At the Intersection of Poetry and Nature

Poetry, with its eye-opening images, compressed language, and supple forms, provides pleasing ways to teach children about the natural world. Science teachers and others can use a number of fine collections to enrich their curriculum.

In Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems, the poet Kristine O’Connell George has captured a range of perceptions she and her family experienced the year a hummingbird came calling. On a warm day in February a hummingbird dive-bombed near the poet’s face. That’s when they discovered the tiny bird had built a nest in the ficus tree on the patio of their home in California. For the next eight weeks, the acclaimed children’s poet kept a journal, recording her observations and musings on the mother hummingbird and her growing family. With naturalistic watercolor paintings, Barry Moser delineates the show taking place outside. His illustration for “Nest Check” shows a daughter leaning toward the tree to see “Two promises made–/two eggs newly laid.” In “Just Hatched,” the poem is enclosed in an oval shape, accompanied by Moser’s simple, delicate watercolor showing a cracked egg. Readers will linger upon the next image, an aerial shot looking straight down into the “woven walls” of the nest, with one baby bird lying next to an egg just cracking. In time, flying lessons will lead to fledglings taking off, and a mother’s job well done. Author’s note and hummingbird facts included, as well as suggested books about hummingbirds.
This is a lovely book to hold, to share, and to read aloud.

Sidman, Joyce. Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems. illus. by Beckie Prange. Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Spend some time with the interesting inhabitants of a pond, from spring’s peepers to the painted turtles that burrow in the mud for the winter. Original, accessible poems are accompanied by facts about the habitat’s animals, insects, and plants. Glossary included. Prange’s amazing woodcuts won the 2006 Caldecott Honor award. For ages 7 to 12.

Paolilli, Paul. Silver Seeds: A Book of Nature Poems. Viking, 2001. Simple enough for young children, these gentle poems begin with daybreak and end with night, with lovely images of sun, fog, and rain along the way.

Ryder, Joanne. Toad by the Road: A Year in the Life of These Amazing Amphibians. Holt, 2007. Ryder’s engaging poems describe the life cycle of toads, from spring’s tadpoles to adult frogs hibernating in the winter. Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award Winner: Poetry Award (2007)

Singer, Marilyn. Footprints on the Roof: Poems about the Earth. illus. by Meilo So. Knopf, 2002. Older children (ages 9-12) will enjoy Singer’s remarkable poems about Earth’s seasons, weather, land forms, and animals. Use this poetry to foster environmental awareness and to complement the science curriculum. In “Burrows,” for instance, note how she ponders life “under the earth/where rabbits hide from foxes/foxes hide from dogs/full-bellied snakes sleep snugly/worms work uncomplaining. … I try to tread softly:/ a quiet giant/ leaving only footprints on the roof.” Also see her other collections, especially How to Cross a Pond: Poems about Water.

Related articles

• Purposes for Poetry: Ten Ways to Use Poetry in Your Instruction (teachwithpicturebooks.blogspot.com)

A Voice Is a Many-Colored Thing

When I learned the dazzling Barbara McClintock had created the artwork for Natalie Merchant’s recently released Leave Your Sleep: A Collection of Classic Children’s Poetry, I just had to experience that. The stellar combination of McClintock’s lushly detailed, pen-and-ink and colored images with Merchant’s many-hued voice has produced a rare sensory feast for all ages. Along with the rich selection of 19 poems from Merchant’s 2010 album of the same title comes a full-length CD that shows off her musical virtuosity.

Featuring an amazing range of musical styles and moods (as depicted in this Macmillan YouTube), Merchant has crafted melodies that cleverly evoke the mood of each poem. Some classic poems — Stevenson’s dreamy “The Land of Nod,” Ogden Nash’s sassy “Adventures of Isabel,” and the beloved “I Saw a Ship A-Sailing” — show up here, but pleasant surprises abound, too. Particularly delightful is her adaptation of “The Dancing Bear” by Albert Bigelow Paine: “Oh, it’s fiddle-de-dum and fiddle-de-dee,/ The dancing bear ran away with me.” Merchant’s lilting voice trips along to the playful tune performed by the Klezmatics, with their bouncy accordion, horns, and, of course, a fiddle. A few poems (“Vain and Careless” by Robert Graves and “Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience” by Charles Causley) might seem somewhat dark for inclusion in a children’s book, but Merchant wisely refuses to be hemmed in by traditional expectations.

In her intriguing introduction, Merchant explains this collection sprang from her experiences with her young daughter. “I tried to show her that speech could be the most delightful toy in her possession and that her mother tongue is rich with musical rhythms and rhymes. … Poetry speaks of so much: longing and sadness, joy and beauty, hope and disillusionment. These are the things that make a childhood, that time when we wake up to the great wonders and small terrors of our world.”

What a gift to be able to join her daughter in experiencing these poems by hearing them sung and by gazing at McClintock’s bounty of images that dip into exuberant ice-cream-cone licking (for Prelutsky’s “Bleezer’s Ice-Cream”) and the gentleness of a painted elephant (“The Blind Men and the Elephant” by John Godfrey Saxe).

Why not start the year on a high note with this remarkable book and CD?

Related links

92nd Street Y’s K-3rd grade unit features Leave Your Sleep.

“Natalie Merchant on Motherhood as Muse,” from Huffington Post.

Leafing through Colorful Poems

Leave it to poets to show us the seasons in new hues. Joyce Sidman’s pleasing Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors  reveals fresh perspectives on the year’s changing colors. Of autumn, she writes: “Brown gleams in my hand: a tiny round house, dolloped with roof”; in the accompanying illustration, the reader sees a woman holding an acorn. It’s no wonder this beautiful collection won the 2010 Caldecott Honor award.  Purple smells of “old leaves, crushed berries, squishy plums with worms in them.” And there’s Halloween orange next to the black “resting in dark branches.”

Some colors dip in and out of seasons, with varying effects. Red, for instance, first appears as a small bird in the spring. The book closes in winter with this image: “Red hops from the treetops, fluffs its feathers against the cold. Cheer, Cheer, Cheer, it begins to sing: and each note drops like a cherry into my ear.”

What a perfect resource for teaching the power of metaphorical language and of words that appeal to the senses. Art and science teachers can reap ideas for projects here, too. Children ages 8 to 10 will enjoy this, as well as Sidman’s other fine collections, including Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night.

For light fall fare, pick up Douglas Florian’s Autumnblings: Poems & Paintings. Florian’s quirky little poems, enlivened by his humorous paintings, aim to please a broad range of readers. Florian revels in word play and in creative arrangements of words, such as the downward slope of the words “falls” and “tumbled” in the title poem. When we reach the curled-up bear atop the poem “Hi-Bear-Nation,” Florian asks, “Do brown bears slum-bear when it’s fall?” And in “A Falling Out,” we follow the swirling words and images of maple seeds descending like “fallicopters to the ground.”

The woodpecker and the beaver, the badger and the woodchuck, the toad and the coyote all show up for this spunky, sometimes skunky, romp through the seasons in A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems. Deborah Ruddell employs clever images, sly humor, skillful rhyme, and a multitude of poetic forms in her energetic expose of woodland creatures.

Of the wide range of perspectives Ruddell selects, one of the most appealing appears in “A Wild Turkey Comments on His Portrait.” Many of us recall tracing the fingers of one hand and then drawing a turkey, right? Have you ever thought about how a turkey would feel about that project? Ruddell has: “I find it most insulting/ that you traced around your hand/ and colored all my feathers/ either plain old brown or tan.”

This collection is bound to get those “mature” seven and eight-year-olds cackling. What are you waiting for? Follow this poet into the woods for fresh scents, furry sights, and the sound of … laughter.

More seasonal poetry:

Hark, the Water Calls

My family and I just returned from a week at the beach, and I’m ready to hear those waves again. Some sparkling books, though, offer that possibility — at a price far less than another week’s rent! If you’re headed to the sea, or just longing to, these books make for refreshing read-alouds.

Dip your fingers into Kate Coombs’s debut poetry book, Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems. Lovely to look at and fun to hear, this collection of 26 brief poems displays a fine range of forms and word play that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

Consider, for instance, the opening poem, “Song of the Boat”:

“Push away from the stillness of the nut-brown land,
from the road that leads to the shore.

Push away from the town with its tight tree roots,
from its closed brown shutters and doors.

Push away—heave-ho—from the heavy brown pier,
from its pilings huddled and dull.

For the water sings blue and the sky does, too,
and the sea lets you fly like a gull.”

Don’t you love the rhythmic repetition of the phrase “push away”? And the clean contrast between the blue watery images and the “nut-brown land” and the “closed brown shutters” exudes an elegant simplicity. Then, too, the compactness of the poem lends itself well to both antsy seven year olds and their older siblings.

I can say that’s true for most of the poems here, from the lovely haiku “Jellyfish” to a poem written from the perspective of Frank Hermit, realtor of beachfront property. Water Sings Blue will appeal not only to wordsmiths but also to animal and nature lovers. And the gorgeous, azure-rippling paintings by Meilo So are enough to make you want to pack your watercolors and head to the shore to stir up your own imaginative creations.

One of my favorite summery poetry books for ages 10 and older is Ted Hughes’s The Mermaid’s Purse, especially the edition illustrated by Flora McDonnell. (While most of these poems are included in his wonderful Collected Poems for Children, the size and appearance of  the former is more child-friendly.)

A fun way to read some of these aloud is to omit the title and ask listeners if they can guess the subject of the poem. Here’s a stellar one:

“When my chandelier
Waltzes pulsing near
Let the swimmer fear.

Beached and bare
I’m less of a scare
But I don’t care.

Though I look like a slob
It’s a delicate job
Being just a blob.”

Did you guess “jellyfish”? Some poems won’t work quite as well for this kind of game, but all feature fresh, often startling images sure to stimulate minds.

Also see …

my prior post on Kate Coombs’s delightful retelling of the Grimm’s fairy tale “Hans My Hedgehog.”

And for ages 8 to 12, consider

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:

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Spring’s beauty and late summer’s bounty both begin in the dirt — the darker the better. You can cultivate garden experiences with children by sharing books that celebrate the whole messy process.  

Brown, Peter. The Curious Garden. Little Brown, 2009. While Brown has gotten a lot of attention for his goofy, likable Children Make Terrible Pets (2010), this ecological fable is one to savor. Liam is exploring his drab city when he discovers plants growing on the old elevated railroad tracks. He decides to tend the patch, and the plants spread. What will happen, though, when winter comes? Spring delivers a big surprise, as other children join Liam in tending plants — and in transforming the city. In his note, Brown says he always wondered what would happen if an entire city were to cooperate with nature. This picture book invites us to imagine the possibilities.

Cole, Henry. On Meadowview Street. Greenwillow, 2007. Caroline and her family have moved to a new house in the suburbs. Noticing a flower in the middle of their lawn, she asks her dad to mow around it. The lone flower multiplies and gains companion flowers, and Caroline discovers birds and butterflies visiting her little wildflower plot. Soon her parents get inspired, and help her plant a shade tree and make a bird house. Now, instead of a boring lawn, they have a view of a lovely, biologically diverse meadow. For details on creating your own wildlife habitat, see the National Wildlife Federation site.

Lerner, Carol. Butterflies in the Garden. HarperCollins, 2002.
Bright paintings and clear text point out flowers that attract butterflies and show how they grow, from caterpillars to proficient fliers. Each butterfly inside the book also appears on the endpapers, thereby inviting readers to play a matching game. Best of all, it might inspire you and your children to create your own butterfly garden.

Mora, Pat. Yum! MmMm! Que Rico!: America’s Sproutings. illus. by Rafael López. Lee & Low, 2007. Enjoy the fruits of farmers’ labors with this collection of haiku lauding the attributes of foods native to the Americas. Each poem is accompanied by information on the food’s origins and uses. Tasty topics include the papaya, the blueberry, chile, corn, cranberry, pecan, pineapple, potato, prickly pear, pumpkin, tomato, vanilla, and chocolate. López adds appeal with his vivid, Latin-flavored paintings. Américas Award winner.

Tamar, Erika. The Garden of Happiness. Harcourt Brace, 1996. An inspiring story of how Marisol and her neighbors create a lush community garden out of a vacant lot.

Pulling Poems from a Dappled World

“Glory be to God for dappled things!” wrote Gerard Manley Hopkins in his squirming-with-life poem “Pied Beauty.” What finer season than spring to share fresh poems with children?

Raczka, Bob. Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys. illus. by Peter H. Reynolds. Houghton Mifflin, 2010. This might just turn out to be one of children’s (not just boys’) all-time favorite collections of haiku. The engaging images and hearty humor shine: “I watch the worms squirm/and decide to bait my hook/with hot dog instead.” Another kid-pleaser: “If this puddle could/talk, I think it would tell me/to splash my sister.”

Alarcon, Francisco X. Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems/ Jitomates Risuenos: Y Otros Poemas de Primavera (The Magical Cycle of the Seasons Series). Children’s Book Press, 1997. A fun, bilingual collection by a renowned Mexican-American poet. The 18 poems include “Words are Birds” and others teeming with nature and joy.

Giovanni, Nikki. The Sun Is So Quiet: Poems. Illus. by Ashley Bryan. Holt, 1996. Collection of poems by acclaimed poet celebrates the seasons, nature, and an array of childhood experiences.

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, editor. Opening Days. Harcourt, 1996. Nineteen poems by various poets such as Jane Yolen and Walt Whitman have fun with sports, including baseball, skiing, karate, and tennis.

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, ed. Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems. illus. by David Diaz. McElderry, 2010. Superb collection of poems spanning the seasons. Includes such poets as Carl Sandburg, Marilyn Singer, and Karla Kuskin.

Noda, Takayo. Dear World. Puffin, 2005. Bright and beautifully illustrated collection of brief poems celebrating the natural world.

Ruddell, Deborah. Today at the Bluebird Cafe: A Branchful of Birds. illus. by Joan Rankin. McElderry, 2007. Ruddell’s poems of cardinals, a woodpecker, and others are whimsical and lively. Her humor reigns in such poems as “There’s a Robin in the Bathroom”: “He uses my toothbrush/to scour his wings./He sloshes and splashes/on all of our things.” Rankin’s bright, lively illustrations add to the fun. Also see Ruddell’s A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk.

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• Poetry Game for Students (librarianbrain.wordpress.com)

Brother, Can you Share the Truth?

The German philosopher Jurgen Habermas, author of The Theory of Communicative Action, saw a clear link between violence and distorted communication. Upon recently revisiting Ken Burns’ Civil War series, 150 years after those first shots fired at Fort Sumter, I found the stench of distortions everywhere, then and now. They will never leave us. How, after all this time, can anyone deny that the defense of slavery is what ripped this country apart? When I saw those images of wild, headstrong boys so eager to support the Confederate cause, I thought of the deception they’d been fed as a kind of maggot souffle. Pierce the puffed-up top, and out come the worms.

Hell is what Goethe called the relentless war depicted in the Iliad. I recall once reading excerpts from Rosemary Sutcliff’s stunning version of this epic poem to fifth graders. Why, a child asked me, are we hearing about all this war, in a Quaker school? I replied, you folks have already answered that question, as, over and over, you comment on the futility of it all. At last, the tragic war reached its bleak denouement — as do all wars. In our land, the Civil War ended, the dumb teeth of tombstones protruding in the fields of slaughter. We live in the aftermath of that carnage. Can we count the ways distorted communication has led us to subsequent wars? How often do we miss opportunities to nourish relationships that strengthen our culture and our own spirits?

We do not serve our older children well by shielding them from the bloody results of war, or by glorifying it. Like us, they will witness and experience a multitude of conflicts fed by communication gone astray. Why not use literature to engage them in discussions that will motivate them to think critically, to share their views in constructive ways, and to inspire them to work for a more just and peaceful world?

Recommended Read-alouds for Middle School

Lewis, J. Patrick. The Brothers’ War: Civil War Voices in Verse. Featuring the Work of Civil War Photographers. National Geographic, 2007. Acclaimed children’s poet Lewis has written 11 poems exposing the horrors of war, from myriad perspectives. Each remarkable poem is accompanied by a full-page archival photograph of the time. Readers will find much to ponder in both the well-chosen images and the words. Fittingly, Lewis opens the book with the sharp, lingering image of slaves picking cotton near Savannah, GA: “I stooped to stoop/ And stooped to chop,/ Then clipped to scoop/ The cotton crop.” Other poems imagine accounts by John Brown and Frederick Douglass, letters from soldiers to their families, and a narrative by a runaway slave. One of the most haunting poems is “Boys in a Brothers’ War,” in which a wounded young soldier from Virginia falls on a vole’s home. “Ignorant of war, the vole had his pea-sized heart/ set on the bark of a chinaberry tree, but there/ was Private Flowers’ boot…” Detailed captions explain elements of the war that relate to the poems. Also included: a selected-event timeline, map of states, a note on the photography, and author’s notes on the poems.

Lupton, Hugh. Adventures of Odysseus. Barefoot, 2010. Hear master storyteller Lupton read his wondrous version of Homer’s Odyssey on the accompanying CD.

Sutcliff, Rosemary. Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad. Frances Lincoln, 2000. This fluid, supremely readable version offers young people an accessible version of the Iliad.

Related Articles

• A Conflict’s Acoustic Shadows (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)
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One Snowy Day a Groundhog Met a Fox

Blackaby, Susan. Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox. Illus. by Carmen Segovia. Sterling, 2011. Ages 4-7.

If you’re seeking a whimsical read-aloud for Groundhog’s Day, you’ve found it. Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox sparkles with wit and sly charm. Brownie is a clever groundhog that meets a hungry would-be predator on a cloudy February 2nd. The fox tells her, “Hold still…. I’m trying to eat you for breakfast.” Brownie’s flip response is that it’ s simply too late for breakfast. The two find they both hate to wait. Brownie suggests the fox work up an appetite by clearing the snow off the pond. Segovia’s humorous image shows the fox putting his fluffy tail to good use. Alas, after all that effort, it’s too late for lunch, says Brownie. Then the tricky groundhog leads the fox to a tree and winds her scarf around and around the fox, binding him to the trunk.

Brownie’s little heart is touched, though, as she hears the fox’s plaintive cries. She decides it’s time to share what’s in her basket: cocoa and cinnamon toast. The crumbs attract a robin — the first sign of spring! The two new friends leave for home, pondering their next adventure. The illustrator’s note describes how Segovia first conceived of this engaging character one winter as she sketched a groundhog. Her wintry palette, splashed with the fox’s red, is as refreshing as that impromptu picnic.

Enhance a snowy story with the cold facts, perfectly described and displayed in

Cassino, Mark and Jon Nelson. The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter’s Wonder. Chronicle, 2009. Ages 4-9. You’ll be singing songs of snow, glorious snow after reading this snappy little informative book. Cassino and Nelson reveal the scientific nature of snow by using an accessible format featuring a brief fact in a large type size, then giving details in smaller text. Readers will learn of the three major types of crystals (star-shaped, plate and columnar), as well as other interesting facts. (It’s the molecular structure of water that creates the six-sided crystals, for instance.) The superb illustrations include both spectacular photographs that beg to be shared and Aoyagi’s ink and watercolor diagrams that show how a crystal develops from a speck of soil, pollen, or other substance, and then develops into an intricate six-sided beauty. Also noteworthy are the clear instructions on catching and examining snow crystals — just the trick for getting readers to venture outside to explore wintry wonders.

More and More Snow …

Alarcon, Francisco X. Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems. illus. by Maya Christina Gonzalez. Children’s Book Press, 2001. Ages 7+ Fresh poems, often written from an unusual perspective, grace bright and beautiful pages showcasing poems in both Spanish and in English.

Andersen, Hans Christian. The Snow Queen. Trans. and retold by Naomi Lewis. Illus. by Christian Birmingham. Candlewick, 2008. Ages 8-10. Don’t miss Andersen’s most beautiful fairy tale, a source of inspiration for C.S. Lewis and other fantasy writers. Of the many versions available, Lewis’s is the one you want. This memorable wintry tale begs to be read aloud: “The cloak and cap were made of snow, and the driver ah, she was a lady, tall and slender and dazzlingly white!” Gerda’s dear friend Kay is kidnapped by the Snow Queen and held in her palace, where “the walls were of driven snow, and the doors and windows of cutting wind.” Gerda sets out on a treacherous quest to save Kay. Barrett’s watercolor-and-pencil illustrations capture the dreamy, sometimes frightening aspects of Andersen’s brilliant story.

Aylesworth, Jim. The Mitten. illus. by Barbara McClintock. Scholastic, 2009. Ages 3-6. This dynamic duo has produced a lively version of the beloved Ukrainian folktale, in which more and more animals cram into an almost ever-stretching mitten. McClintock’s energetic illustrations created with ink, gouache, and watercolor provide the perfect wintry touch.

da Costa, Deborah. Snow in Jerusalem. illus. by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu. Albert Whitman, 2001. Ages 6-8. Two boys live in Jerusalem, but they have never met. Avi lives in the Jewish Quarter, while Hamudi lives in the Muslim Quarter. To their surprise, they discover they have both been caring for the same stray white cat. The cat knows no boundaries, and leads the boys to friendship — as unexpected as snow in Jerusalem. If you don’t have this book, get it! Children love the story, which provides wonderful opportunities to discuss conflict in the Middle East and the nature of friendship and trust.

Florian, Douglas. Winter Eyes: Poems and Paintings. Greenwillow, 1999. Fun for all in these brief, whimsical poems, enlivened with Florian’s witty paintings.

Photo of a snow crystal by Wilson Bentley

Martin, Jacqueline. Snowflake Bentley. Houghton, 1998. Wilson Bentley of Vermont first discovered how to photograph snow crystals, as described in this modern classic picture-book biography. Also explore the Snowflake Bentley web site to see his astounding photographs such as the one at left.

Stewart, Melissa. Under the Snow. illus. by Constance Rummel Bergum. Peachtree, 2009. Where do the ladybugs go when it’s cold? What about the bees and the centipedes? Stewart explores winter aspects of such habitats as a field, a forest, a pond, and a wetland. Bergum’s watercolor paintings reveal the animals’ world beneath the snow and the world above, where people skate on frozen ponds and deer forage for food. Use this simple informational book to amaze and to enhance winter story times. Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12, 2010

Whipple, Laura, ed. A Snowflake Fell: Poems About Winter. illus. by Hatsuki Hori. Barefoot Books, 2003. All ages. This lovely collection of wintry poems by such poets as Nikki Giovanni, Jane Yolen, David McCord, Barbara Juster Esbensen, and Ted Hughes, explores the season in all its dazzling glory. Hori’s evocative pastel and watercolor paintings add to the frosty fun.

Here’s to All the Dreamers

Today the American Library Association announced the winner of the 2011 Pura Belpré Author Award. It’s a beauty! Other winners are listed after this review.

Ryan, Pam Muñoz.  The Dreamer. Illus. by Peter Sís. Scholastic, 2010. Ages 10-16.

The landscape of a major poet’s mind provides Ryan with the space to create her own work of art in The Dreamer. Her lush rendering of the early life of Neftali Reyes, the acclaimed Chilean poet known to the world as Pablo Neruda, is stunning and original.

This is the story of a scrawny, seemingly weak boy who finds power in words, in his vibrant environment, in the kingdom of imagination. The authoritarian figure of the father looms large in this novel, providing tension and conflict. The rigid patriarch has worked hard to advance with the railroad and is determined to see his son Neftali pursue a respected career in medicine. Ryan depicts the boy’s fears, his stuttering, and his growing resistance to his father’s demands.

The integration of form and content in this historical novel is a joy to experience. Ryan’s poetic structure involves choosing a single evocative word to denote each chapter, sprinkling her own poetic, Neruda-like lines within the story, and capturing the boy’s sense of wonder with the use of onomatopeia and repetition. Further highlighting the boy’s experiences and perceptions are the dreamy pen-and-ink pointillist illustrations of Peter Sis, known for his sensitive, often mysterious artwork.

A sampling of Neruda’s poems is included at the end of the book and will inspire older readers to discover more about this remarkable poet.

2011 ALA Awards for Children’s Literature Published in 2010

Newbery Awards & Honors

Honor	Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night	Joyce Sidman	9780547152288
Honor	Heart of a Samurai	Margi Preus	9780810989818
Honor	One Crazy Summer	Rita Williams-Garcia	9780060760885
Honor	Turtle in Paradise	Jennifer L. Holm	9780375836886
Winner	Moon Over Manifest	Clare Vanderpool	9780385738835

Caldecott Awards & Honors

Honor	Dave the Potter	Laban Carick Hill; illus. by Bryan Collier	9780316107310
Honor	Interrupting Chicken	David Ezra Stein	9780763641689
Winner	A Sick Day for Amis McGee	Erin Stead, illus.	9781596434028

ALEX Awards: The Alex Awards are given to 10 adult books that are appealing to young adults

The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To	D.C. Pierson	9780307474612
Breaking Night	Liz Murray	9780786868919
Girl in Translation	Jean Kwok	9781594487569
The House of Tomorrow	Peter Bognanni	9780399156090
The Lock Artist	Steve Hamilton	9780312380427
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake	Aimee Bender	9780385501125
The Radleys	Matt Haig	9781439194010
The Reapers Are the Angels	Alden Bell	9780805092431
Room	Emma Donoghue	9780316098335
The Vanishing of Katharina Linden	Helen Grant	9780385344173

Schneider Awards: Annual juvenile award to an author or illustrator that best captures the disability experience

Best Children’s Book	The Pirate of Kingergarten	George Ella Lyon	9781416950240
Best Middle School Book	After Ever After	Jordan Sonnenblick	9780439837064
Best Teen Book	Five Flavors of Dumb	Antony John	9780803734333

Stonewall children’s and YA literature Award: Annual award for English language book best capturing GLBT  experience

2011 Honor Books

Will Grayson, Will Grayson	John Green	9780525421580
Love Drugged	James Klise	9780738721750
Freaks and Revelations	David Willis Hurwin	9780316049962
The Boy in the Dress	David Williams	9781595142993

2011 Winner

Almost Perfect

Brian Katcher

9780385736657

Coretta Scott King: Given to African-American authors and illustrators for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions

Lifetime Achievement	Henrietta M. Smith
New Talent	Zora & Me	Victoria Bond	9780763643003
New Talent	Seeds of Change	Sonia Lynn SadlerJen Cullerton Johnson	9781600603679
Illustrator	Dave the Potter	Laban Carick Hill; illus. by Bryan Collier	9780316107310
Author Honor	Lock Down	Sharon Berti	9781450062732
Author Honor	Ninth Ward	Jewell Parker Rhodes	9780316043076
Author Honor	Yummy	G. Neri	9781584302674
Author Winner	One Crazy Summer	Rita Garcia-Williams	9780060760885

Margaret A. Edwards Awards for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature

• Terry Pratchett

William C. Morris Award for Best debut YA Author

Honor	Hush	Esches Chayil	9780802720887
Honor	Guardian of the Dead	Karen Healy	9780316044301
Honor	Hold Me Closer Necromancer	Lish McBride	9780805090987
Winner	Freak the Observer	Blythe Woolston	9780761362128

YALSA Best Nonfiction Award

Honor	Spies of Mississippi	Rick Bowers	9781426305955
Honor	The Dark Game	Paul Janeckzo	9780763629151
Honor	They Called Themselves the KKK	Susan Campbell Bartoletti	9780618440337
Winner	Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing	Ann Angel	9780810983496

Prince Honor Books: Excellence in YA Literature

Winner

Ship Breaker

Paolo Bacigalupi

9780316056212

Pura Belpre Awards: Celebrating Latino Authors and Illustrators

Winner -Illustration	Grandma’s Gift	Eric Velasquez	9780802720825
Winner -Text	The Dreamer	Pam Munoz Ryan	9780439269704

Mildred L. Batchelder Award: International and Translated into English

Winner

A Time of Miracles

Anne-Laure Bondoux

9780385739221

Sibert Honor: Most Distinguished Informational Book

Honor	Ballet for Martha	Jan Greenberg	9781596433380
Honor	Lafayette & the American Revolution	Russell Freedman	9780823421824
Winner	Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot	Sy Montgomery	9780618494170

Laura Ingalls Wilder Award: Lasting & Significant Contribution to Children’s Literature

• Tomie DePaola

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award: Book for Beginning Readers that demonstrate great creativity and imagination to engage children in reading

Honor	Ling & Ting	Grace Lin	9780316024525
Honor	We Are in a Book	Mo Willems	9781423133087
Winner	Bink & Gollie	Kate DiCamillo	9780763632663 0763632