Wednesday Roundup: Pointing at Poetry

EMILY: In this week’s Wednesday roundup, we take a look at a tough topic with a tough Newbery crowd. POETRY! Here we are talking about an actual collection of poems, not just a book in verse. Something I have never really enjoyed reading…. What about you Steven?

STEVEN:  I do enjoy poetry collections and look forward to the day when another one gets a Newbery nod. We had DARK EMPEROR, which included poems + facts, get an Honor in 2011. And two collections got Medals in the 1980’s: A VISIT TO WILLIAM BLAKE’S in 1982, then JOYFUL NOISE in 1989. I think that’s pretty much it. 

EMILY: You’re right, there have been a few winners in the past for poetry, but not many… In our genres poll (which is still open), we had a good amount of people leave the poetry question blank and then a decent amount of love for JOYFUL NOISE AND GOOD MASTERS, SWEET LADIES!

Steven you know these better than me… what is it that makes these poetry collections stand out above the rest?

STEVEN:  I think with collections you have to look at individual poems and find excellence. But also, the whole thing needs to fit together, so the collection of poems somehow add up to more than just the sum of the poems. I think of it as “collective unity,” which is actually a phrase from the Caldecott Terms & Criteria. Like with JOYFUL NOISE, we enter into this clever, kind of joyful celebration of bugs. And the two-reader concept makes it interactive and almost forces the whole thing to be read aloud. Line by line the poems are very good, but taken as a whole, the book is even better. Same with WILLIAM BLAKE’S INN, where we enter this wonderfully fanciful world at the inn and meet the characters and learn their silly/fun stories through the poems.  

EMILY: OK that makes sense. Going off of that, I wonder if we have any big wins this year. I’m just not sure about it…. I know we have a few suggested so far, and I think CLIMBING THE VOLCANO, GREAT GUSTS, AND BLACK GIRL, YOU ARE ATLAS are the three that resonated with me at all.

STEVEN: It may be more picture book than poetry collection, but I think CLIMBING THE VOLCANO is a very strong choice. It’s a series of haiku from the point of view of a boy hiking up a mountain with his family. I like the choice of haiku to capture specific moments from the journey. They mix physical descriptions with emotions in the most concise manner.

EMILY: You’re right, I really enjoyed the haiku format and the series. I thought it was a creative presentation and quite unique.

STEVEN:  A PLANET IS A POEM is a pretty impressive book: Informational poems about outer space, and each one is in a different poetic form. The poems are complemented by facts about the planets and a bit about each poem’s form. GREAT GUSTS and BEST IN SHOW by Elliott ae a couple of other fine collections, though maybe not Newbery contenders. 

EMILY: In Betsy Bird’s Fall Newbery predictions, she shouted out A TREE IS A COMMUNITY by David L. Harrison. That is now on my TBR list. And she did give BLACK GIRL, YOU ARE ATLAS a shout out, but did not call it poetry. I call it poetry! In my opinion, it’s the strongest poetry of the year.

STEVEN: I agree, the  strongest  contender for me is BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS. There’s a variety in the structure of the poems and also in their themes. Some relate specifically to the author’s experiences (like “How Sisters Love”)  and some are more generally inspirational (like “Love Shows Up”). That variation means you don’t get that one-poem-then-another-poem-then-another-poem rhythm that some collections suffer from. It has the “collective unity.” And the poems themselves are just great.

EMILY:  I think so many of the different poems can speak to a variety of people. And the variety is just so strong and helps everything flow. Does it have what it takes to be a winner? Let us know your thoughts about this and any other poetry titles in the comments. And we’ll have a week off before our last Wednesday roundup on middle grade books Nov. 20.

Filed under: Book Discussion