What my mother doesn't know

Written by Sonya Sones

Bibliographic data

Sones, Sonya. 2001. What my mother doesn’t know. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0689841140

Plot Summary

This is a story of teenage female and the events that happen in her ninth grade year. This book is written in a series of free verse poems.

Critical Analysis

What my mother doesn’t know is a verse novel that is a very easy read. The longest verse is three pages in length. This would be a great novel for reluctant female readers. It is a chronicle of a teenage girl, Sophie and her boy crazy life. Sophie talks about her everyday girl issues, her parents troubled marriage, her personal boy problems, her mom’s depression, and her friends Rachel and Grace.

Sones creates text that is fluid and easy to comprehend. As a reader follows Sophie’s life, they can feel her emotions of happiness, sadness, excitement, and intimacy. You may even remember feeling the same way in high school.

There are no illustrations or pictures until page 231. This is when a picture of a couple in an embrace, appear at the bottom right corner of each page on the right. If you flip the pages you will notice a flip book design, to show the movement in the characters. The couple comes together for a kiss and separates as you flip through the pages. This is symbolic because it is when Sophie finally accepts her feelings for Murphy, and is willing to celebrate the news with her friends. I thought this was a very clever addition to the novel.

This novel’s main audience is the teenage female reader. I think this would be a good book to encourage preteen female readers to experience this form of poetry.

Review Excerpts

• “..the author poignantly captures the tingle and heartache of being young and boy-crazy.” Publishers Weekly starred review
• “Sones' book makes these often-difficult years a little more livable by making them real, normal, and OK.” School Library Journal

Connections

• Have students read other novels by Sonya Sones like, Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies.

Jazz

Written by Walter Dean Myers

Illustrated by Christopher Myers

Bibliographic data

Myers, Walter D. 2006. Jazz. Ill. by Christopher Myers. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 9780823415458

Plot Summary

This book is a collection of poems written and illustrated by a father/son duo. This collection commemorates the background and different varieties of Jazz music and instruments.

Critical Analysis

This book starts with 2 pages of an introduction that defines jazz and its roots. This is very helpful for readers with little or no knowledge of the history of jazz. At the end of the book there is a glossary of jazz terms and a time line of jazz from the 1800s to today.

The rhythms throughout the collection are exceptional and really encompass the reader. Some of the poems use matching sounds for rhyme, where others do not. Most of the poems that do have rhyme do not necessarily have it throughout the poem but strategically placed. One example of a rhyming poem is “Good-Bye to Old Bob Johnson.” The second half of the poem goes like this, “The drums are solemn as we walk along/ The banjo twangs a gospel song/ Let the deacons preach and the widow cry/ While a sad horn sounds a last good-bye/ Good-Bye to Old Bob Johnson/ Good-bye.”

There are several poems where Myers uses onomatopoeia to convey the sounds of the instruments. He uses “Thum, Thum” for the Bass, “rat-a-tatting” for the drums, and “Be ba boodie, be ba boodie, boo” for the jazz beat. Myers does a phenomenal job at selecting his text so that the reader feels the emotion and imagery of the poems. Throughout the collection Myers incorporates rhythm, soul, America, beats, pianos, horns, bass’, vocals, blues, drums, and the love of music.

Christopher Myers’ bold illustrations provide perfect visuals to his father’s poems. Christopher uses acrylic and ink to create the curving lines of his images. His artistic technique helps emphasize the rhythm, beat, and style of each poem.

This would be a great collection to introduce children to music and jazz. All ages should be able to appreciate the illustrations and text of this fabulous collection.

Review Excerpts

•  Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor 2007
• “Middle-graders will feel the sound of the words and pictures working together, and younger kids will hear and see that connection when adults share the book with them. “ Booklist starred review
• “This offering stands as a welcome addition to the literature of jazz: In a genre all too often done poorly for children, it stands out as one of the few excellent treatments.” Kirkus Reviews starred review

Connections

• Have the students listen to some different jazz music, discuss the different instruments, and what kind of jazz they believe it to be.
• Have the students read Harlem and Black Cat, and compare the collections.

Mirror Mirror

Written by Marilyn Singer

Illustrated by Josee Masse

Bibliographic data

Singer, Marilyn. 2010. Mirror Mirror. Ill. by Josee Masse. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN 9780525479017

Plot Summary

This book is composed of a collection of short poems. All the poems are based on fairy tale characters. The intriguing part is that every poem is also written in reverse order. This allows the reader to see a new perspective of the characters.

Critical Analysis

Mirror Mirror is a book that contains 14 pairs of poems that are very different than the next. Each pair of poems are on one page that separates them by color. If the poems are on the right side of the book, the forward poem has a white background where the reverse has a tan background. If the poems are on the left side of the book, then the colors are reversed. Not many people would catch this if they were not really focused on analyzing. The page opposite the poems has a beautiful illustration of the fairy tale associated with the poems. Masse creates very bright character driven illustrations that are split images which reflect the changed meaning of the reversed poem. 

Each poem is written in free-verse with short lines. I can envision some children having difficulty understanding when to breath and pause while reading aloud. There are only a few poems where there is some rhyming. The first poem in the book is one example. "Who/ says/ it's true-/ down/ is/ the only view?/ If you believe that,/ this poem/ will challenge/ you./ Up/ is/ something new." 

Singer does an amazing job at selecting each word and phrase so that it will also make sense when read in reverse. Singer's text and Masse's illustrations provide a great pairing for the reader to visually see the happenings in the poems. 

I think this collection of poems to be very fun and extraordinary. I found it helpful that Singer provides a page at the end of the book that explains "reverso" and how she started.

Review Excerpts

• "Similarly bifurcated illustrations, shrek-bright, face the cleverly constructed and insightful poems." Horn Book starred review
• "A must-purchase that will have readers marveling over a visual and verbal feast." Booklist starred review
• The Cybil Award for Poetry 2011

Connections

• Have the students compare and contrast the difference between each poem and its reverse.
• Have the students write their own reverso.