Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat: MODULE !African American Poetry

Hip Hop Speaks To Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat

Giovanni, Nikki. 2008. Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. ISBN 978-1-4022-1048-8.

Review

Editor Giovanni has created a wonderful poetry book with a beat.  The book contains 51 poems all with an African American tone.  African American history is taught through poems such as "The Rosa Parks" and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  "I Have a Dream" speech is introduced in the poetry book as well.  Not only is a lot of African American history taught but a lot of the African American cultured is covered with jazz and blue rhymes.  There is a wonderful CD that accompanies 30 of the 51 poems.  The CD has very popular artists ranging from Queen Latifah, Langston Hughes, and Kanye West.  Most all of the poems contain a wide variety of topics including, inspirational, celebration of aloneness, people are equal, and all the poems are full of self esteem and motivation. 

The illustrations are very different throughout the book because 5 different illustrators worked on the art work.  All the poems are bright and colorful and really show the African American culture.  This is one of the most wonderful poetry books that I have looked at.  With poems that are packed full of history and culture of the African Americans this is a very educational poetry book.  Children receive the entertainment value of the hip hop beat that the CD offers and the beautiful illustrations that bring it all together make this one of the most amazing poetry book I have read.  Children will love to listen to the CD and follow along in the book.  This is such a fun way to learn about history that children won't even realize they are learning so much about this fantastic time period and culture.  All these poems in here were so powerful and struck me in a way that I never imagined possible.  Each poem had their own meaning some sad about the time period and some happy and inspirational.  I have to say that the one that hit me the most was the famous and classic speech written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  I never considered his speech to be poetry but after reading through his speech it flows and is so moving is really one of the best poetic pieces that I have read.  I don't think that children get a lot of exposure to it so I would like to share the most uplifting and amazing African American speech ever written with everyone again.

I Have a Dream

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. 

Five score year ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadows we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  But 100 years later we are still not free.

So we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.  In a sense we've come to our nations' Capital to cash a check, When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This not was a promise that all would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note.  Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.  So we have come to cash this check-a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

Let us not wallow in despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we must face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.  It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "we hold these truths to be self-evident; that all are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. 

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight.

This is our hope.  This is the faith that I will go back to the South with.  With this faith we will be able to work together, to play together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. 

So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.  Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.  Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the slopes of California!

And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual. "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Classroom/Library Connection

 Recommended audience:  Ages 8 and up  

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great way to introduce poetry and teach them about a very important time in history. I would read this poem to introduce black history month.  I can’t say that I ever remember hearing his entire speech read out loud in school and I think it should have been.  This is a powerful way to introduce the subject and is a great attention grabber. 

Before reading: Ask children if they know who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is.  Ask them if they know what he did for the African American population.  Show them a picture of who this famous man in and give them a little history behind him. 

During reading: Read the poem to them slowly so that they can understand it all and truly think about the deep impact that it had.  Ask them if they understand what the speech is about.  Ask if he was brave for giving that speech.  

Reread the poem: The second time around read the poem and have children listen for all the meanings in the poem.  Have them pick out there favorite part. 

After reading: Have them write their own I have a dream speech.  Have them share their speeches.  Discuses if their speeches hold the impact that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speech did.  Children could also research what happened during and after his speech depending on the age group.

There are so many different possibilities with this poem and this part of history.  So many things can be discussed and so many projects can be done.  Sharing this poem with children will have great impact on them and you will see it come alive in them.  I would recommend sharing this poem/speech with all children!

Stampede: Poems to Celebrate the WILD SIDE of School-MODULE 1-SCHOOL POETRY

STAMPEDE! Poems to Celebrate the WILD SIDE of School

Salas, Laura Purdie. 2009. Stampede!: Poems to Celebrate the WILD SIDE of School. Ill. by Steven Salerno. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 978-0-618-91488-3.

Review

Laura Purdie Salas has written eighteen short poems about school. These poems are full of similes and metaphors.  Salas uses animal metaphors in each poem as she relates a mouse being lost in a maze of hallways, sparrows to children on the playground as they play, and a centipede to help with math problems due to his 100 feet.    I laughed through all the poems because children really do look like a herd of elephants stampeding to buses and cars, and parents after school; a by stander has to be careful at the end of a school day.   There are lots of fun images that take place in each poem as the children go through their school day.  The poem "Swarm" starts off the school day when children buzz around like bees  in the school yard talking to their friends while waiting for school to start. "Here, Boy!"  is a hilarious poem about students acting like dogs when the lunch bell finally rings and how incredibly hungry they are.  Children will find this collection of poems to be very entertaining because I think that all children can relate to several of these poems.  Even the moments that are not enjoyable in school such as picture day or a crush finding out that you like them are made to seem funny.   

I enjoyed the illustrations in the book as well.  The illustrations are drawn to look like cartoons.  The children start to almost transform in to the animal that they are being compared to.  It is very creative and I think the illustrations gives children a good imagination of how they relate to each part of the school day.  The pictures are colorful and bright and really bring the poem to life.   

One of my favorite poems was "Rumble, Grumble, Growl!" The poem goes like this:

Hear my stomach rumble.

Hear my stomach roar.

The noise drowns out the teacher.

My belly's getting sore.

I'm a starving bear in springtime---

a bear who's slept too long.

My brain feels slow and foggy.

My appetite is strong.

I'd love some peanut butter

to jolt my brain awake.

But I'm not a picky eater--

I'll take chips or fruit or cake!

Not only is the poem so completely true of most students right before lunch but it has great simple rhymes and most children will find it very funny.

Classroom/Library Connection

Recommended audience:  1st grade-3rd grade

Laura Purdie Salas poem "Rumble, Grumble, Growl' is a great way to get kids thinking and to teach them about metaphors in a fun way.  It's hard for children to concentrate at school before lunch when they are this hungry because they are just thinking about food. 

Before reading: Ask they children how they feel before lunch time see if they are hungry. Ask them if they know what a metaphor is.

During reading: Read the poem to them slowly so that they can understand it all and think about the meaning of them poem.  Ask them what the child was being compared to and ask them why that is a metaphor.  See if they can guess that the child was being compared to a bear in springtime who has hibernated to long and wakes up starving.   

Reread the poem: The second time around read the poem and have children listen for the metaphor.

After reading: Have them write about how they feel before lunch and have the children use an animal metaphor describing how they feel before lunch.  Have them write about all the good foods that they think about before lunch time and ask them to write about their favorite lunch ever.  Depending on the age group you could have the younger children draw a picture of them half animal half human showing how they feel before lunch with all their favorite lunch time foods scattered around the animal.   

There are so many different possibilities with this poetry book and teachers and librarians could use it differently.  Children will enjoy all of these poems and I look forward to sharing some of them with different children.

Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems-Module 1 HOPKINS COLLECTION

Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2010. Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems. Ill. by David Diaz. New York: Simon &Shuster Children's Publishing Division. ISBN 978-1-4169-0210.

Review

Lee Bennett Hopkins has compiled an assortment of poems focusing around the seasons.   Bennett has chosen a total of forty eight poems, twelve poems for each of the four seasons.    All the poems selected really are a true reflection of the season that the poem is about.  The poems allow children to experience the sensory moments that each season brings; from the hot August days, the smells of beginning Spring, and the cold of the first fallen snow in Winter.  Bennett has selected a wide mix of poets for children including William Shakespeare, Karla Kuskin,  and April Halprin Wayland.  These poems are fresh, new and uplifting and readers will fall in love with this collection. 

The art in this book is absolutely mesmerizing.  Every page is full of bright colorful artwork that makes the poem truly complete.  The illustrations have an airbrushed effect that blends the entire picture together perfectly.  The color reflects the seasons and the content of each poem perfectly.  The Spring poems are lighter pastel colors, Summer is bright vibrant colors, while the Fall poems are bursting with bright reds, oranges, and  browns, and Winter is has the cold blues, whites and purples. 

Students will enjoy reading these collected poems written by poets that they recognize and some that they will be introduced to.  They will love the art work that Diaz has done throughout the book and the feeling that it will give them.  I had so many favorites after reading this book that it was hard to select one poem to share but I have to say that "Moon, Have You Met My Mother"? was one of my absolute favorite.    

I am softer

and colder

and whiter than you.

And I can do something

that you cannot do.

I can make anything

beautiful:

warehouses

train tracks

an old fence

cement.

I can make anything

everything

beautiful. 

What I touch,

where I blow,

even the dump filled with garbage

looks lovely

after I've fallen there.

I am the snow. 

Not only is this poem beautiful and flows wonderfully I feel as though it is the true depiction of snow and winter. 

Classroom/Library Connection

Recommended audience: 2nd grade and up

Karla Kuskin's poem "Moon, Have You Met My Mother" is a great way to introduce the season, winter.  I would read this poem to them on the first day of Winter to introduce the season.

Before reading:  talk to the children and ask them what season is starting and what their favorite part of winter is. 

During reading: Read the poem slowly so that they can really think about what the poem is about.  The first time reading it though leave off the last line I am the snow and allow the children to guess what the poem is about.  Tell them what the poem is about if no one guesses correctly.

Reread the poem: The second time around read the poem and have children try to visualize all the items in the poem covered in snow. 

After reading: Give the students construction paper and markers and have them draw something that they think would look more beautiful covered in snow.  Once their picture is complete give them cotton balls to place on their drawing so it looks as though it is covered in snow. 

This is a great fun way to introduce the new season and something that they will remember.  Tell them to look outside after it snows and to think about how things look when they are covered in snow and ask them if the things are really more beautiful because of the snow.