FREE VERSE NOVEL REVIEW

Poetry Break 6 (book review free verse novel)

OUT OF THE DUST
By: Karen Hesse


Bibliography

Hesse, Karen. 1997. OUT OF THE DUST. New York: Scholastic, ISBN 0590360809

PLOT SUMMARY

Karen Hesse won the 1998 Newbery Award for OUT OF THE DUST which chronicles the life of a teenager and her family during the dust bowl of the 1930’s. Dust covers everything in this area of Oklahoma and brings one disaster after another. As soon as the dust is cleared, another storm rolls in. Billie Jo must also endure the death of her mother, following a tragic accident when Billie Joe throws hot grease out the door to keep the house from burning. Billie Jo, who loves to play the piano, is also severely burned on her hands and unable to play any longer. The book takes the reader through the long healing process of accepting her mother’s death, the burns that she inflicted, and the healing of her relationship with her dad.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The hardships that this Oklahoma family endures are well developed through numerous brief titled verses from the winter of 1934 through the fall of 1935. This first person account gives a glimpse of family life and hardships are recorded in almost diary form, but rather than daily, it is a monthly glimpse. Some months are given more significance than others in the amount of information shared. In January 1934 Billie Jo plays the piano with such inspiration “On Stage” that

When I point my fingers at the keys,
the music
springs right out of me.

Then following the burns to her hands in May of 1935 “Let Down”

I was invited to graduation,
To play the piano.

I couldn’t play.
It had been too long.
My hands wouldn’t work.
I just sat on the piano bench,
Staring down at the keys.

and then finally in November 1935 “Music”

I am getting to know the music again.
And it is getting to know me.

This novel has the organizational structure of a verse novel giving the reader a view of the inner workings of the mind of the character known as Billie Jo. The situations that this family endured during the dust bowl are believable, dramatic and historically correct. Although this book is fiction, it is a very realistic story that deals with healing and grief. As I read this book and began to analyze it, I am of the opinion that the “dust” is not just the physical dust that was described in the book. Not just the mountains of sand, but the monumental tasks of overcoming the backbreaking work, the disappointments, the loss of a mother and the inability to play the piano. Billie Jo had to shake off the dust of disillusionment as well as keeping the house free of dust. The author vividly describes the storms that were so severe that people had to hold on to each other to keep from being lost in storms as dangerous as blizzards as well as the emotional roller coaster of Billie Jo's life.

REVIEWS:

School Library Journal: Set in the Oklahoma dust bowl during the Great Depression, Billie Jo has a great deal to forgive: her father for causing the accident that killed her mother, her mother for leaving when she needed her the most, herself for being the cause of her own sorrow.

Horn Book Guide: In first-person free-verse poems fourteen-year-old Billie Jo relates her Depression-era experiences in the Oklahoma panhandle. Billie Jo's aborted escape from the dust bowl almost gets lost in a procession of bleak events, instead of serving as the book's climax. Yet her voice, nearly every word informed by longing, provides an immediacy that expressively depicts both a grim historical era and one family's healing.

CONNECTIONS:

Parts of this book such as “Dust Storm” (pg. 142) and “Blankets of Black” (pg. 162) would be good to read during a science lesson on weathering, erosion and deposition. We are studying this in science at this time and I plan to share these sections of the book with my class.

http://memory.loc.gov – This is an excellent source for photographs of the era of the dust bowl. There are photographs of the people, land and also refuge camps of those that fled to California. I tried to enter the direct link, but was unsuccessful. However, you can go to the link above and then search for “dust bowl” and you will be taken to the appropriate area.

Related Book: CHILDREN OF THE DUST BOWL THE TRUE STORY OF THE SCHOOL AT WEEDPATCH CAMP By: Jerry Stanley

This book is an excellent way to develop insight to the lives of people living through the 1930’s dust bowl. I would introduce this by telling a story of my mother and dad’s life during the dust bowl. Mom used to tell us stories about how terrible the storms were and how disheartening it was to try to farm without rain and with the wind blowing the seeds and plants down. My parents were newly married and living in Foard County, Texas at the time, so this is of personal interest to me as well.

Unusual Poem Feb. 22

Introduction: Use this as an introduction to reflection in your science class or math class. Put it on the ELMO or use a transparency to show how the poem looks. Explain that this is a mirror image.

This is a backward poem (or reflection).

I Am Your Mirror Image
By: Jack Prelutsky

egamI rorriM ruoY mA I

,egamI rorriM ruoY mA I
od I gnihtyreve dna
noitcelfer tcaxe na si
.uoy yb enod s’taht lla fo
,od uoy nehw evom ylno I
.pots I, llits era uoy nehw
,gnola piks ot erus m’I ,piks uoY
.poh osla I ,poh uoy
,wodahs ruoy ekil uoy htiw m’I
.tfed dna ,tfiws ,eliga m’I
,dnah thgir ruoy htiw erutseg uoY
.tfel ym htiw uoy hctam I
,yppah era uoy nehw hgual I
,yrc I ,das era uoy nehw
,em ta eye knilb uoy fi dna
.ylper ym si knilb a

,egami rorrim ruoy ma I
.ereh er’uoy nehw tneserp m’I
,tnesba era uoy tnemom ehT
.raeppasid ot erus m’I
ecnetsixe rouy no tnuoc I
…desrever efil rouy evil dna
gniht elgnis a od reven I
.tsrif ti od uoy sselnu

[from A PIZZA THE SIZE OF THE SUN (Greenwillow 1996)]

I Am Your Mirror Image
By: Jack Prelutsky

I am your mirror image
and everything I do
is an exact reflection
of all that’s done by you.
I only move when you do,
when you are still, I stop.
You skip, I’m sure to skip along,
You hop, I also hop.
I’m with you like your shadow,
I’m agile, swift, and deft.
You gesture with your right hand,
I match you with my left.
I laugh when you are happy,
when you are sad, I cry
and if you blink an eye at me,
a blink is my reply.

I am your mirror image,
I’m present when you’re here.
The moment you are absent,
I’m sure to disappear.
I count on your existence
and live your life reversed…
I never do a single thing
unless you do it first.

Extension: Let the students use mirrors to visually see that the images really are mirror images. Then have them read the poem.

Then continue with science lesson on reflection or refraction or math lesson with translation, rotation, reflection.

Review Poet of Color Module # 2

Poetry Book Review:
NIGHT GARDENS

Bibliography

Wong, Janet. 2000. NIGHT GARDEN, POEMS FROM THE WORLD OF DREAMS. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689826176.

SUMMARY

In this book of 15 poems, Wong has entered the night world of dreams. These poems will present a familiarity to children with some being scary, others alluding to memories past and still others entertaining daily activities such as eating, swimming, running and falling. The poem entitled “Falling” reminds us of the fear we have of “being late” for work or school. The child is running, running not to be late for school and then awakens to the morning sky just turning pink – not late at all. “The Ones They Loved the Most” and “Old Friends” brings to the dream times forgotten with those who have moved on and those passed on.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Although Janet Wong has written books of poetry such as A SUITCASE OF SEAWEED AND OTHER POEMS that focus on her Asian background, NIGHT GARDENS is drawn from her dreams as well as those of her friends. She even includes the imagined dreams of her “sad old dog”. In POETRY MATTERS by Ralph Fletcher (pg 76) Wong states “most of my poems come from everyday life, which happens here in urban/suburban America – so I’d like to think that people of any ethnic background can find meaning in them.” Perhaps she feels that some of her other books would be more difficult for people of other ethnic backgrounds to understand because of differences in cultures and traditions. The poems in NIGHT GARDEN are written in free verse form. Wong stated that she wanted to prepare a collection of poems inspired by paintings and was led to the work of Julie Paschkis. She was impressed with the fanciful dreamlike quality of her images. Thus, this collection was “dreamed” up. It seems as if the artist, Julie Paschkis, fulfilled the imagery that Wong had desired for her book with her gouache paintings. The illustrations are two page spreads, one side depicting an image seen in the dream and the other nestling the poem itself. These images and poems have been given symmetry to complement the background of vivid images of snakes, beastly images and tomato headed children that envision the dreams of the sleeping soul.

REVIEWS

Horn Book Guide: “Fifteen brief poems explore the fertile ground of the unconscious, a world in which "dreams grow wild / like dandelion weeds." Small, full-color gouache illustrations contrast with monochromatic backgrounds depicting fanciful images evoked by the poems.”



Booklist: “This collection of 15 poems takes on the distorted and sometimes dark world of dreams. Wong, an accomplished and versatile poet, finds dream images that children will know.”


CONNECTIONS

Allow students to go to Janet Wong’s website where the author reads some of her poems including “Old Friends” from NIGHT GARDEN. http://www.janetwong.com/

Use the poems “The Ones They Loved the Most” and “Old Friends” to have students reflect on memories of friends or relatives that have moved or those who have died. Students use a writing center to illustrate or write about the memories they have. This connection would probably need to be used with upper level intermediate students.

Book Connection:

POEMS TO DREAM TOGETHER POEMAS PARA SONAR JUNTOS By Francisco X. Alarcon

From: Near the Window Tree

POETRY BREAK # 2
A poem written by an NCTE Award winning poet

Introduction:

Karla Kuskin was the third winner of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She has more than 50 books of poetry and prose to her credit. She says it is a big problem to stop thinking and writing everything in verse. We also have big problems stopping and thinking when learning multiplication facts. Listen to the following poem and see how you can relate to it.

From:
Near the Window Tree
Karla Kuskin

Is six times one a lot of fun?
Or eight times two?
Perhaps for you.
But five times three
Unhinges me,
While six and seven and eight times eight
Put me in an awful state
And four and six and nine times nine
Make me want to cry and whine
So when I get to twelve times ten
I begin to wonder when
I can take a vacation from multiplication
And go out
And start playing again.

[from MARVELOUS MATH A BOOK OF POEMS, (Simon & Schuster, 1997)]

Extensions:

After the students take the timed test and following the reading of the poem share your “difficult fact” with your students. When I begin testing my students I always tell them that 7X8 is my “difficult” fact and we talk about facts that they have trouble with. I ask them to help their peers with suggestions for memorizing the troublesome facts.

The students could take one or two facts that they have difficulty with and put them into a poem or rhyme. Since this would be their own work the memorization of these facts would most likely be achieved. An example might be 56 7 8 takes care of the fact I hate! This can be chanted like a cheer. Put the 56 and 7 8 on the board and they will realize that 7X8=56. Putting the numbers sequentially gives a visual illustration.

These facts could be made into shape poems. Further extension, depending on the response of the class could be a rhyming book of math facts.