Poetry

The Little Buggers

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lewis, J. Patrick.  1998. The Little Buggers. Ill. by Victoria Chess. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0-8037-1770-9

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

This book is a collection of twenty-four insect and spider poems meant to entertain and inform young readers. Some poems feature witty word play about the most common creepy-crawlies such as crickets, yellow-jackets, ants, spiders, and flies. Other poems introduce lesser known critters in wacky descriptions and “zany scenarios,” such as the doodlebug, the rhinoceros beetle, and the mayfly. Each poem celebrates an attribute of the insect in a humorous and engaging way for the youngest readers to enjoy.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This book of poems as a whole features a variety of rhythms and rhyme schemes centered on the topic of insects. The basic rhythm of many of the poems is an imitation of the staccato chatter of insects.  The book has a balance of both rhyming poems and free verse presented in a simple format to engage elementary age readers. While the book’s topic has an inherent appeal to boys, its presentation and light-hearted verses hold an attraction for girls, as well. Lewis cleverly captures the humorous side of nature with his tongue-in-cheek humor, puns, and childlike teasing.

Each poem has its own rhythm specific its topic and purpose. Some poems such as “A Streetlight in July,” “In Books Are Bugs,” and “The Marriage of the Spider and the Fly,” are written in rhyming couplets. They flow naturally to tell a story and make connections between various types of insects. Other poems, such as “The Stinkbug and the Cricket” and “The Ladybug” use a staccato rhythm to make a point about one specific type of insect rather than a connection between two or more creatures. A few of the poems are written in free verse, such as “Groundwork,” and “Advice From the Scorpion,” which allows the poet to have the freedom to tell his story in a more natural, spoken language form. One poem, “Vegetarian Spider,” is written in the pattern of a limerick which adds to the humor of a spider that does not eat insects.

Most of the poems have either end-rhyme or internal rhymes. They follow a variety of rhyme schemes including variants on quatrains such as the long measure and half measures of “Insect Inspector” and “School Lesson.” Another variant is the poem “The Praying Mantis” which follows the rhyme scheme of a 3/1 quatrain.

Sounds are abundant in this insect compilation. Through the use of onomatopoeia, the author creates the sounds the insects make when walking like the June Bug “clicketing in the clover” or flying like the Mayfly “fluttering in the sun”  (“Mayfly and June Bug”). The reader can hear a fly landing “plunk” in a cup of tea and its annoying buzz “ZZZZZ” before it meets its demise (“The Almost Indestructible Last Housefly of Summer”).  Alliteration adds to the music and creates imagery in the poems, as well.  The repeated “s” sounds in “A Streetlight in July,” for example mimic the wispy sounds of moths and other fluttering nighttime insects collecting beneath the streetlight.  “In Books Are Bugs” uses alliteration with different letters for each stanza. The “b” and “m” sounds mimic the biting and munching of bugs on books.

Examples of vivid imagery can be found throughout; for example in “The Pond Glider,” the damselfly’s wings are described as “minutely shattered windowpanes” giving the reader a picture of the myriad of lines that form in cracked glass. The poem, “The Praying Mantis Waits,” describes the female’s heart as palpitating, giving the reader a picture of a true love whose heart beats faster as the object of affection comes closer. Finally, the various names given for butterflies conjure up visual images of multiple colorful insects in “Name Me a Butterfly.”

The illustrations of bugs personified with huge eyes and mouths, in contrast to tiny feet, adds to the humor and enjoyment of this book of poems.  The female insects don high heels, hats, gloves, and a little makeup to exaggerate their roles in various poems, such as the “ladies” at the wedding of the spider and the fly. The Mayfly wears ballet slippers as she flutters gracefully through the air, while the June bug appears to have tap shoes that click along the path. The ants and “Captain Bugg” wear work books as they trudge along,, and the housefly zips around quickly in a pair of running shoes.  The scorpion in the Mexican desert looks prepared to do the hat dance, and the cockroach is drawn to imitate a burglar sneaking through the house at night. Each illustration brings to mind a human characteristic which readers associate with these bugs.

The intended emotional impact primarily is humor to which the reader can connect. The little boy (or girl) in most of us giggles at the thought of standing behind a stinkbug (“The Stinkbug and the Cricket”).  Readers connect both the title and the cadence of “The Marriage of the Spider and the Fly” to another well-know poem from childhood called “The Spider and the Fly” by Mary Howitt.   The book ends with the end of perhaps the most annoying of insects—the housefly. “The Almost Indestructible Last Housefly of Summer” makes an emotional connection to every reader who has seen a fly crawling on a clean kitchen table or landing in a drink, and finally gives the reader a sense of relief and closure as one finds out a housefly was what he “was.”

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “Delicate, fiendishly agile illustrations in watercolor and sepia offer a perfect complement to the tone and humor.” (Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

From BOOKLIST – “…Lewis' bug poems will tickle the funny bones of the elementary-school set.” (Susan Dove Lempke)

From KIRKUS – "Chess's insect personifications are suitably wacky, exaggerating the insects' large mouths and eyes and tiny feet.”

Awards Received by This Author:

Former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate (2011-2013)

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) 2011 Excellence in Children’s Poetry Award

5.     CONNECTIONS

Gather other poetry books about insects to read such as:

·         Florian, Douglas. Insectlopedia. ISBN 978-0152163358

·         Florian, Douglas. UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings. ISBN 978-1442426528

 Gather award winning poetry books to read such as:

•      Silverstein, Shel.  Where the Sidewalk Ends. ISBN 978-0060572341

•      Silverstein, Shel. A Light in the Attic. ISBN  978-0061905858

•      Myers, Walter Dean.. Jazz. Illus. by Christopher Myers. ISBN 978-0823421732

•      Carrol, Joyce A. and Edward E. Wilson. Poetry After Lunch. ISBN 978-1888842036

•      Rosenberg, Liz. The Invisible Ladder: An Anthology of Contemporary American Poems for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0805038361

Use the insect poetry books to introduce a science unit on types of insects and their role in the environment. Use UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings to launch a Project Based Learning unit on various types of bees and their communal nature.

Use the above list of award winning poetry collections as part of an English/Language Arts unit on types of poetry.  Students will select specified types of poems found in these collections (haiku, limerick, free verse, etc.) to use as models for writing their own poetry which will be presented to the class in a Poetry Cafe format.

The One and Only Ivan

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Applegate, Katherine.  2012. The One and Only Ivan. Ill. by Patricia Castelao. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-8037-1770-9

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

Ivan, the silverback gorilla, lives in a cage in the mall and tells his story in this first person narrative poem. He lives a happy life eating bananas and creating artwork and keeps a count of the number of days he has lived in captivity.  He meets a variety of other animals, such the elephants Stella and Baby Ruby, and Bob the stray dog.  As an elephant, Stella has a long memory and talks about her time at the circus and her desire to live someplace with more space, like the zoo. The animals here are not well cared for because the owner, Mack, is focused on making money at all costs.  When Stella is near death due a neglected injury, she asks Ivan to care for the new baby elephant Ruby and find her a better place to live. Ivan agrees which causes him to think more about his life before the Big Top Mall. At first, he only tells Ruby stories about freedom, but once he sees her being abused, he realizes he must do more than tell stories. He begins to see the mall as his cage, not his home.  Ivan inspires a protest against the poor treatment of animals at the mall with the help of the mall custodian and his daughter.  The protest results in the mall being closed down and the animals taken away to a zoo where they will have a true domain with the type of freedom and care Ivan had promised to Stella.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This book is both a narrative and a collection of poems with each poem serving as a topic important to the narrator, Ivan.  From the very beginning, Ivan asserts that “humans waste words” and “humans speak too much” (Applegate 2012, 2-3). Written in first person from the point of view of a gorilla who does not “chatter like [a] chimp” (Applegate 2012, 3), this collection of simple poems mimics the character.  It is not a long flowing narrative of human sentences and paragraphs, but rather concise and precise. The abundance of similes, metaphors, and colorful imagery adequately take the place of lengthy prose and help maintain a lyrical quality.

The poems are written in free verse. Each could stand alone as its own poem, yet they tie together to create the story of Ivan. Each poem is another thought, another experience, another entry into Ivan’s diary of life.

The sounds add to the lyrical quality of the poem in the form of onomatopoeia and alliteration. From the beginning, the reader hears through Ivan’s ears as he compares the incessant talking of humans to the “chatter” of chimps (Applegate 2012, 3).  The reader hears the steps of the baby elephant Ruby, “Thud. Thud” as she enters the Big Top Mall, and then gets a glimpse of the uncaring Mack as he “slams the door shut with a clang” (Applegate 2012, 74).  Ivan shares the “grunt” of his father as he begins to remember his past life (Applegate 2012, 123) and the “click” of the camera when the reporters begin to arrive (Applegate 2012, 225). The alliteration of Applegate’s book comes mostly in pairs such as the “chatter of chimps” (3), “grins goofily” (269), and “blank billboard” (290) to create a rhythm. Occasionally, the poet stretches the alliterations across a stanza or two to make a connection as in the poem/chapter “the wall.” Ivan is painting with mud as he “slaps” down mud, and “slides” his hands “scooping and spreading” making “swoops and swirls”, “shapes,” and “shadows.” It is the process of his creative work and of discovery. The assonance in this poem shows the rhythm of Ivan’s actions: moving, scooping, spreading, making. These literary devices enhance the poetic effect of the story.

Similes and metaphors are abundant in this text. The figurative language is distinctly Ivan as he makes comparisons to the only things he knows.  Rather than merely describing the bark of a seal as raspy, he compares it to “the throaty bark of a dog chained outside on a cold night” (Applegate 2012, 11); he is familiar with the sound of stray dogs. This also hints at the neglect Mack’s animals have faced at the Big Top Mall.  Ivan uses metaphors to compare the sizes of Stella, a mountain; himself, a rock; and Bob, a grain of sand. This paints a picture in the reader’s mind much more vividly than the words small, medium, and large.  They are simple metaphors made by a simple animal who has not yet realized his potential beyond living at the mall.  The author later uses figurative language to show Ivan’s connections to his past as he begins to remember it. He describes a lilting sound, an elephant laugh, like the song of a bird remembered from long ago with a voice like dancing water (Applegate 2012, 94). This is a little deeper, mirroring the character’s development.

Examples of vivid imagery can be found throughout. Early in the book, Ivan describes the wagging of Bob’s tail as a confusing sight, like human words that have meanings within meanings.  Ivan’s thoughts are not that complicated; gorillas are more of a ‘to-the-point’ kind of beast. The author has Ivan paint the picture of such a creature: “Gorillas don’t have any use for tails. Our feelings are uncomplicated. Our rumps are unadorned” (Applegate 2012, 35). When Ivan is transferred to the zoo, the author uses sensory language to evoke emotions in the reader of moving to a strange new place. Ivan awakes to see his new cage glass and steel, the same as his old one, but different. He is homesick, but hears the soothing voices and feels the soft hands of Maya and the other humans. He tastes change in the air, “like far-off rain clouds gathering” (Applegate 2012, 266). As Ivan describes Kinyani, the images are quite vivid: “her hoots make my ears hurt,” and he “admire[s] her canines from afar” (Applegate 2102, 273). The book ends with the comforting image of lamps “blanketing the world with yellow light” in the zoo that has helped Ivan come home – The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback (Applegate, 2012, 300).

The few illustrations in the book enhance the story by helping to create an emotional connection to loveable characters. The animals have realistic qualities, yet are drawn as cartoons. The eyes of each animal convey the personification the author relies on throughout the text. They seem to have human thoughts and feelings to which the reader can connect. The beginning and ending images bookend the story of the gorilla. Ivan sits in the familiar pose of a caged gorilla contently eating a banana-- not happy, not sad, just be-ing. The final image is the mighty silverback gorilla in the open air of the zoo; by his cocked head and the look in his eyes, the readers sees that Ivan has come into his own. The illustrations capture the feeling of the poems.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

School Library Journal Best of Children's Books 2012
Kirkus Reviews Best of Children's Books 2012
Amazon 2012 Best Books of the Year, Middle Grade
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2012
New York Public Library 100 Books for Reading and Sharing, 2012
Cybils shortlist, 2012 middle grade fantasy (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards)
Texas Bluebonnet Award, 2013-14 Master List
2012 Nerdies Book Award, middle grade fiction

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – “The characters will capture readers’ hearts and never let go.  A must-have.”

From KIRKUS – "How Ivan confronts his harrowing past yet stays true to his nature exemplifies everything youngsters need to know about courage.”

5.     CONNECTIONS

Gather other Newbery Award books to read such as:

·         Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust. ISBN 978-0590371254

·         Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963. ISBN  978-0440228004

 Gather content specific books to read such as:

•      Marrin, Albert.  Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl. ISBN 978-0142425794

•      McWhorter, Diane. A Dream of Freedom. ISBN 978-0439576789

•      Goodall, Jane. My Life with the Chimpanzees. ISBN 978-0671562717

Read The One and Only Ivan, Out of the Dust, and The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 in Literature Circles as part of an English/Language Arts unit on imagery and style of epic poetry.

Use Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl to introduce an American history unit on American in the 1930’s Dust Bowl.  Plan the unit to correspond with the English/Language Arts reading of Out of the Dust.

Use A Dream of Freedom to introduce an American history unit on the civil rights era. Coordinate with the English/Language Arts class to correspond with reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham.

Use My Life with the Chimpanzees to introduce a science unit on primates. Coordinate with the English/Language Arts class to correspond with reading The One and Only Ivan.

What My Mother Doesn't Know

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sones, Sonya.  2013. What My Mother Doesn't Know. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-1442493858

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

What My Mother Doesn't Know is a first person narrative told by Sophie, a teenage girl navigating her way through high school, crushes and boyfriends, and a dysfunctional family. The story begins after Sophie has been dumped by her current boyfriend, Lou. She quickly falls for Dylan and cannot get enough of him, until she realizes she’s outgrown him—in both height and interest.  Even while dating Dylan, however, she fantasized about the social outcast Robin Murphy, but as a more of a passing curiosity than a real interest. She also developed an online relationship with Chaz (while still dating Dylan), but ended it when she discovered his perversions.  Finally, Sophie begins to build a friendship with Murphy that turns into more than she ever expected. Intermingled in Sophie’s busy love life is her relationship with her two best friends, who are having similar love lives. Sophie also deals with unhappy parents who do not pay much attention to her and constantly fight with each other.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Written in the newly popular novel in verse style, this book is both a narrative and a collection of stand-alone poems that chronicles the daily life of a ninth grade girl. The majority of the book is written in free verse, but some poems do follow a distinct pattern of rhythm and rhyme.  The poem/chapter entitled “More or Less” is written in rhyming couplets, for example. The poem/chapter “Lower Than Low,” on the other hand, is written in unrhymed iambic dimeter creating a sing-song beat.

Sones uses alliteration (primarily consonance) and onomatopoeia throughout the novel to create the beat of the poem and enhance the drama.  The main character is introduced with a variety of nicknames, but the one she likes best is “Sapphire” because Dylan gave it to her. The author uses consonance to bring out the ‘s’ sound emphasizing Sophie’s infatuation with Dylan:

            “Sapphire.

            I like whispering it to myself.

            His name for me.

            Sapphire.

            It’s like the secret password

            to my heart.” (Sones 2013)

When Sophie and her friends bury the family dog, Sones again uses consonance to create the rhythm of the poem. The repeated ‘m’ and ‘d’ sounds imitate the marching beat of a funeral dirge:

“We marched down the middle of Meadow Way,

Rachel holding up a photo of Waggy,

Grace pounding solemnly on her snare drum,

me blasting out ‘The Dead Dog Blues’….” (Sones 2013)

Another example of consonance is in the poem/chapter “Growing Up…And Out” where Sones emphasizes the ‘b’ sound as Sophie speaks of her budding breasts.   One instance of onomatopoeia used to enhance the drama occurs when Sophie first meets Dylan and feels like she’s been “zapped smack into the middle of some R-rated movie” (Sones 2013). Sophie’s life, in her own mind, happens much like this. She moves (Zap!) from one boy to another and from one thought to another.

The author uses similes and metaphors to convey Sophie’s thoughts and feelings. From comparing her first meeting with Dylan to a religious experience, to comparing the way her body feels to the vibration of harp strings plucked all at once when Murphy whispers in her ear, Sophie’s feelings are intense in the moment. Sones selects images of childhood fun to associate with Sophie’s friends who grin like pumpkins at her or dance like popcorn kernels in a hot frying pan. Each comparison reveals the tension of growing up, hovering between childhood and adulthood, the plight of a teenager.

Imagery overflows in this text. Sopie describes Dylan with smoldery, dark eyes which gives the reader a glimpse of both his physical description and a look through Sophie’s eyes. Some of the more explicit imagery comes in the shower scene where Sophie vividly describes the water and suds running down her body like rivers, waterfall, and foamy clouds. This adds to the controversial quality of the book.

While the novel does not include illustrations, the author includes a visual aspect in the layout of the poems. The poem/chapter “I Wish,” for example, is placed on the page as an inverted triangle. The lines of text shrink down to a point as Sophie wishes she could shrink down to a size that fits into Dylan’s pocket and be with him constantly. The author frequently uses the title of the poem/chapter as the first line of the poem, as well, creating further visual impact as the reader sees Sophie’s thoughts as both connected and disjointed.

The emotional impact of this novel resonates with middle and high school aged girls, who have found themselves in a similar confusion of emotion.  The fickleness of a teenage girls, her crushes, and lustful thought of puberty make a connection to girls of the same age, as well as older teens who have “been there, done that.”  The story takes a romance novel turn, however, by foreshadowing a future relationship between Sophie and Murphy early in the novel. She takes a passing interest in the outcast, but an unlikely friendship develops which leads readers to the satisfying conclusion of the protagonist finding love with the underdog.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Listed by the American Library Association as one of the Top 100 Most Banned Books of the Decade (2000–2010)

Listed by the American Library Association as one of the Top Ten Most Challenged Books (2004, 2005, 2010, and 2011)

Iowa Teen Book Award (2005–2006)

Michigan Thumbs Up Award Honor Book (2002)

American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2002)

American Library Association Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2002)

International Reading Association Young Adults' Choice (2003)

Booklist Editor's Choice (2001)

VOYA Top Shelf for Middle School Readers (2003)

Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award: YA Recommended Title (2003–2004)

New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age (2002, 2003, and 2004)

Texas Lone Star State Reading List Choice (2003–2004)

Top Ten Editor's Choice by Teenreads.com (2001)

Bookreporter.com Best of 2001 for Teens

Junior Library Guild selection

Scholastic Book Fair selection

From PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY – “With its separate free verse poems woven into a fluid and coherent narrative with a satisfying ending, Sophie's honest and earthy story feels destined to captivate a young female audience, avid and reluctant readers alike.”

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL – "Told in Sophie's own free verse poems, the story moves and evolves quickly in a satisfying and tantalizing manner.”

From KIRKUS – “A verse experience that will leave readers sighing with recognition and satisfaction.”

5.     CONNECTIONS

Gather other teenage love stories to read such as:

·         Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. ISBN 978-0743477116

·         Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. ISBN  978-0743477116

 Gather other Sonya Sones books to read such as:

•      What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know. ISBN 978-1442493841

•      One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies. ISBN 978-1442493834

Use What My Mother Doesn't Know as an introduction to an English/Language Arts (ELA) unit on poetry in verse. Use the other Sonya Sones novels to compare her style, topic (including the scope and treatment), and figurative language used in this type of poetry.

Use The House on Mango Street as part of the ELA unit on poetry in verse for an example of free verse from another author. Compare the authors’ perspectives on the life of teenage girls.

As an extension of the ELA poetry in verse unit, read Romeo and Juliet to compare examples of blank verse to the free verse novels.  Compare the lives, concerns, and choices of teenagers in the stories.