Module 3 
Poetry
Nikki Grimes 

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Grimes, Nikki. 2015. POEMS IN THE ATTIC. Ill. by Elizabeth Zunon. New York, NY: The Kids at Our House. ISBN 9781620140277

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
A little girl goes to her grandma’s house and finds poems in her attic that her mother wrote when she was a little girl.  All the poems are about different places that her mother went too.  Her mother’s father was in the Air Force, so they were always moving.  Her mother would write a poem for all the places her family was stationed.  There are many connections with the poems.  The little girl would read some and think about something that her mother said about that place or time.  The little girl was starting to miss her mom and thought about how hard it would be for her dad to be gone months at a time.  The little girl decided to make her own poem book to give her mom when she returned to pick her up.  She also made some to leave there for someone else to find.    

2. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The illustrations are very detailed.  They match each place or activity they describe.  Through out the book the grandma does some of the activities the little girl did with her mom.  The poems jump from telling the stories of her mom and the little girl and grandma spending time together.  For example, one of the poems was Paper Candleholders, so the grandma and little girl made some. This was something the mom did in New Mexico.  It was funny to the little girl to think that her mom would do crafts and make a mess. This book also explored different cultures.  At one point they were stationed in Japan, so the book discussed chopsticks with the little girl and her and her grandma ate with them.  The illustrator did a great job with all the illustrations because they are all so different.

I like how all the poems write the book, but you could also just read one and there is still a meaning.  Each poem has its own title and illustration to match.  You could just read a couple to a class and discuss them.  In the back of the book it talks about poetry forms you could discuss with your students.  There is also a poetry form from Japan that you could share and practice with your students.  It also discusses free verse poetry.  I like how there are no limits to when you write free verse poetry.  She ends the book with this poem…
“The word is an
amazing thing.
Set it loose
upon a page,
let it blossom,
hear it sing!  
I think this would be a great thing to read to your students at the beginning of poetry because you can explain to them they can make anything poetry.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
From Good Reads: “The end of the book offers information about poetry/poetry writing and tells about the military bases which inspired the author during her travels as a military child.”

5. CONNECTIONS
*This is a really good book to share with kids that have mom and dads in the military.  You could also share it with children that have to move a lot.
*This would also be a really great book to read at the beginning of poetry because it is a girl just writing poetry about where she is.  You could also read the back about free verse poetry to your students.