SOCIAL STUDIES POETRY

WICKED GIRLS: A NOVEL OF THE
WITCH TRIALS

Photo Retrieved from Amazon.com

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hemphill, Stephanie. WICKED GIRLS: A NOVEL OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS. New York, NY: Blazer + Bray, 2010. ISBN 9780061853289

B.  REVIEW AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

WICKED GIRLS is a fresh and modern presentation of  the historical fiction, THE CRUCIBLE, in the form of a novel in verse.  With the characters Mercy Lewis, Ann Putman, and Margaret Walcott, the story of the Salem Witch trials comes to life in a quick and enjoyable read.  Each verse is told from the perspective of one of the characters, and this may pose to be a bit confusing at first.  However, through the first few verses, the reader will adjust to the narrator of each poem, and the personalities of each character will become more clear through each verse.

This presentation of historical fiction is a great format for young readers who are not fond of this genre.  The combination of historical fiction and a novel in verse prove to be a wonderful method of delivering a classic story.  The interweaving of the characters and the plot coupled with the verse captivate the reader. In this novel, themes such as jealousy, love, and deceit are the common themes still familiar to young readers today.  The delivery of the story brings together the plan of deceit, and the wicked web weaved by the accusers.  Although there are no illustrations or pictures of the characters or setting, the reader may find themselves forming their own visual of what the characters looked like and what the time period may have been like.

The overall impact of this book is that it leaves a robust desire to find out more information about the Salem Witch Trials.  Who were the accusers?  Why did they formulate this plan?  Did witches ever really exist?  The angle by which Hemphill presents this story and meshes historical facts into the novel allow the reader to enjoy history while still learning about the time period.

The cover is a dramatic image of a blonde, young girl surrounded by a black background.  The title, WICKED GIRLS, is presented in a  witch-like, green stoke, and haunting text.  There are occasional branch-like imprints on a few of the pages, however, there are no other illustrations in the novel.  After the final verse of the novel, Hemphill provides historical information on the accusers and the the girls who were accused.  Information such as their true name, family information, and death information is provided.  The author also provides a short author’s note, and a resource for anyone looking to research the Salem Witch Trials further. This book will surely leave young readers with the desire to learn more about this wicked story!


C.  HIGHLIGHT POEM AND POETRY BREAK 

No Kin In Salem Village

Mercy Lewis, 17

Through the mosquitoes

Bite fierce and the hour falls

Deep in the belly of the night,

I do sneak from the house.

I cannot be contained.

I crunch through the thicket.

I pat my thigh

Three times calling

For the ghost of my dog,

The only one who really cared

For me in this town,

Now rotting in a shallow grave.

I faint back into leaves

Loosed from fat-trunked trees

And bury myself.

I wish to find family

Somewhere, even if it’s underground.

Discuss games played as children.  Hide-N-Go Seek, London Bridge, etc.  Have students research some of their favorite childhood games and find the origins of the games and the names of these games.   Ask them to discuss if they can make any connections to those games and possible trouble those games could have gotten them into.  Discuss the feelings Mercy Lewis is feeling in the verse, and how she may be regretting her decision to go along with the lie.  Can they relate to how this character is feeling?

SCIENCE POETRY

A MIRROR TO NATURE: POEMS

ABOUT REFLECTION

Photo Retrieved from Amazon.com

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Yolen, Jane. A MIRROR TO NATURE: POEMS ABOUT REFLECTION. Photographs by Jason Stemple.  Wordsong: Honesdale, PA, 2009.  ISBN 9781590786246

B.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND REVIEW

Yolen is an award winning poet, and has written over 170 books over her lifetime.  She is known for her storytelling across the country, and many of her works have been translated into other languages for the world to enjoy.  MIRROR TO NATURE was the winner of the John Burroughs Nature Books for Young Readers Award. The collection is a very gentle peek into nature, and the photography allows readers to enjoy the splendid images nature has to offer.  Her poems are light-hearted, yet provide enough science content to be included in a unit study on ecology. ages.  This collection of short poems by Jane Yolen is a combination of poetry and magnificent photography. Animals are the featured subject of her poetry, and real life pictures make this poetry book an excellent choice for connecting poetry and science content. In this collection of twelve poems, she uses mostly rhyming patterns, lyrical rhythms, and she touches on haiku in Spoonbill Haiku. She uses imagery, similes, and onomatopoeia, such as –pop! across her poems.

Jane Yolen provides short captions for each featured animal, and gives brief and interesting facts about the animal.  The captions are all placed at the lower parts of the pages, and are italicized. This separation makes a clear distinction for the reader that this text is not part of the poem. These captions support the poem and allow for the reader to “reflect” back on the poem and even perhaps re-read it with a deeper understanding of the animal.  In the poem The Deer Reflects Himself, Yolen writes, “A deer that stays too long reflecting is a deer called meat.”  In her caption, she explains how deer can be considered a nuisance when they are overpopulated.  By doing this, Yolen provides clarity to her poem and affords the perfect opportunity for discussion.  The organisms and animals Yolen has chosen for her poetry are typically ones of great wonder for young children, and even adults.  Animals such as the spoonbill, snail, cockle, and coyote are photographed and paired with their poems for a great combination of visual and reading enjoyment.

Each poem is arranged across a two page spread, and is placed opposite of the still-life photograph of the animal.  The background color of the spread compliments the animal and its habitat, making for a very pleasing presentation.  Jason Stemple captures each animal against water, and he uses this as the reflection method in his photography.  Yolen then uses the characteristics captured in the photographs in her writing.  In Moorhen’s Mirror, the awkward image of the bird’s reflection is the subject of Yolen’s poem.   

As a feature of the book, Yolen provides a useful Table of Contents for the reader, and an author’s note providing background information on the creation of the book.



C.  HIGHLIGHT POEM AND POETRY BREAK 

How The Wood Stork Population Might Grow

How to double your population?

Stand in water smooth as glass,

This is not mere speculation.

Check the wood storks by the grass.

I count seven in the group,

But by viewing their reflection,

Double up the wood stork troop-

A population resurrection.

After reading the poem, have students think about and do a little research for their favorite animal.  They will draw a picture of their animal and attempt to draw the animal’s reflection.  At the bottom of their drawing, they will provide two or three fun facts on their animal.  

BIOGRAPHICAL POETRY

HOW I DISCOVERED POETRY

Photo Retrieved from Goodreads.com

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nelson, Marilyn. HOW I DISCOVERED POETRY. Ill. by Hadley Hooper. Dial Books: New York, NY, 2014.  ISBN 9780803733046

B. REVIEW AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

A powerful and memorable collection of fifty short poems, delivered as a compact autobiography of a short time period in Marilyn Nelson’s childhood life during the Civil Rights era.  She takes the reader along for her ride as a child from 1950 to 1959, as she travels with her family during military relocations across the country.  Told from a first person perspective, Nelson provides an intimate look into the years she developed as a young African-American girl during a turbulent time period for America.  She gently touches on the beginnings of her passion for writing through non-rhyming sonnets based on her childhood experiences and the time period.

While the Civil Rights era has been presented through a number of generations and formats by other writers, Nelson delivers an innovative perspective in her collection.  Without using inappropriate language, she hints at the derogatory terms often associated with the time period with her literary devices, and her perception of what those words implied.  Nelson also gives the interesting viewpoint as an African-American girl growing  up around white children in different geographical locations, and how she struggled with her identity during that time.  Young adults experiencing military relocation will bond to Nelson, as well as young developing writers. Nelson also connects the reader to common childhood experiences, such as having to leave family pets behind and playing on a schoolyard playground.  The innocent misunderstandings of a young mind, and the lack of knowledge of the turmoil surrounding the innocence of childhood is the highlight of Nelson’s craft in this collection.  In “Caucasian Dinner,” Nelson writes about how they are the first African-American family in Kittery Point, Maine, and the “Caucasian” dinner they have that day.  

The cover of the book is fascinating.  Pictures of Nelson and her family are strung across a clotheslines, attached with clothespins.  Behind the pictures and the title are very light colored significant words from the book.  These words are a great reflection piece after the book has been read.  Inside the book, the poems are arranged across a two-page spread, some accompanied by illustrations, and some not.  Hadley Hooper incorporates real life black and white photography, and also illustrates using blues and yellows.  Each title of the poem is printed in a grayish-blue cursive text, and is followed by the location and year for which the poem is written about.  At the end of the collection is an author’s note, which explains how and why the book was written.  An added feature is the “Who’s Who” in the family photo note, and original publication for some of the poetry contained in the collection.

C. HIGHLIGHT POEM AND POETRY BREAK

Sinfonia Concertante

(Fort Worth, Texas, 1959)

Daddy’s here on temporary duty,

So Mama’s piano is in storage.

Home is a four-room third floor apartment

In a Negro quarter of the city.

My all-black classmates act like I’m from Mars.

Are you the girl from California?

Talk for us. And these boys act like I’m cute!

Miss Jackson saw me pretend piano

And had me put into a music class.

String quartet: two violins, cello,

And on viola, me, sawing away.

Daddy says my squawks set his teeth on edge,

So I practice out on the balcony,

Genius on view all up and down the block.

Read the poem aloud as a class during a Poetry Break for a unit on the Civil Rights Era or Black History Month.  Discuss the ways in which Nelson is like the other children she is with, and how is she different.  Pose these discussion questions:

• Is she connecting to her peers in this poem?
• Do you think they accept her, even though they are also African-American?
• What experiences  have changed the way she relates to her peers?
• Since she plays on the balcony, what do her neighbors think about her family?

New Poetry Book

WHAT ARE YOU GLAD ABOUT? WHAT ARE YOU MAD ABOUT? : POEMS FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED  POEMS

Photo retrieved from Amazon.com

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Viorst, Judith. WHAT ARE YOU GLAD ABOUT? WHAT ARE YOU MAD ABOUT?: POEMS FOR WHEN A PERSON NEEDS A POEM.  Art by Lee White. New York, NY: Atheneum Books, 2016. ISBN 9781481423557

B. REVIEW AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS 

Viorst presents a collection of over fifty short poems about the ups and downs in moods during the childhood years.  Each poem is a thoughtful delivery of the many emotions that a young child may experience through the days of their school lives, family lives, and lives within their own heads.  Just as the name of the book suggests, the moods and emotions of a young adult can vary from one extreme to another, often in the same day.  Viorst has compiled her collection of poetry perfectly together with a poem for every mood in a young family’s house. Viorst uses rhyming patterns in many of her poems, as well as sensory and imagery to create a sympathetic poetic connection for every child to enjoy. None of the patterns are overly complex, nor is the language in the poetry over done. The tones in her poems vary from humorous, to sad, and even happy and light at times.

Because of the rhyming patterns of many of the poems, the poems in this collection are enjoyable and keep the reader’s attention.  Through a very creative delivery, Viorst manages to delve into touchy subjects such as divorce and dealing with bullies.  In I’m Not My Best Friend’s Best Friend Anymore,  Viorst writes, “I told her that I didn’t care, I lied/ The day we broke up I came home and I cried.”  Instantly, Viorst strikes an emotional chord with the reader with this exceptional poem about losing a friend.  

The poems are each titled and are arranged in chapter-like sections by topics such as School Stuff, About the Family, Home and Away,  and Mysteries.  The poems in each chapter relate to the chapter headings.  In the chapter, School Stuff, poems such as School Lunch, Arithmetrick, and Reading and Writing are organized under the chapter topic. Essentially, a child could choose what topic they would like to read and enjoy, and later come back to the book for more reading. An added feature of the book is an index, which is arranged in alphabetical order. The illustrations are simple pencil vintage-style drawings, with plenty of detail to enjoy.  They are symbolic of what each poem is about.  In My Papa, White captures many of the elements from the poem in her illustrations.  The illustrations are presented in hues of blue, gray, and black, and are a great component of the book.   

C. HIGHLIGHT POEM

An excerpt from And We Call It Home:

Home is where the you that’s truly you lives.

It’s where the music of your heart is played.

Home is where you go and what you know gives

You shelter when you’re lonely or afraid.

And when the skies turn dark and bad times chase you,

And all the gates are locked and shades are drawn,

There’s a place where someone will embrace you,

And keep you safe until a kinder dawn.

And we call it home.

For a poetry break, have students read the poem silently.  Then, allow them to paint, pencil draw, or color the part of their  house that makes them feel that they are truly at home.  The teacher or librarian can present their own drawing or picture presentation to help students think of interesting or unique parts of their home.  

Example: The part of my home that makes me feel truly at home is my sofa, with my family and dogs sitting around me, and we are watching a movie together for the first time.  We are all safe together and this is when I am truly at home.