A great book is so much more than just a plot and some characters. I never bought abridged or condensed versions of books for my classroom, our school library, or my personal library. This volume also contains another poem that has been a mantra for me through the years.

The woods, the horse, the miles to go, the sleep. The jingle of harness bells, breaking-and adding to-the stillness,īut today, the teacher told us what everything stood for. I used to like 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.' Let students learn to enjoy the imagery, the rhythm, the perfect word choice, and more without killing their interest by hammering away at analysis of theme, form, and symbolism! Little's poem 'After English Class' makes my point exactly: Throughout my education career I have urged teachers to share poetry without over-teaching it. Written in a variety of styles, it contains gems of insight, just as good poetry should, and all without beating readers over the head. (Feb.This slim poetry volume is one of my favorite little books. Denton's unobtrusive sketches, printed in alternately black or blue ink, limn deft characterizations whether of animals or human beings. Has the advantage of being delivered by one character, but Little's observations of young people and the topics that concern them- in dealing with grumpy aunts, while reading books or making friends-are as razor-sharp as ever. 'Our baby got all excited this morning./ 'Me got you a pwesent,' he said,' starts a meditation on manners for a toddler's older sibling in 'The First Dandelion.' The author's earlier, brilliant poetry collection, Hey World, Here I Am! 'My best friend ever since kindergarten/ is from Pakistan./ My second best friend just moved here/ from Hong Kong,' says a narrator from Vancouver ('too boring') in the poem 'Birth Places.' 'My big sister Barbara is bats about baseball,' begins 'Season Tickets,' in which the younger sibling comes up with a clever way to give Barbara a stadium seat. The poems generally focus on an experience from which a child has learned something, conveyed in a conversational tone-as if six- to 10-year-olds were confiding stories at a pajama party. The gently humorous, simply constructed verses in the often clipped delivery of a child's voice seem designed for ease of reading. Little loosely ties together the prose-poems in this perceptive collection with the theme 'the art of giving'-not only physical gifts, but gifts of insight as well.

Hey World, Here I Am! by Jean Little