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