What My Mother Doesn't Know (Module 3)

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sones, Sonya. 2001. What My Mother Doesn’t Know. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0689841140

2. PLOT SUMMARY
This teen poetry collection reads more like a novel, with its face-paced plot following the twists and turns of a young teen’s heart. Sophie, the main character, shares through poetry her search for the right boyfriend moving from one mistake to another. What My Mother Doesn’t Know also touches on the topics of being Jewish, budding sexuality, marriage (her parent's), mother-daughter relations, and best friends.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Sones’s free verse poetry flows naturally and keeps the pages turning quickly. The use of poetry for this teen novel encourages the deep, intense emotions of being a teenager, without feeling overdone. The emotional connection is the most impressive part of this book because it feels so true to the ups and downs of being a teenager: one minute totally high and the next minute totally devastated. We see Sophie in love and out of love, cheating, lying to her best friends, working through a rocky relationship with her mother, and worried about her reputation. This book is an honest and open work on the embarrassing explorations of teenager-dom.

The poetry is carefully crafted, but it doesn’t lose the teenager’s natural speech patterns for its use of literary devices. When considering breaking up with Dylan, Sophie is thinking how she may have outgrown him when Sones throws in a simile that his hands are “like the hands of a little boy” (“Good night”). She personifies a Christmas tree, “So tall and full, / with all its arms / swooping up at the tips / as if to say, ‘Ta da!’” (“It’s a Beautiful Tree”). When Sophie is caught up in kissing a new boy, she finds her metaphor in hot chocolate: “warming us better / than any cup of steaming cocoa ever could” (“Winter Kiss”). Sones has a gift of writing beautiful poetry that still flows as if it could come straight out of a teenager’s mouth. The poems are also balanced with lists, emails, and chats to add to the reality of a teenager’s life.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• Booklist starred review: “The poetry is never pretentious or difficult; on the contrary, the very short, sometimes rhythmic lines make each page fly. Sophie's voice is colloquial and intimate, and the discoveries she makes are beyond formula, even while they are as sweetly romantic as popular song. A natural for reluctant readers, this will also attract young people who love to read.”
• Publishers Weekly starred review: “Drawing on the recognizable cadence of teenage speech, the author poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy. She weaves separate free verse poems into a fluid and coherent narrative with a satisfying ending.”
• School Library Journal review: “Sones's book makes these often-difficult years a little more livable by making them real, normal, and OK.”

5. CONNECTIONS

• Sonya Sones has a fascinating website with great information about her books, her poetry, and her life. For those students who really want to get to know her more, don’t miss the video tour of her writing space: http://www.sonyasones.com/gallery/gallery002.html
• The sequel to What My Mother Doesn’t Know gives us the same quick paced poetry novel, but from the perspective of a boy (Robin Murphy). What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know pairs nicely with this first novel, yet the first one doesn’t have to be read to understand its sequel. Use What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know to interest male reluctant readers or those that would like a the novel in verse with a male protagonist voice.
• Other novels in verse:

Glenn, Mel. Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?: A Mystery in Poems. ISBN: 9780525675303


Herrara, Juan Felipe. CrashBoomLove. ISBN: 9780826321138


Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. ISBN: 9780590371254

Rylant, Cynthia. God Went to Beauty School. ISBN: 9780060094331

Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Colors (Module 3)

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sidman, Joyce. 2009. Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Colors. Ill by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 9780547014944

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Sidman’s free verse poetry uses colors to describe the seasons, following the calendar year from spring to summer to fall to winter. From the joy of a spring rain to the frozen fun of winter, the reader will find enjoyment in each season and the colors that it imbues.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The book begins and ends with the “cheer-cheer-cheer” of red “each note drops / like a cherry / into / my / ear.” With this, Sidman really sets the tone for her book in that each color is personified and given delightful characteristics in each season. She also uses the five senses to help create a richer experience of the colors actions: “In spring, / even the rain tastes Green,” “Fall smells / Purple,” and “Red hops to treetops, fluffs its feathers / against the cold.” Because of the personification of each color, the images are vivid and create surprising mental pictures of the colors being incredibly active throughout the year.

Careful word choice in each poem brings it alive with alliteration, consonance, and onomatopoeia. In Spring, yellow and purple are “first flowers, / first friends” and white “sounds like storms.” In Summer, white “clinks in drinks” and gray eats a bug “Snap!”. In Fall, red is an apple “crunch!” and yellow is a bus “Warning—classrooms ahead.” In Winter, “pink prickles,” “blue breathes,” and “white whispers.” Sidman’s free verse lines flow from short to long in the same poem creating a wonderful read aloud.

The illustrations are delightful and playful, fitting the tone of the poetry. The character Zagarenski created is simple, yet brings so much joy to the illustrations as s/he wanders from season to season, color to color enjoying it all. By having the colors so vividly shown throughout the seasons, it helps to express how the colors really blend from season to season. There is a great use of mixed media within each illustration that heightens the creativity. Especially wonderful are the use of cut-out words, like “circle” on the wheel the character stands on in spring or “winter/December” on the scarf worn in the winter.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• Awarded Caldecott Honor Medal
• Booklist starred review: “Throughout, the mixed-media illustrations, including collage and paintings on wood, provide much to look at. And as the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page do sing.”
• Horn Book starred review: “A poet known for multilayered explorations of nature rejoices here in the way colors, and how we perceive them, change with the seasons.”
• Kirkus starred review: “The seasons flow into each other, bringing readers full circle. Fresh descriptions and inventive artistry are a charming inspiration to notice colors and correlate emotions. Details in the artwork will invite repeated readings and challenge kids to muse about other color icons.”
• School Library Journal review: “Some of Zagarenski's mixed-media paintings are full of light and others are darker and slightly haunting, but the rich colors come to life on the page. The words and pictures depend upon one another and blend well to conjure up quirky, magical imagery.”

5. CONNECTIONS

• Invite students to think of their favorite color during their favorite season. Help them explore the five senses with that color and season in mind (e.g. How does green sound in the summer?). Once they have done some brainstorming, have the students write poems celebrating each season. Group the poems by season and display in the library.
• Joyce Sidman’s website has both a reader’s guide and video of her speaking about this book. She also has “poem starters” and offers to post some of the kid-authored poems that are submitted to her. Spend time with your students exploring this website and encourage them to submit poetry to her: http://www.joycesidman.com/Index.html
• Other illustrated books about the four seasons:

Gibbons, Gail. The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree. ISBN: 9780152712464

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, ed. Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems. ISBN: 9781416902102

Lin, Grace and Ranida McKneally. Our Seasons. ISBN: 9781570913600

Rosenstiehl, Agnes. Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons: A Toon Book. ISBN: 9780979923814

My Man Blue (Module 3)

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grimes, Nikki. 1999. My Man Blue. Ill by Jerome Lagarrigue. NewYork: Puffin. ISBN 0329292110

2. PLOT SUMMARY
My Man Blue follows a kid, Damon, and his mother’s old friend, Blue. The book begins with Damon and his mother’s move to an urban neighborhood where they first meet up with Blue. Although wary at first, Damon accepts Blue’s friendship with the understanding that Blue wants to help fill the whole Damon’s father left and keep Damon from being swallowed up by the streets the way Blue’s son was.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
There is nothing forced about Nikki Grimes’ writing. Her poems flow naturally in free verse form. She has organized this book to highlight the growth of the friendship and Damon’s growing courage and self-confidence. Poems balance in total length and line length with some having shorter, more staccato lines and others longer, more lyrical ones.

Blue and Damon’s friendship is filled with beautiful lessons of truth and courage. The emotions are raw and honest, like Damon’s telling Blue in the poem “Second Son:” “But I can’t take Zeke’s place.” Grimes delicately touches on discussions of fear, violence, and loss but maintains a hopeful voice throughout. This book has great appeal to many audiences (young and old) because of the chord of truth that it strikes.

“Damon & Blue” is most musical poem in its use of rhyme (“blue, two, avenue”), rhythm, and “s” sound. Other poems do not use rhyme but feature other literary devices like alliteration. For example, “Like Blue” has a lot of “b” in it (be, Blue, black, built, boxing, but). There is much that can be highlighted to students about how poets craft their poems in this book.

The strength of this book really comes in Grimes’ ability to touch on deep themes while not feeling forced or trite. In the “Class Bully,” we are surprised to see that the bully is a girl and given another surprise as Damon refuses to hit her back: “It’s guys / who don’t hit girls / Who’re strong.” Grimes also writes of fear in two poems. In “Fearless,” Blue takes Damon to climb a tree: “And urges me to loop / my fear like twine / around a branch and use / the rope to climb.” This is such a great image of how to use fear to our advantage. In one of the more tender poems about a shooting at school, “The Plan,” Damon personifies and addresses fear directly: “So, Mister Fear, / If you’re listening, / You best be leaving / Now.”

Lagarrigue’s illustrations are a perfect companion to the book. They are soft acrylic paintings, filled with deep colors and are slightly gritty looking to emphasize the urban feel. The paintings seem blurred, yet truly exemplify the intense emotions of the book. In many ways, they really personify Blue himself—soft, yet tough.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• Publishers Weekly starred review: “Though each of these accomplished poems could easily stand alone, together they form an enticing story.”
• School Library Journal review: “Lagarrigue debuts with a set of twilit, impressionistic, sparsely populated street scenes in which Blue, with his shaven head and heavy frame, leans hugely but attentively toward his diminutive companion. Damon mentions his mother several times, but because she appears in the illustrations only once, she remains a background presence as man and boy bond.”
• Newsweek review: “[This is one] of this year’s best children’s books. . . . [It] sneaks in a bit of wisdom (it’s OK for African-American boys to cook and read), but mostly it’s the story of a kid and his mother’s boyfriend warming to each other.”

5. CONNECTIONS

• Jerome Lagarrigue’s artistry should be delved into deeper by observing some of his other illustrated works. These include Freedom Summer (ISBN: 9780689830167), Me and Uncle Romie (ISBN: 9780803725201), Going North (ISBN: 9780374326814), and Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelou (ISBN: 9781402720239).
• For older students (grades 5-8), Nikki Grimes has written another book about fathers and father-figures, Dark Sons (ISBN: 9780786818884). My Man Blue would be a great introduction to this longer book and could set the tone for discussing father-son relationships.
• Other books about fear that can be compared and contrasted because they take a lighter look at the theme:

Henkes, Kevin. Wemberly Worried. ISBN: 9780688170288

Mayer, Mercer. There’s an Alligator Under My Bed. ISBN: 9780803703742

Seuss, Dr. What Was I Scared Of? ISBN: 9780375958670

Waber, Bernard. Courage. ISBN: 9780618238552