Module 3
Poetry
Award Winning Book

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sidman, Joyce. 2007. THIS IS JUST TO SAY. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Books. ISBN 978061861680

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
In Sidmans’s book of poems of apology and forgiveness she has brought to life the experiences of children with their poems of apology and the response of the people who received the poem.  The introduction explained by a 6th grader about how the poems began and why the second part was written in response to the people that received the poem was helpful in understanding the organization of the book.  All the poems in the book are something that happen daily to children.  They are able to relate and talk about these things because they are facing them everyday.  

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This collection of poems is accessible to a child audience.  It is full of experiences a child can relate to and make a connection with.  Anywhere from the stealing of a cookie to the death of a pet, argument with a friend, or something with their parents.  The author and illustrator capture the feelings and emotions with the words and pictures throughout the book.  The words are powerful even though they don’t rhyme.  They help the reader create a mental picture of the emotions each child experiences with the creative language.  Even though all poems create this, this book is a great book for children to relate too. The similes and metaphors enhance the mental picture.  The illustrations could almost stand alone to tell you the story.

One of the poems in the book is to a mother about a boy that lost the spelling bee.  In my opinion it shows how he is disappointed in himself and how his mother is disappointed in him.  It is a pantoum type of poem.  This is where the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines in the next stanza.  When you read the poem you create a mental image of how the mother is disappointed “ I know I disappointed you; I saw it in your face when I misspelled,” the boy writes.  In the illustration I think it shows that the boy is disappointed in himself.  I think that one of the great things about poetry is that they can be interpreted so many different ways, but sometimes just the way you need it to be interpreted.
 
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Kirkus Reviews: “Packed with the intensity of everyday pain and sorrow, kids and adults exchange the words that convey grief, delight, love and acceptance of themselves and others.”
From Good Reads: “Sidman's word choice and poem topics almost convinced me that the poems had been written by actual students. She had a wonderful way of expressing her insights through the eyes of children.”

5. CONNECTIONS
* This would be good to read to students, so they could see how they can express their feelings through poetry.  They could do it through writing, through pictures, or both.
* You might want to pick and choose which ones you have your students read because some would be for older kids, more than younger.  The book has the word pissed in it and some kiddos would make a big deal about it.  You could also use it as a teaching point though, just depends on the age.