Poetry That Pierces a Dark Past

Poems can reveal multiple layers of the past in ways that prose often fails to do. The recently published I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery illustrates the particular power of the genre to shine a light on myriad aspects of people’s experiences.

Cynthia Grady, a quilter as well as the middle-school librarian at Sidwell Friends in Washington, D.C., has turned her poet’s eye to the past and presents a well-crafted collection of 14 poems for ages 10 and up.

Each poem, ranging from “Log Cabin” to “Basket,” is named for a traditional quilt pattern and employs ten lines of ten syllables, mimicking the square shape of a quilt block. In the process, the poems reflect the “patchwork of circumstances encountered by enslaved people in America,” as Grady notes in her preface. Beneath the poems, she provides brief, interesting notes that weave in relevant references to spirituality, music, or fabric.

One of the poems that seems most evocative to me is “Basket,” spoken in the voice of a woman who takes out her work basket after a long day. Listen to the lyrical biblical language: “my thimble, thread, and needle comfort me./I lay my stitches down and troubles fall/away.” The accompanying acrylic painting by acclaimed artist Michele Wood (I See the Rhythm, 1998) is also the book’s stunning cover image. Employing vibrant colors, folk-art motifs, quilt-related patterns, and multiple historical references such as the image of the man plowing with a mule, the artist deepens the reader’s experience.

With its moving testament to the hopes and sorrows of those who lived in slavery, I Lay My Stitches Down is a must-have title for home or school libraries.

Related, recently published poetry:

Circles of Hope for Earth Day

Make Earth Day a hopeful one with rousing outdoor and indoor activities, complemented by a colorful mix of fiction and nonfiction. One of my favorite picture books for ages 6 to 8 is Karen Lynn Williams’s Circles of Hope, set in Haiti. Williams, the author of many acclaimed multicultural picture books (Four Feet, Two Sandals, 2007; and Beatrice’s Dream, 2011), situates her simple tale of a  boy’s struggle to keep a tree alive within the larger context of his homeland’s economic struggles. Facile decides to plant a mango tree for baby sister Lucia, but it turns out to be a difficult task. Goats eat the first sapling he plants … rain washes away the second … and a fire destroys the third. Then the observant boy realizes he can use stones to protect the tree, and hope blossoms. The illustrator, Saport, adeptly uses pastels of orange and yellow to depict Haiti’s sunny, dry hillsides and creates charming fat circles for the green trees, the rounded hills, and the stones surrounding more and more trees on the island.  Williams closes her gentle story with “One year at a time, little circles of hope began to grow on the mountainsides of Haiti, and inside each circle grew a tree.” She supplies a fine teacher’s guide, as well, for her sensitive, positive story. Pair this with the nonfiction book This Tree Counts! to instill in children a greater appreciation for the importance of trees.

Older children (ages 8 to 10) adore the exciting and true story John Muir and Stickeen: An Icy Adventure with a No-Good Dog.  John Muir initially feels a dog has no business on a treacherous expedition in Alaska. He changes his mind, though, when he and Stickeen become lost on a glacier during a storm, and the dog behaves courageously.  Farnsworth’s splendid, realistic oil paintings heighten the reader’s awareness of the perilous, frozen landscape. This adventure tale provides children with a fabulous introduction to the remarkable American conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club.

For another aspect of John Muir, try Emily Arnold McCully’s Squirrel and John Muir, featuring the possible relationship between the real-life rebellious Floy Hutchings, nicknamed Squirrel, and John Muir, who inspired her love of nature.

Looking for middle-school novels relating to respect for the Earth? See my post on One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street, as well as novels by Carl Hiassen, such as Hoot.

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• Muir Woods National Monument (sheryllrea.wordpress.com)

Kali’s Song of Peace

Ferdinand the bull has found a worthy companion . . . not beneath the cork trees of Spain, but in the egalitarian spirit of pacifism. Jeanette Winter, the author/illustrator of numerous thought-provoking children’s books, has crafted a gentle picture book that celebrates a cave boy who would rather make music than hunt animals.

Readers enter Kali’s world by gazing at the walls of his family’s cave, where Mother paints frolicking, earth-toned horses. Even though both of Kali’s parents expect him to grow up to pursue and kill such creatures, we have reason to suspect it will turn out otherwise.

As Kali practices shooting arrows, the sensitive boy appears more concerned about the various animals nearby than about his accuracy. His course of action becomes clearer as he discovers he can create enchanting notes with his bow: “Kali forgot about shooting arrows/ and plucked his bowstring into the night. / The stars came close to listen.”

Ms. Winter’s appealing soft-colored collages showcase textured handmade paper that evokes the boy’s sense of harmony with the world. The mottled grays in the rocks, the ragged light from the family’s fire, and the fields’ multiple hues of green all bring the reader closer to Kali’s long-ago life. Using the paper’s rough edges to provide frames for her simple images, Ms. Winter seemingly invites readers to touch the pages, thus demonstrating a meaningful sensory experience that paper can offer that ebooks do not. A particularly pleasing double-page illustration features the peaceful profile of Kali plucking his bow, while birds and brown mammals “listened and were still.”

The youth’s moment of reckoning comes the day of the big hunt, when he encounters “mammoths that were bigger and more beautiful than any Kali had ever seen.” Suddenly, he forgets about shooting arrows and instead begins playing his bow. The musician’s spell embraces not only the magnificent herd but also the hunters who lay down their arrows and listen.

From that point, Kali continues to heed his own heart and eventually becomes known for his wisdom and his power to heal. How reassuring to see the community embracing the talents of its members and in the process, becoming stronger and healthier. That’s a heady message for people of all ages and eras.

Bravo to Jeanette Winter for this magical little book humming with hope.

Reprinted with permission from New York Journal of Books.

And see …

A Little Bird That Soars

Take the sunflower-gold path on a clear day and you, too, might discover some tiny treasure that will reveal the world in a new light.

In Germano Zullo’s fresh, surprisingly powerful picture book Little Bird, readers trace one man’s unusual day, as he drives his tomato-red truck down a golden path and then parks it beside a cliff. We do not know why he drives to that cliff or how he comes to be transporting his odd cargo. Without speaking, the pear-shaped fellow in blue overalls opens the truck’s backdoor to free an iridescent flock of birds.

After watching the last of the birds soar through the azure sky, the man discovers one blackbird remains in the truck’s dark interior. The day that appeared to mark the birds’ liberty seems to contain something more:

“just a small thing.
Tiny.
Most of the time we don’t notice these things.
Because little things are not made to be noticed.
They are there to be discovered.”

A bright full-page painting shows the man and a blackbird sharing a sandwich. Then a humorous double-spread illustration shows the man trying to persuade the bird to fly by imitating a bird in flight. That effort, of course, lands him flat on the ground. Soon the bird takes to the sky, and it seems the man has fulfilled his goal.

Again the unexpected arrives. Not only the blackbird, but also the whole flock returns. Higher and higher, they lift the man who freed them so he, too, can taste the wild blue heavens.

Albertine’s illustrations, which won the 2011 Prix Sorcieres (the French Caldecott), shimmer with pure, saturated colors. Featuring simple images and a sure sense of movement, the bright paintings lift this story to delightful heights. Little Bird is a children’s book that can be experienced on numerous levels by readers of all ages, especially as the visual acrobatics reveal as much as the minimal text. The inspired synergy of author and illustrator evokes a lovely excerpt from e.e. cummings’s poem 53: “may my heart always be open to little/birds who are the secrets of living.”

Children will relate to this dazzling little book in their own ways, while adults will marvel that the author and illustrator have expressed so much joy with so few words.

Reprinted with permission from New York Journal of Books

Other possibilities …