Kelly J. Taylor Tiller
When I chose these works, I simply looked for books that seemed…. fun. I think so many students are so afraid of poetry, that I wanted to find works that would be fun. And while, in my experience, many students have been indifferent (at the most) to short stories, I wanted to have read works that would excite and entertain them, as well as teach them more about their own experiences as children and teens.
Unless otherwise mentioned, the lesson ideas in this bibliography come from my experiences with the Freedom Middle School and Clarkston High School classes during my practicum
The Space Between Our Footsteps selected by Naomi Shihab Nye
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0689812337
· Genre: Poetry from Middle Eastern writers
· The poetry in this book deals with a myriad of issues, such as
gender relations, marriage, children, food, fond memories, war, death
and many more. The artists hail from the following countries: Algeria,
Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco,
Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab
Emirates and Yemen. While never suggesting to exemplify the entirety of
Middle Eastern art and though, the book weaves a complex tapestry of Middle
Eastern life.
· Nye's collection uses language and deals with issues suitable
for various age level, particularly middle-school aged students and older.
Middle schoolers could work with poems like "sea" and "Class
Pictures," while high school students could work on more complex
poems.
I would reproduce the artwork of the book and have students relate the
pieces to particular poems we have read. This could be done in groups,
partners or by individual students. Afterward, students could present
to the class why they picked a particular art piece for a poem. Or, I
would have older students do Question the Author exercises on a group
of poems (Kathy's handout). They would deal with any cultural or historical
references that they may not understand and evaluate its effectiveness
in the poem, as well as the poems audience. They could also work on the
translation question: since many of the poems in this anthology are translated,
what ideas could have been unintentionally dropped/added in the translation?
Could connotations have been lost and added through the change of language?
We would use these questions to being research to answer the questions,
whether it would be a short research paper on the author, an artist featured
in the book or a particular country, religion or culture. Afterward, students
could present their work to the class.
What Have You Lost? selected by Naomi Shihab Nye, photos by Michael
Nye
New York: Greenwillow, 1999. ISBN 0688161847
· Genres: Poetry on personal loss
· This is a collection of wonderfully engaging poems about loss
of any kind - from wallets to pets to ideologies to parents and siblings.
While there are selections from a few well-known poets, most of the hundreds
of poems selected are from "ordinary people." Throughout the
book are also portraits of "ordinary people" taken by photographer
Michael Nye.
· Due to the gravity and intensity of these poems, this collection
is best suited for high schoolers. These poems are generally very sad,
as they generally discuss a loss of some sort. Because of this, they could
be used when students have experienced a class-wide loss (such as the
death of a classmate) or when the educator wants to address loss that
occurs in a novel or short story. As Nye has done, students could be encouraged
to write poems answering the question, "What have you lost?"
(pp. xi-xiv). Afterward, they may review the poems that, in the selection,
compare how others may have expressed similar or different ideas. They
can have small group discussions on this.
The poems and portraits make readers wonder who the authors of photograph
subjects are, what their lives were like, etc. After each student reviews
a poem or sees a picture, the student can write a "fictional biography"
on the author, narrator or photo subject. They can write what the person
is like, their name, what they have lost, how they live with the loss,
etc. There would be a class-wide discussion afterward on why it's important
to us to know bout a work's subject or author. How does knowing about
that person affect his/her work and our opinion about the work?
Just People and Paper/Pen/Poem poems and invitations by Kathi
Appelt, photos by Kenneth Appelt
Spring, TX: Absey and Co., 1997. ISBN 188842075
· Genres: Poetry, strategies for poetry writing
· "The aim of this book is to give you opportunities to find
the answers to that question [where to begin?] through poetry," (65).
This is an excellent book, featuring the poetry and photography of the
husband and wife team, Kathi and Kenneth Appelet. While the first half
of the book (Just People) is a collection of Kathi's poem, the second
half (Paper/Pen/Poem) does something extraordinary: it encourages students
themselves to write. The second half, after a short intorudction, contains
a note about each poem, then encourages students to write by asking them
to write a poem in a similar way or about a subject related to the original
poem.
· These poems contain subject mater appropriate for middle-school
aged children and older. A wonderfully simple way a teacher could use
this book is to introduce a poetry unit, having each student 9or pair
of students) read a poem, work on its corresponding question and then
write their own poem. They could then present the poem to the class. Student
could also pair up and take pictures of non-living things around their
school, homes, etc. After students take the pictures, they choose a few
and write poems about them. Afterward, the class could make a room (library,
cafeteria) into a gallery, posting the pictures and the poems in a room.
Students could also have an open-mic, reading poems and short stories
(which they could have written at another time) to the class or the invited
audience. This project could actually be the culmination of creative writing
unit, displaying a number of poems or other creating writing that they
have done before this particular lesson.
Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson
Asheville, NC: Front Street, 2001. ISBN 1886910537
· Genres: Biographical poems about George Washington Carver
· Marilyn Nelson does a phenomenal job in expressing the beauty
and complexity of Carver's life. Though the poems could raise interesting
discussion in middle school students, the poems themselves may be too
difficult for them. High school students would probably understand and
appreciate them more.
· An obvious lesson to do with students is to have them write group
research papers on George Washington Carver and other scientist and mathematicians
besides Einstein. They could them present the papers to their class. Perhaps
a more challenging assignment would be for the same groups to research
and write notes about a scientists or mathematician, but let their end
product be a collection of poems about the person's life. They could compile
the poetry and pictures of their selected person into a book. A final
idea, after learning about Carver's life, is to review his artwork (and
perhaps by others who are not famous for their artwork) and write poems
inspired by a specific piece of art.
Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls compiled by Marilyn
Singer
New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0590360337
· Genres: Short stories, whose protagonists are young girls
· An excellent collection for girls middle-school age and older,
this short anthology reflects the experiences of many girls from different
walks of life. Due to a few inappropriate words, this collection would
be for eighth graders and older students. The topics in the short stories
range from interracial dating to following one's dreams to dealing with
a mother's new love interest.
· Since there are eleven short stories in this anthology, a wonderful
lesson would be to divide the class into small groups and have them read
the stories themselves. Then class could then draw an "Open Mind"
picture to show all of the things going on inside the mind of their protagonist
(Burke 334). They could write a short essay, as a group, explaining what
they drew. This book could also be an introduction to writing short stories.
After the class reads a selection (or a few) from this book, the class
could get started on a unit of writing stories, taking two weeks to complete
their work. They cold then combine them into a class anthology. Lastly,
the class could, without writing anything, discuss the ideas in a certain
story, such as AIDS, stepparents, unrequited love, etc.
I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You compiled by Naomi Shihab Nye
and Paul B. Janeczko
New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1999. ISBN 0689813414
· Genres: "Paired poems" by men and women, meaning that
the book consists of pairs of poems, one written by a man, the other written
by a woman.
· These poems cover a plethora of topics, from mother-child relationships
to homosexuality to ancestry to nature. Because of the nature of some
of these topics, this book should be reserved for mature high school students.
· This book could be a great introduction to discussing point of
view and tone in poetry. I would give two students (not necessarily one
boy and a girl) a topic to write a poem on and give them a chance to write
the poem and exchange them. How do the two write differently? Why? Students
could them find out from each other what made them write about the subject
in that way, how life experience, culture, gender could have played a
part. This could help students see that poetry is very subjective and
the characteristics of a poem change with the author, even if two authors
are writing about the same thing. Poetry, as an art form, is never static
or formulaic. I would also have students discuss the differences between
men and women after reading a series of the pairs. Is there a difference?
How do the differences in the poems relate to differences between genders?
Are these accurate assumptions? We could then discuss the idea of gender
and sex in these poems and other stories.
When I Was Your Age, Volume 1 edited by Amy Ehrlich
Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 1996. ISBN 0763610348
· Genres: Short (autobiographical) stories on being young
· Though the authors, such as Avi and Walter Dean Myers, are well
known, the stories in this collection are original. While the authors
aren't very culturally diverse, these stories are wonderful for middle
schoolers. They may seem a little to "young" for high school
students. Separation, parent-child relations are a few of the issues covered
in this anthology.
· This is a wonderful book to use as a jumping-off point for students
to write autobiographical short stories. We can read a story (or two)
as a class, then discuss the process for writing a story (including figuring
out what to include and not to include) and then get started. Student
groups could also, after reading a specific story, retell it to the rest
of the class (Burke 334). Lastly, student could get in small groups and
rewrite the story using the point of view of another character in the
story. For example, in Yep's "The Great Rat Hunt," students
could rewrite the story from Eddy or the father's perspective - or even
the rat's! - instead of from the narrator's.
Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?: A Mystery in Poems by Mel Glenn
New York: Lodestar Books, 1996. ISBN 0525675302
· Genres: Poetic Mystery
· This is an extremely intriguing book about that death of a fictional
teacher, Mr. Chippendale. The entire book is in poems, whose speakers
are different people who have known or heard about the dead teacher. All
of them have had varying opinions about and relationships with him, and
it's very interesting to find out who the murder is. The subject matter
in this book covers murder, racism, affairs and inappropriate relationship
with underage teens. Because of this, I would recommend this book for
only mature high school students, and even send a permission slip home
before reading it.
· This could be a wonderful read aloud. A teacher could read one
or tow poems a day to the class and the class could keep track of each
character, his/her personality and relationship with the teacher. We could
work on solving the mystery before the book is over. Students could also
do a read aloud, but be separated in groups and assigned one of the main
characters. The could write a short story about that character, what they
think his/her life is like or about a significant experience relating
to the book. Students, in groups, could also write a storyboard of a certain
part of the story. The storyboard sections would then be combined to create
the story in pictures (Burke 334).
The Big Book for Peace edited by Ann Durell and Marilyn Sachs
New York: Dutton Children's Books, 1990. ISBN 0525446052
· Genres: Short stories, poems, illustrations and song advocating
peace
· I love this book! It is filled with beautiful illustrations,
poem, short stories, and a song dedicated to peace or highlighting the
ills of conflict. Ths stories feature a range of cultures, ethnicities,
fiction and non-fiction. It is an important book for any teacher to have
in his/her classroom and is appropriate for students of any age.
· There are some stories in this book that would be great for a
read-aloud. There are other stories, like "The Silent Lobby"
and "Letter from a Concentration Camp" that can be introductions
to reading other literature dealing with their subjects. Students could
then write about the benefits of peace, non-judgment, etc. as they relate
to the stories. After reading and seeing some of the illustrations in
the book, students could also do their own illustrations about peace,
war, prejudice, hate, etc. Or they could write a song or poem. These could
be presented to the rest of the class.
Don't Forget to Fly
New York: MacMillian/McGraw Hill, 1993. ISBN 0021787611
· Genres: Textbook collection of short stories, poems and other
literature
· This is a cool book that includes both short stories and poems,
peppered with beautiful illustrations. The illustrations and the narrators
of these stories make the book most appropriate for lower middle-school
aged children. The stories take place in different nations with characters
from different cultures and walks of life. The book also has parts focused
on, for example, young inventors, chances to "meet the authors,"
and factual stories on, for example, the New England Aquarium, the (re)development
of New Providence and dinosaurs.
· The stories and poems in this book would be great introductions
to do research on a particular subject. For example, students could use
"The Shimmering Queens" as inspiration to do a report on Kente
cloth in the United States, or how black Americans relate or Africa. After
reading "How to Think Like a Scientist," the class could use
the scientific method to research and answer some of their craziest question
("How can I be sure I'm not really dreaming when I'm awake? Do colors
disappear in the dark?"). They could then write an essay answering
their questions and present them to the class. After reading "Willie
Bea and the Time the Martians Landed," students could have storytelling
time, when we each tell about some strange and funny adventure we had,
thanks to some mistake in our thinking or beliefs.
References
· Jim Burke. The English Teacher's Companion. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook,
1999.
· Kathy Froelich's handouts on Margaret Moody's "Questioning
the Author".