plump” shape and food preference of “worms and slugs.”

While the poems in this collection do not ascribe to a strict form or meter, they do have rhythmic patterns and poetic sound elements that children will be able to pick up on and enjoy.  “The Walrus,” for example, is a 4-line poem that follows an abcb rhyme scheme, which produces a sing-song essence.  In “The Camel,” Florian uses alliteration to emphasize the animal’s “haggard, harsh, and hairy” appearance that may appear scary and monstrous to some.  He also makes use of onomatopoeia, such as in “The Kangaroo,” where he describes the way a kangaroo “zooms” as it leaps into the air.

Florian employs many examples of figurative language in his animal poems to produce sensory imagery for readers.  When describing a lobster, for instance, he uses similes to show that this animal is “Like an underwater/Mobster” who has antennae that are “Used for striking/Like a stick.” Through this similes, readers are able to visualize a lobster’s physical appearance as well as defensive disposition.  In “The Chameleon,” Florian appeals to the sense of sight and touch when he writes that a chameleon can have “From mousy browns to leafy greens/And several colors in between” as well as a “long and sticky tongue” that “lashes out at rapid rates.” These vivid descriptions helps readers truly have an understanding of what a chameleon is like. 

The poems’ subject matter as well as Florian’s poetic writing style give these poems an overall humorous tone.  Even when reading about scary bats or icky caterpillars, readers will laugh at their silly peculiarities, finding themselves drawn closer to these animals and appreciating their beauty and fundamental nature.  Readers will surely find these poems and their subjects favorable.

Appeal

Beast Feast is sure to appeal to young readers.  The eye-catching book cover, which features a couple of bats, and the book’s title will get children to become interested in what this collection is about.  The length of the poems as well as Florian’s accessible language are perfect for kids, as the poems are concise enough to get their point across but detailed enough to give them a true sense of what these animals are all about.  Florian’s poetic techniques and illustrations will keep sustain children’s interest throughout.  His humorous tone will make readers young and old laugh out loud. The animals Florian includes in this book will intrigue readers and compel them to continue learning about other less-popular animals, stimulating readers’ imaginations and enriching their knowledge.

Overall Quality

Florian consistently delivers high-quality poems in this collection.  He clearly exhibits his skill as an experiences poet and uses poetic techniques to catch and maintain readers’ attention.  Readers will be able to recognize and appreciate his poetic style and illustrations and, more importantly, will be moved to extend their knowledge about animals.

SPOTLIGHT POEM AND ACTIVITIES
“The Lobster” by Douglas Florian

See the hard-shelled

Leggy lobster

Like an underwater

Mobster

With two claws

To catch and crush

Worms and mollusks

Into mush

And antennae

Long and thick

Used for striking

Like a stick.

So be careful

On vacation

Not to step on

This crustacean.

This poem perfectly captures the heart and spirit of this entire collection in that it focuses on a “beast” and makes it come to life. Florian’s wonderful use of poetic elements such as alliteration, similes, and imagery make this poem a great introduction to the collection or even to a unit on animals or sea creatures.

To introduce this poem, I would bring in a live lobster and have students observe it, asking them to take notes on its physical appearance.  I would then ask students to verbally share their observations about the lobster. I would distribute copies of the poem to students and read the poem aloud to them, including gestures and body movements where appropriate. Then, I would invite students to do a choral reading of the poem and to join me by emulating my gestures and body movements as well.  After reading, I would bring in some non-fiction texts about lobsters to learn more about them.