Friday, January 18, 2013

Welcome to Poetry Friday





 Re-visit an Inspiring Book

Violet is hosting today. Be sure to check out more poetry links on her Comments page.

In Patricia MacLachlan’s short novel, Word After Word After Word, Ms. Mirabel inspires a 4th grade class to love words.She gives them tools to express their feelings in response to the death of a pet, a parent’s life-threatening illness and other real-life situations. The children are changed.



 Here is a poem written by the character Evie: 


Nothing is what you think.
A square is round
A circle is square
The earth is flat
The grass grows
Down,
The roots search for
Sunlight,
Happy is sad.
And surprise!
When
Unhappiness comes
I smile.

I’ve just re-read MacLachlan’s delightful book published by Katherine Tegen Books in 2010. Who wouldn’t want to have Ms. Mirabel for an author-in-residence? Some of us even want to BE Ms. Mirabel. And I know many Poetry Friday poets and educators are!

I’ve been asked to lead a Word After Word After Word book discussion for 4th and 5th graders. At my suggestion, the discussion will be followed with a two-session poetry workshop. I am thrilled and have begun planning which poems I will use to inspire my workshop participants.

There’s a Joan Didion quote at the beginning of the book: "I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."

The five students in the book proceed to do just that. Ms. Mirabel challenges them to find their own story, "or a character, a place, a poem, a moment in time. When you find it,” she says, “you will write it. Word after word after word after word."

17 comments:

  1. I'm happy to learn about this book.

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  2. Sounds great! Will have to seek it out. Thanks, Joyce!

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    1. You're welcome, Tabatha. Thanks for visiting.

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  3. Thank you for profiling this book...a wonderful read. And good luck with your upcoming book discussion/poetry workshop. The 4th and 5th graders are in for a treat. Happy Friday! =)

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    1. Thanks, Bridget. I appreciate your dropping by!

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  4. Sounds like a terrific book!

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    1. I think you'd like it, Matt. A quick read.

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  5. The book and the Joan Didion quote are perfect for each other. All the best in your discussion and workshops... those lucky kids!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Violet, and for hosting!

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  6. Hi, Joyce. This book is on my shelf, but I haven't read it yet. Thanks for the recommendation! I'm going to pull it off the shelf tonight, at last.

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  7. Thanks for profiling this book--it sounds like a great read and is now on my to read list.

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    1. Buffy, thanks so much for commenting.

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  8. It's a beautiful book, Joyce, & I'm glad to hear about another way to use it. Mostly I've copied certain parts & taught from those parts. I like your quote too, & will note it. Good luck with the group. And thanks!

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  9. Best wishes for your adventures with the students, Joyce! I posted something about this book back in 2011, and in the comments, Mary Lee pointed out to me that the teacher was kind of a "lump" in the story, so I've weighed that in my thoughts about it ever since. Not that I wouldn't recommend the book, but that I'd keep in mind there are also creative, magical teachers too, of course! I like your comment, "Some of us even want to BE Ms. Mirabel. And I know many Poetry Friday poets and educators are!" ;0)

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    1. Thanks for your good wishes and comments, Robyn. I understand Mary Lee's former comment about the classroom teacher. She is characterized as one less open to spontaneous and creative writing. But one of the wonderful parts of the story, in my opinion, is that the teacher, as well as the students, is changed! By opening up due to Ms. Mirabel's magical teaching, the teacher is freed from her ideas that outlining must precede all writing and that poetry must rhyme. By all means, there are creative classroom teachers! I think we can all learn from each other, and it's a beautiful thing when we can grow with our students.

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Comments welcome.