Potentially useful in classrooms that include character education in the curriculum, this purposive anthology will likely...
An illustrated collection of poems celebrating those who have, as the title indicates, "changed the world."
While the individuals profiled here are undeniably inspiring, the biographical poem, brief text and topical poem intended to illuminate each person’s achievements don’t adequately convey personality or relevance, resulting in an uneven collection that, ironically enough, fails to live up to its potential. Thirty poets have contributed their work, from familiar, prolific authors such as Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jane Yolen and Marilyn Singer to those whose writing is less well-known. Subjects range from the contemporary (Temple Grandin, Steven Spielberg) to the historical (Jonas Salk), and from the well-known to the obscure (Father Greg Boyle). Unfortunately, the poems are uneven in quality, with many seeming forced or predictable. In general, the topical poems are the most successful, with particularly engaging verses by Singer (about the joys of flight) and Alice Schertle (pondering the mysteries of a mummy’s tomb). A variety of poetic forms are used; some feature rhyme and are composed of multiple stanzas, others seem more like prose portraits arbitrarily broken into short lines. Jepson’s vibrant collage-style illustrations incorporate a variety of patterns and textures. Complementary colors help to tie facing pages together and also serve as backgrounds to the text, further linking the concepts on each double-page spread.
Potentially useful in classrooms that include character education in the curriculum, this purposive anthology will likely find it hard to find an appreciative audience in less-structured settings. (Picture book/poetry. 8 and up)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61067-065-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
An inspirational exploration of caring among parent, teacher and child—one of Grimes’ best. (Poetry. 8-12)
In this delightfully spare narrative in verse, Coretta Scott King Award–winning Grimes examines a marriage’s end from the perspective of a child.
Set mostly in the wake of her father’s departure, only-child Gabby reveals with moving clarity in these short first-person poems the hardship she faces relocating with her mother and negotiating the further loss of a good friend while trying to adjust to a new school. Gabby has always been something of a dreamer, but when she begins study in her new class, she finds her thoughts straying even more. She admits: “Some words / sit still on the page / holding a story steady. / … / But other words have wings / that wake my daydreams. / They … / tickle my imagination, / and carry my thoughts away.” To illustrate Gabby’s inner wanderings, Grimes’ narrative breaks from the present into episodic bursts of vivid poetic reminiscence. Luckily, Gabby’s new teacher recognizes this inability to focus to be a coping mechanism and devises a daily activity designed to harness daydreaming’s creativity with a remarkably positive result for both Gabby and the entire class. Throughout this finely wrought narrative, Grimes’ free verse is tight, with perfect breaks of line and effortless shifts from reality to dream states and back.
An inspirational exploration of caring among parent, teacher and child—one of Grimes’ best. (Poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-59078-985-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
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