Book Review #3: THE FIREFLY LETTERS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Engle, Margarita. The Firefly Letters. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2010.

ISBN: 9780805090826

SUMMARY

The Surrender Tree by Margarita Engle was a book of verse novels with a narrative story. There were three main characters: Cecilia, Frederika, and Elena. This book explored the Cuban countryside during the late 1800s to early 1900s. Frederika was a Swedish woman wanting to learn about women's rights and slavery in Cuba, while Elena was Cuban and wanted the freedom to roam outside of her home, and Cecilia was a slave who longed for the days of freedom and being back in her native Africa. Through the course of the book, Frederika helped Elena and Cecilia fight for their freedom and the rights of slaves, particularly Cecilia's unborn child.

RHYTHM

Each poem was written as a narrative and in conversational language in the form of journal entries, so the rhythm of the book was a sequence of constant dialogue. The constant dialogue made the poems easy to read and follow along with, so the story that was told through the book was actually a quick and easy read.

RHYME AND SOUND

The poems were written in free verse and the sounds portrayed were from the voices of the women writing in their journals with an occasional entry from Cecilia's husband, Beni, who was also a slave. He wished for freedom just as much as his wife. The rhythm, free verse rhyme scheme, and sounds from the women's voices speaking through their entries made the book very pleasant to read to the reader's eyes and ears.

LANGUAGE AND IMAGERY

The language of the verse novels was free flowing with vivid details, so the reader felt like they were in Cuba with the three women. They could develop an understanding of the women's sufferings and longings for things to change, since the language impacted them through the word pictures. The soothing cadence flowed through the book and made the reader want to continue to learn about the women and their experiences. Creative and unique language that was native to the Cuban culture also helped the reader gain a mental picture of the events that were taking place in the book.

EMOTIONS

While reading this book, the reader was constantly taken aback by the easy flow of the prose and cadence of each poem. The reader was constantly enveloped in the stories of the three women and felt their heartaches and longings, making them want to help them. In the end, the reader also felt a sense of sadness and thankfulness for the freedoms they have had in the United States.

POETRY BOOKS

Every new poem had the name of the speaker listed at the top of the page, which helped the reader understand the women and follow their narratives easily. Illustrations weren't used in the book, but the author constantly kept the reader's attention with the vivid details and conversational language throughout the book of poetry. If the reader was open to reading poetry, they could be hooked on the book from the very first page. It was very good and well written, even at the end. Most readers from the age of 12 and up would thoroughly appreciate and enjoy learning while reading this book of poetry.

AWARDS, REVIEWS, AND RECOGNITIONS

*Amelia Bloomer List, 2011; American Library Association

*Notable Children's Books, 2011; ALSC American Library Association

*Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, 2011 Honor Book
*Pura Belpre Award, 2011 Honor Book Author

*A Newbery Honor Book

*An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

* “Like the firefly light, Engle’s poetry is a gossamer thread of subtle beauty weaving together three memorable characters who together find hope and courage. Another fine volume by a master of the novel in verse.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

*“This slim, elegant volume opens the door to discussions of slavery, women’s rights, and the economic disparity between rich and poor.” —Publishers Weekly

CONNECTIONS

*Identify the historical problems in the book

*Compare and contrast the women and their cultural backgrounds

*Introduce free verse and how it can be an effective tool in poetry

*Other culturally significant books for readers ages 12 and up:

Ryan, Pam Munoz. The Dreamer. ISBN: 9780439269704

Preus, Margi. Heart of a Samurai. ISBN: 9780810989818

Book Review #3: MIRROR MIRROR

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Singer, Marilyn. Mirror Mirror. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2010.

ISBN: 9780525479017

Masse, Josee. Mirror Mirror. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2010.

ISBN: 9780525479017

SUMMARY

Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer was a book of verse novels, or as was described on the title page, “A Book of Reversible Verse.” Throughout the book, there were numerous classic fairy tales that were written in poem format with two sides. The left side told one story from top to bottom, whereas the other side told another story with the same poem in reverse from bottom to top, but still in the same format. This caused some interesting twists to the fairy tales and kept the readers attention throughout the book.

RHYTHM

Long couplets and short lines were used in most of the poems to create a slightly different flow in each one. Even with these slight differences, the poems all flowed together to make the book easy to follow while maintaining the appeal of the original fairy tales. In fact, the changes helped enhance the fairy tales, so the reader could fall in love with them all over again.

RHYME AND SOUND

Rhyme wasn't an important element in this book of poetry, however, it was used in the poem, “In the Hood,” which was about “Little Red Riding Hood.” End rhyme was used throughout this poem. Depending on how each of the poems were written in the book, the sounds could be affected by the rhyme scheme of the poem or by the constant repetitive sounds, since the poems were written from top to bottom, and then repeated from bottom to top. These effects helped the reader understand the differences between the stories being told through the poems.

LANGUAGE

The language chosen throughout the book matched the original language of the fairy tales. Readers could recognize the personification used by the mythical creatures and animals. The use of figurative language also captured the readers' attention and made them want to read more of the fairy tales to see how they could be further changed and still maintain their original purpose.

IMAGERY

Creative and unique language helped this book of poetry keep the readers attention. For instance, in “The Sleeping Beauty and the Wide-Awake Prince,” the prince went “hacking through briars.” This gave the reader an unexpected visual image of the prince and how he lived on a daily basis. These types of mental pictures were used in a lot of the poems and helped the reader to imagine the stories behind the poems and still see their original intent as well as their changes.

EMOTIONS

The poems really captured the “awe” of the reader, since they knew the fairytale stories. Since the stories were written as poetry and in forward and reverse, the readers felt happiness and curiosity while reading the poems. They were never bored and were kept in rapt attention at the unique changes, which made for an enjoyable read.

POETRY BOOKS

This book used the vivid illustrations on each page to capture the reader's attention. Each picture visually displayed the fairytale stories in forward and in reverse. By doing this, the poetry book could capture the attention of younger readers as well as older ones, which was important.

The illustrations helped balance the poetic forms of the fairy tales, because most young readers wouldn't be able to fully understand the different events taking place in each poem without the help from the visual aids that were portrayed in the book. Because of these elements, this book of poetry would keep the attention of a larger reading audience. 

AWARDS, REVIEWS, AND RECOGNITIONS

Best Children's Books of the Year, 2011; Bank Street College of Education

Booklist Editors Choice: Books for Youth, 2010; American Library Association
Horn Book Fanfare, 2010; Horn Book
New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2010; New York Public Library
Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts, 2011 ; NCTE Children's Literature Assembly
School Library Journal Book Review Stars, January 2010; Cahners
Washington Post Best Kid's Books, 2010; Washington Post

Mind the Gap Award, 2011

"The poems are both cleverly constructed and insightful...giving us the points of view of characters rarely considered." --Horn Book

"A mesmerizing and seamless celebration of language, imagery, and perspective." --Kirkus, starred review

CONNECTIONS

*Identify the elements of a fairytale

*Compare and contrast the reversible poems

*Introduce how to write poems

*Other poetry books for children:

Kennedy, X.J. and D.M., Jon. Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry.

ISBN: 9780316488006

Moore, Jo Ellen. Writing Poetry with Children. ISBN: 9781557997340

Book Review #3: DARK EMPEROR & OTHER POEMS OF THE NIGHT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sidman, Joyce. Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. ISBN: 9780547152288

Allen, Rick. Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. ISBN: 9780547152288

SUMMARY

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman was an individual poet compilation book about the different creatures that are out at night. Each poem described and consisted of the character traits of the creatures. Some of the creatures written about were: owls, snails, spiders, porcupettes (baby porcupines), among many other nocturnal creatures.

RHYTHM

Throughout this book of poetry, each poem had its own rhythm, just as each animal is different and has its own nighttime ritual. Most of the poems used short lines to create a staccato rhythm. For instance, in the first poem, “Welcome to the Night,” it had four stanzas, and in each stanza the first three lines were short and rhymed with the other lines. This created a natural rhythm in the poem, and the reader was able to easily follow along and understand the poem.

RHYME

Each poem in the book had its own rhyme scheme, but for the most part, a lot of end rhyme and internal rhymes were used in the poems. Different rhyme schemes were also used, such as in the poem, “Ballad of the Wandering Eft.” This poem had a rhyme scheme of ABAB, while there were other poems that didn't have an obvious rhyme scheme, but used verse instead to create a cadence. An example of this was in the poem, “Bat Wraps Up.” Through these different rhyme schemes, the poems in the book demonstrated to the reader how rhyme could be used to capture the meanings behind each poem without seeming forced when reading the poems aloud.

SOUND

This book of poetry used a lot of sound. There were different sounds, and some of them that were used were: onomatopoeia, an echo effect, assonance, and consonance. Onomatopoeia was used to help the reader understand the sounds that were made in the night, and in some cases the echo effect also added to the nighttime atmosphere. Readers could imagine the sounds taking place as they read through the poems on each page. They could also hear other sounds, like the vowel sounds or assonance, along with the repetitive consonant sounds.

As the rhythm and rhyme worked together in the poems, they also contributed to the sounds in the book. The reader could imagine all of the happenings, because of these three elements working together.

LANGUAGE

The language or words in the poems attributed to the rhythm, rhyme, and sounds in the book. As mentioned previously, onomatopoeia was used throughout the book, which also demonstrated personification and metaphors to the reader in some poems. The poem, “Night-Spider's Advice” described the lap of the spider and the fact that “life's a circle” both metaphorically and literally in the poem, which was a great example of figurative language in the poem. A specific example of personification involved the poem, “Oak After Dark” where the tree described “As nighttime rustles at my knee/ I stand in silent gravity (Sidman 2010). Visual language was also used with the different size fonts throughout the book, creating different tones and meanings in the poems.

IMAGERY

Each poem used imagery in a unique and visually stimulating way from the language chosen in the poems. An example of this was in the last poem, “Moon's Lament.” It says, “Where is the thrum of crickets,/ the throbbing of frogs?” The imagery in these two lines made the reader imagine exactly what the creatures did during the night.

EMOTIONS

The book had an overall positive effect on the reader. Each poem was informative, while also interesting. All of them incorporated the poetry elements that work together and form great books of poetry. The book made the reader want to read each poem to see what they could learn on the next page about another creature and see the creative ways the poet described them.

POETRY BOOKS

The book was written in chronological order, so the reader started with the poem “Welcome to the Night” and learned about the different creatures. Then, the next poem was about a creature that was out at moonrise and then, it moved on to other creatures, going through each aspect of the night until it reached the poem, “Moon's Lament,” and all the creatures were going back to sleep or hiding until the night came, again. All of the illustrations captured the creatures and the descriptions in the poems. Readers could look at the illustrations and understand what that creature was doing without actually reading the poem.

There were also side notes for readers to gain more information about the creature in the poem, which would definitely draw the attention of younger readers, particularly in elementary. At that age, they want to learn more about creatures and this book would help them learn and understand classic poetry at the same time. It would be an excellent teaching tool in the classroom in the lower grades. 

AWARDS, REVIEWS, AND RECOGNITIONS

*Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 2011 Honor Book Picture Book
*John Newbery Medal, 2011 Honor Book
*Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, 2011 Honor Book

"The dark lines of Allen's skillful lino cut prints make the perfect accompaniment to a book of night poems, with their subtle colors allowing the reader to seek out the creatures slowly, just as one's eye becomes accustomed to finding things in the dark." -The Horn Book

"The bookmaking is beautiful with the concept of night lending itself generously to poetry.” -School Library Journal

CONNECTIONS

*Use this book of poetry to learn about nocturnal creatures.

*Understand figurative language.

*Other great books using figurative language by Joyce Sidman:

Sidman, Joyce. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. ISBN 9780618563135

Sidman, Joyce. Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors ISBN 9780547014944