April is National Poetry Month
As a middle school English Language Arts teacher, I found reading stories told in verse was an excellent way to quickly reach reluctant readers. Even my above-grade readers devoured them! There's something about the format -- a few (4-8) words per line, sometimes a few more -- that sucks the reader into the story and soon they're caught. There's also a real sense of accomplishment that comes from turning so many pages, and when a student finishes the book quickly -- it just adds to the overall positive reinforcement that they can read, and read really good, moving books.
This year, I review eleven more books in verse on a variety of topics, ranging from body acceptance to historical fiction. I'm adding a new teaching unit from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars books in iambic pentameter. It will be the last set of reading roles pages I offer for those, unless he creates books for the movies such as Han Solo and Rogue One. But never fear, there will be no drought of iambic pentameter. Next year I'm tackling his Avengers plays in iambic pentameter!
I once critique partnered for a verse writer, over the span of about a year, and I absolutely marveled at how deliberate she was in choosing exactly the best words to convey her story.
These are some of my past reviews of books and teaching units featuring poetry. I'll add the new covers and reviews to this list as the month progresses, so you can save this link.
Enjoy!
Emmy in the Key of Code, by Aimee Lucido. This book features a story that touches on musicians, computer coding (in the text, but it doesn't hamper the reading comprehension) and friendships in middle school.
History in Verse: WWII and Pearl Harbor. On the Horizon, by Lois Lowry, offers a child's (Lois Lowry's) take on this historic World War II event, after she discovers, later in life, her parents videoed the USS Arizona cruising on the water while she played on the beach. It is also full of personal histories of the lives lost and the everyday events forever interrupted on Dec. 7, 1941. Written in verse.
Forget me not, by Ellie Terry. This story about a 12yo girl's struggle to accept her Tourette's syndrome, with help from a friend, is told in dual POVs, one in free verse, the other in prose, and would make for great compare/contrast ELA writing prompts. It includes a link to the 8-question discussion guide provided by the publishers.
Syrian Civil War Refugee Story. Other Words for Home, by Jasmine Warga. Twelve-year-old Jude flees the Syrian Civil War with her mother to the United States, but in the process she must leave behind her father, Babba, who still tends the family store, and older brother, Issa.
Heroines in Historical Fiction. This post features Patricia Reilly Giff's A Slip of a Girl, which is a tale told in verse of the Irish Land War.
Sudanese Conflict in Verse. This review features The Red Pencil, by Andrea Davis Pinkney.
Poetic History. This post suggests reading Voices: The Final Hours of Joan of Arc, by David Elliott, who uses the following poetic forms to tell Joan's story: ballade, rondeau, rondel, rondelet, sestina, triolet and villanelle.
Basketball and Soccer...in Verse! This post suggests reading The Crossover and Rebound, about basketball, and Booked, about soccer, by Kwame Alexander.
Paired Texts: Vietnam War. This posts suggests reading Thanhha Lai's Inside Out and Back Again, which is written in free verse, and includes links to teacher's notes and an excellent Discussion Guide.
Great Depression: Economics and Literature. This link suggests using Karen Hesse's free verse novel, Out of the Dust, to help students understand the privations suffered during the Great Depression. It includes a link to a Library of Congress unit with a downloadable reading journal for the book.
Perennial Favorite: The Outsiders. This post includes downloadable materials, including an anticipatory set with example of student work, a before reading prediction prompt, vocabulary and dictionary of terms, character list, connotation vs denotation, a point-of-view writing prompt, themes and identifying figurative language in Robert Frost's, Nothing Gold Can Stay.
WWII Story Told in Verse. This post suggests reading Under the Broken Sky, by Mariko Nagai. It's a free verse tale told from the POV of a Japanese girl whose world falls apart when the Japanese flee the U.S.S.R.'s invasion of China and she's left to fend for herself and her little brother.
Teaching Poetry with High Interest Poems. This post suggests using any of the hundreds of poems in the fun, quirky collections by John Foster and Korky Paul, for poetry analysis. Between the illustrations and the subject matter, there's sure to be a poem to interest every reader in your classroom!
Brown Girl Dreaming. This post examines the autobiography of Jacqueline Woodson's childhood, growing up in the Deep South of the 60s and experiencing Jim Crow laws and prejudices. She also has a learning disability, which goes undiagnosed for many years, but still finds encouragement to develop her writing. There is a free, publisher-provided educator's guide. This non-fiction book, written in free verse, can be used to address ELA non-fiction Common Core standards, as well as ELA poetry standards in 7th grade, and Common Core Social Studies standards for Civil Rights in 8th grade.
Garvey's Choice, by Nikki Grimes. This post suggests using this book for Tanka (5 lines, 5-7-5-7-7 syllables) and for its highly-relatable story about an overweight boy who forges his own path, singing, to get his father to see him. It's been out for a while, so there are some limited, free publisher-provided teaching resources, as well as a ton of resources on the pay for teaching materials site, Teachers pay Teachers.
Back-to-School: The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, by Laura Shovan. This is a tale in verse of students lifting their voices for adults to hear, although ultimately they are not successful. Told in verse and through 18 POVs, it is excellent for the sheer range of poetry the author uses in the poems in the book, and it has an exellent FREE publisher-provided educator's guide.
Back-to-School Planning 4: Fun with Star Wars! Author Ian Doescher is a modern iambic pentameter bard! This post features links and free, downloadable teaching materials for all nine of Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars series of books, and his Pop Shakespeare series: Much Ado About Mean Girls, Get Thee ...Back to the Future! and The Taming of the Clueless. And he also offers the five-act play, iambic pentameter treatment to such classics as Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
For Earth Day: POV and Natural Resources. That master of rhythm and rhyme, Dr. Seuss, is the perfect introduction to ELA standards for POV and renewable / non-renewable resources in The Lorax. This post includes a standards-based set of 25 questions, free and downloadable, and recommends The Stock Market Game's project featuring The Lorax.
Introducing the Cold War Arms Race. Dr. Seuss, in impeccable and enjoyable rhythm and rhyme, introduces students to the Cold War "race" to acquire bigger and more destructive weapons in The Butter Battle Book. This post includes a link to the free, gorgeous, downloadable Eisenhower Foundation's Cold War Kids: Space Race lesson plan and lesson materials, that pairs exceptionally well with the book.
Excellent Immigration Tale in Verse. Land of the Cranes, by Aida Salazar. This post includes a link to a free educational guide from the publisher, which includes discussion questions and how to prepare your classroom as a safe space for discussions.
Ben Bee and the Teacher Griefer and Ben Y and the Ghost in the Machine, by K.A. Holt. These two tales in verse feature a laugh-out-loud funny / ugly-cry tale in a framework of gaming, grief and exploring one's pronouns. LGBTQ representation. Free verse with prose, texting, and a one-page rip-sheet.
Flooded: Requiem for Johnstown, by Ann E. Burg. This post offers a review of this historical fiction novel in verse. It features multiple points-of-view, including the Little Conemaugh River, and survivors and victims caught in tragic flood that all-but wiped the town of Johnstown, PA from the map in 1889.
Alone, by Megan E. Freeman. This post recommends this tale of a 12-year-old girl's survival when her entire state evacuates and leaves her behind. It includes a link to a list of 16 similar survival tales.
The Canyon's Edge, by Dusti Bowling. This post offers a review of the book, which features a girl who survives a flash flood in an AZ canyon.
Everywhere Blue, by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz. This tragic tale in verse struck all the right chords with us. Deals with younger sibling dealing with an older, college-age brother going missing and his concerns for the environment.
Starfish, by Lisa Fipps. This is a wonderful book in verse about a 12-year-old's struggles to accept herself for who she is, on the inside, and not judge herself by her weight, even when her mother and society do so all the time.
Beyond Me, by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu. This is an excellent novel in verse about the 2011 earthquake in Japan and subsequent near-nuclear disaster.
The Lost Language, by Claudia Mills. This is a masterfully crafted MG tale in verse of two friends growing apart in 6th grade, but ultimately reaffirming their friendship anew over the crisis of languages going extinct world-wide.
What About Will, by Ellen Hopkins. This is a touching novel in verse about what happens when a beloved older brother, Will, suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a football game as seen through the lens of a younger sibling, 12-year-old Trace.
