Joyful Noise

An introduction to the Joyous worlds of our fanciful friends…

Butterflies!

Beetles!

And Book Lice!

Oh My!

These beautiful bugs can be found in:


A Newberry Honor Book!

Poems with
Two voices.
Two parts,
that play
with each other
throughout the poem.

This is just one of those poetry books you have to listen to out loud. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried reading these poems in print, but saying two parts at the same time can get very confusing. What a relief that we have an audio version! Four talented voices interplay with fourteen tantalizing poems. Poems about insects no less. Rejoice you Science teachers and science friendly students! Rejoice!

Fleishman, Paul. (1988). Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices [CD]. New York: Recorded Books Productions, LLC (1997).

Red Hot Salsa

To be young and Latino.

To be young and American.

How do you keep your identity when you are torn between two or more cultures? As Raquel Valle Senties put it:

“My heart has no room for two countries as [my heart] has no room for two lovers.”

These are the stories of Mexican and Latin American teens, trying to figure out who they are. Told from the mouths of 28 influential Latino and Mexican American poets, whose poems were especially picked in a struggle to portray every aspect of bilingual life. Poems appear in both English and Spanish. In her translations, Carlson fuses the romance and passion of the Spanish language with the candidness of English. The result is vibrant flow of words, colored by well-known Spanish phrases and cognates. The poems are centered around five themes: language and identity, home, love, family, and victory. The resounding idea is the freedom that comes from a sense of cultural belonging.

In the words of Luis J. Rodriguez:

“Here you have a way. Here you can sing victory.”

Carlson, L.M. (Ed.). (2005). Red hot salsa: Bilingual poems on being young and Latino in The United States (L. M. Carlson., Trans.). New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Keesha's House

Seven teens.

Seven problems.

All running away.

Stephie

Jason

(whose pregnant)

(her boyfriend)

Dontay

(a foster kid)

Carmen









(in juvie for a DUI)

Harris

(questioning)

And Katie

(abused and tired of it)

Somehow they all know Keesha


(she doesn't ask questions)

Who lives with Joe.

(everyone deserves a home).

Need to address some issues with troubled teens? Read this poetic novel. No, literally, the whole thing in told in poems. Which makes it great for language arts classes where students need that extra motivation to keep their interest and attention. “Novel” in both style and character. Introduce your students to Keesha and be henceforth known as the cool teacher.

Frost, H. (2003). Keesha's House. New York (Francis Foster Books)

A Wreath for Emmett Till

A Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book!

In 1955, Emmett Till was found washed up in a river with the fan of a cotton gin tied around his neck. It was later found that he was hung and severely beaten by five white men from Mississippi. His crime? Some witnesses say he whistled at a white woman. Now one woman is struggling to come to grips with a tragedy that rocked the nation and the hearts of African Americans everywhere. How does one deal with the effects of racism and injustice? The answer is in this book.

The story is told through a “heroic crown” of fifteen interlinking sonnets with Italian rhyme scheme. Through poetic verse, Marilyn describes the psychological effects of social injustice on our cultural psyche. Nelson concurs that it is our responsibility to speak out against injustice (despite social repercussions), lest we become slaves to fear and suffer the murderous consequences of future tragedy. Please share this book with your students, if for no other reason than to enlighten them about how our nation's past directly affects their future.

Image borrowed from Intuitive Roots, an online blog found at:
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/mwright2/iroots/cat_a_wreath_for_emmett_till.html

Nelson, M. (2005). A wreath for Emmett Till. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Wham! It's A Poetry Jam!

Onomatopoeia never sounded so fun!


In a group. By yourself. With a whisper or a shout! Delivery methods, sample poems, vocal training, rhythm practice, flow and movement, tone…everything your ever wanted to know about interactive poetry is right here!

Give your kids something to do with all their energy! “Show the world that poetry was never meant to simply lie quietly on a the page, any more than kids were meant to sit quietly in their seats to read it.” Perfect for a parent night where your kids can show off their educational skills!

Holbrook, S. (2002). Wham! It’s a Poetry Jam: Discovering performance poetry. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.

Hoops

"Hoops. The game. Feel it."


" The skittery cat-footed
dance along the baseline."



"The weight of you hanging from fine
invisible threads."

" The eyes."

Experience poetry come alive on the basketball court. Let your eyes roam over the energy of the words captured in the heart pounding illustrations.

Still not convinced? How about introducing imagery with a subject that most middle schoolers can’t keep their hands off of? Just imagine....loads of sensory details, similes, metaphors, and personification packed into a three minute countdown! Give your students something to write about by getting their heads in the game.

Burleigh, R. (1997). Hoops. New York: Silver Whistle.

Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies and Misses of Color

A Notable Children’s Book!

This is a poetic account of the real life school in Canterbury, Connecticut told from multiple perspectives. This school stayed in operation despite racist persecution from 1833 to its forced closure in 1834. Can you imagine your students fighting to stay in school? Once they read this book, they’ll understand the true importance of an education and why a person would fight so hard to protect it.

This book is geared towards older students who are ready for an in depth look at racism and are mature enough to analyze and interpret more complex forms of poetry. It’s the perfect introduction to a high school unit on school segregation. Use this case study as a springboard to create a timeline of important schools, documents, and court cases, concerning school segregation.

Alexander, E. & Nelson, M. (2007). Miss Crandall's school for young ladies and misses of color. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.

Gathering The Sun

A Pura Belprie Award Winning Book!

M is for Mexico.

My grandparents came from Mexico.
My parents returned to Mexico.
My dream is to visit Mexico.

Y tu?

What's your dream?

Follow the lives of these young children as they take you into the heart of Mexican culture. With rich, vibrant pictures and poems in both english and spanish, you'll be able to see just what it's like to belong to a culture rich in tradition, family, language, and love. It's amazing that this book can take something as simple as learning the alphabet, and effortlessly turn it into a stepping stone for so many other things.

Keep the culture of your bilingual students alive in the classroom. Let them share this tale with you, their peers, or simply keep it around as a reminder of something familiar. Believe me, having bilingual books on hand goes a long way in reaching across the gap to meet the needs of students who have a harder time staying afloat.

Ada, A. F. (1994). Gathering the sun: An alphabet in English and Spanish. Trans. Rosa Zubizaretta. New York, NY: Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard Books.

Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems

An ALA Notable Book

"Style? Yeah I'd love to have my own signature style. Not something preppy or conventional. Something interesting that just says me."

Yup, that's me. Jessie. I'm just your average teen. Well, almost average. My thoughts certainly aren't. They're just a big jumbled up mess! Or they would be if I didn't write them down. I like to arrange the words into pictures. It's the only way they make sense.

Concrete poetry. That's what it's called and it's the only way I can express myself. And boy do I need to express myself! I've been through everything. Bad hair days...having my secrets blabbed...surviving my younger twerp of a brother...even getting a tongue ring (well sort of).

You should seriously think about showing my book to your students.. Not to sound arrogant, but they could probably use a challenge. Plus they won't have study something from some 300 year old dead guy. Besides, if there's anything I've learned, it's that poetry is a form of art. And art is something everyone can have fun with! Especially if you've got my sense of style. See if your students "get the picture."

Grandits, J. (2007). Blue Lipstick and Other Concrete Poems. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

I See The Rhythm

A Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book!
Jazz! Rhythm and Blues! Hip Hop! Bebop! Spirituals! Funk!
Can you see the rhythm? Check out the vibrant pictures
that ooze the rhythm in bold colors and brash lines.

I See The Rhythm is an extensive timeline of the
history of african american music. It gives small
factual tidbits while using lyrical poetry to
capture the essence of each musical
style. Everything on the page,
right down to the font size and
scattered placement of the
text accentuates each
masterpiece.

So,
Whether it's stirring
up interest for a report or exposing
your students to a variety of different time
periods in a short amount of time, it's a great way
to get kids to personally connect with a history lesson.
Maybe they could write their own poems about how their
experiences with music connect them to their cultural heritage.
They could even use the same poetry methods to create their work!

Igus, Toyomi. (1998). I See The Rhythm. San Francisco, CA: Children's Book Press

All Aboard The Bebop Express!

For an interactive audio reading, please visit the following website: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2005/05/15/books/20050515_BEBOP_AUDIOSS.html
Chugga Chugga Chugga Chugga Choo! Choo!

Welcome aboard the Bebop Express! This is your travel ticket for a journey through the American Jazz scene. Dance to the tune of drummers, singers, bassists, and the infamous Sax Man. Don't forget to stop in at New Orleans for the street jam show!

Be prepared for the ride of your life as you introduce your students to the sounds of Scat. See if they can guess who the famous musicians are! Why not research the 1940s and discover how these different musicians influenced their generation? Then, for the grand finale and presentation, invite your school's jazz band to perform, or have some of your band students put together a jazz ensemble.

Rat a tat! Rat a tat! Blam! Bop Blam! This book really teaches you how to get down with our jazz side! It connects you to the rhythm in a way that no other book can. It just makes you want to get up and dance! dance! dance!

Panahi, H.L. (2005). Bebop Express. New York, New York: Laura Geringer Books