Cullinan, Bernice E. (Ed.). A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets. Ill. by
Andi MacLeod; Portraits by Marc Nadel. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong Boyds Mills Press, Inc., 1996. ISBN: 1-56397-087-2.
SUMMARY
How can you
choose the best children's poems from NCTE Award Winning poets when all of
their poems are wonderful? How can you be sure children will enjoy the book?
Editor, Bernice E. Cullinan found the perfect solution for these questions: Let
the children choose the poems! And with the help of over 3,500 school children
and their teachers and librarians, Cullinan compiled the children's top five
favorite poems of ten poets in her
anthology A Jar of Tiny Stars. Subjects
ranging from climbing trees to animals to machinery are all written in
delightful verse that can rhyme, blend, chop, or smoothly roll across the
tongue as they create memorable images. This is a poetry anthology that is a
must have for a personal library poetry collection.
ANALYSIS
The featured
poets in this A Jar of Tiny Stars are
David McCord, Karla Kuskin, Myra Cohn Livingston, Eve Merriam, John Ciardi, Lilian
Moore, Arnold Adoff, Valerie Worth, and Barbara Esbensen. While each poet's art is unique, the common
link of the poems is the childlike appeal found in rhyme, meter, and
theme. The poems may seem
deceptively simple at first glance, but once they are read, the magic of the words
open up the world of innocence and wonder to delight the reader. The pure
enjoyment of living can be found throughout the anthology, as well as
thoughtful reflections about life. The moods of the poems range from funny and
fanciful to serious and philosophical.
Myra Cohn Livingston's poem "Martin
Luther King" takes a serious issue in the world of adults and, through poetry, appeals to the children
to consider it. She carefully uses dialect and smooth rhythm to make the speaker
in the poem sound conversational, inviting, and proud: "Got me a special
place/For Martin Luther King./His picture is on the wall/Makes me sing."
The following lines come out even and slowly, as if the speaker is
contemplating Dr. King's peace-loving philosophy: "I look at it for a long
time/And think of some/Real good ways/We will overcome." The poem in its
simplicity sounds out a powerful message of admiration for Dr. King and hope
for the future.
On a lighter
side, Karla Kuskin describes the pitfalls of dressing to play outside in the
snow in her poem, "Winter Clothes." The poem's lines are mostly three
to four words long, which emphasize the layers of clothing the child must wear
to go outside. "...I've mittens too/And pants/And pants/And boots/And
shoes/With socks inside..." The repeating word "and" plus the
repeating lines "And pants/And pants" helps to create the image of
the poor child who is dressed to battle the cold. The final lines, "And
when I walk/I must not fall/Because I can't get up at all" leave the
reader laughing at the absurdity of dressing to play in the snow. How can the child possibly play when the poor child can't even move? Children and adults in the
northern climates will certainly appreciate this poem, while children in the
southern climates will wonder at the ridiculousness of winter clothes.
Cullinan
includes a several additional features in her anthology which provide insight
into the poets. The anthology is divided into ten sections, one for each poet.
Each section begins with a portrait sketch by Marc Nadel of the poet and a brief quote from
the poet about writing poetry. The book ends with a
section which provides a brief biography of the poets and a bibliography which lists their works. Helpful sections to find a favorite poem are the table of contents or an index of authors, titles, and first lines.
A Jar of Tiny Stars is poetry rich, and
every poem is wonderful in itself. Some poems will spark a memory in adult
readers, for example Eve Marian's "Umbilical" which tells the story
of a boy's attachment to his transistor radio. This poem would be a great poem
for today's grandparents to share with their mp3 attached grandchildren! Cullinan's
anthology, although written for children, can be enjoyed by anyone of any age
who simply enjoys the wonders of childhood imagination and thoughts.
AWARDS
Kentucky
Bluegrass Award. 1997. Nominee. Kentucky
Best Book List -
Middle and
Junior High School Library Catalog, Eighth Edition. 2000. H.W. Wilson, United
States
Middle and
Junior High School Library Catalog, Eighth Edition. 2005. H.W. Wilson, United
States
SUGGESTED
ACTIVITY
David McCord's poem : The Pickety Fence
The pickety
fence
The pickety
fence
Give it a
lick it's
The pickety
fence
Give it a
lick it's
A clickety
fence
Give it a
lick it's
A lickety
fence
Give it a
lick
Give it a
lick
Give it a
lick
With a
rickety stick
Pickety
Pickety
Pickety
Pick
Read the poem aloud to your students. Then, have students
take turns reading it aloud. Talk about the sounds the poem makes and ask them
if the sounds are like those made when dragging a stick along a wooden fence.
Then, have the students discuss and brainstorm for ideas of sounds they hear in
the classroom. (Pencil tapping, sniffling noses, shuffling papers, etc.) Write
down the ideas on the board, and then ask the students for words (either real
or nonsense words) that sound like the noises made, as David McCord does in his
poem. Finally, have the students work in groups (or individually). Each group
will select one of the sound-making objects (or come up with their own) and
create a poem similar to "The Pickety Fence."
A Jar of Tiny Stars. cover
illustration. Retrieved February 10, 2013 from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bernice-e-cullinan/a-jar-of-tiny-stars/
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