George, Kristine O'Connell. Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems. Ill. by Debbie Tilley. New
York: Clarion Books, 2002. ISBN: 0-618-15250-4.
SUMMARY
The first
year in middle school can be exciting, embarrassing, frightening, and
confusing...and all in one day! Kristine
O'Connell George captures a young girl's emotions and observations as she
progresses through her first year in middle school. Through her eyes and
thoughts, you will meet her fun and crazy friends, feel the energy as students
pass to their next classes in the halls, suffer the embarrassment of being late
for class on the first day, and delight in the knowledge a crush is
reciprocated by the right guy. From the classroom to the cafeteria to the walks
home from school, each poem delights the reader with funny and sometimes
thought provoking images of middle school days. Young teens will relate to the
narrator's observations, and adults will relive the angst-filled days of their
teenage years in this witty collection of poems.
ANALYSIS
Kristine O'Connell George writes a narrative collection of
poems in Swimming Upstream: Middle School
Poems. With style, grace, and descriptive words crafted into poems, she
brings to life a group of friends who enter their first year of middle school.
By the end of the book, the reader feels like she knows each character as she
sees their personalities maturing during the school year. The beauty of the book exists in each
exquisite poem. George uses haikus, free verse, and figurative language to
bring to life the students, teachers, and school events.
George explores the thoughts and feelings of a young girl as she begins her journey through her first year at middle school. She is a good-natured girl, who finds the humor in most of her observations of the social and academic scenes in a middle school. George's poetry creates strong images of the drama of middle school. From being unable to open her locker on the first day, to the frustration of trying to play her flute, every experience is dramatic but in a humorous way. Little lines create movement, imagery, and meaning. For example, the following lines from "Passing Notes," show the narrator arriving home from school one day: "I dump my backpack/my notes flutter out.../ Top Secret conversations/scatter silently across the floor." The notes, even though they are scattered across her bedroom floor, silently retain the secrets intended for the recipient's eyes only.
One poem in this collection stands alone among the others, though. Its clever placement toward the end of the book is almost a cry to the reader to be heard and felt - to break away from the fun and see another side of school life. Titled "That One," it tells the story of the trouble-making student (every middle school has at least one). The narrator overhears a conversation in the office that he is "coming to school hungry,/sleeping in the garage to hide/from his dad./who/hasn't seen his mom/in two years./That one. The tough one./The one who scares us so much./" After reading so many funny poems, this is sprung onto the reader, as suddenly as the conversation was sprung onto the young narrator in the office. It causes a pause, a realization some students have hard and unhappy lives.
Following this somber moment, the light hearted mood steps back in when the following poem carries the reader off on a field trip with the group of friends. As the poems continue, the school year winds down, and after reading the final poem, the reader is left happy knowing this group of friends successfully completed their first year of middle school. Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems opens the world of middle school life that both young and older people will enjoy reading and rereading.
AWARDS
Best Children's Books of the Year, 2003 -
Bank Street College of Education, United States
Children's Choices, 2003 - International
Reading Association, United States
SUGGESTED
ACTIVITY
Margo
I helped Margo
With
buttons in second grade,
skating
and soccer in third,
explained
jokes over and over
so
Margo could laugh, too.
Margo,
slower that the rest of us,
counted
on me to wait,
to
help her catch up.
Depended
on me
to
pull her along
to
help her belong.
Now I see Margo
at
the edge of a crowd,
looking
more than lost.
She
doesn't see me wave.
We're
in different classes,
I'm
going places
Margo
can't find.
Margo.
Margo
falling
farther
and
farther
behind.
I adapted the following lesson from a
suggested lesson I read in the Swimming
Upstream Discussion Guide that is available on the kristinegeorge.com
website.
Discussion ideas after reading "Margo"
1)Describe the relationship the narrator and
Margo had while in elementary school. 2) Has it changed now that they are in
middle school? If it has, what do you think could be causing the change? 3) Are
there programs in your middle school that encourage students with challenges to
interact with other students? 4) Do you think programs like these are
important? Why or why not? 5) "How do you see yourself interacting with
students who need help in some ways? 4) In what ways have people helped you
overcome difficulties?"
More lesson
ideas:
Swimming Upstream:
Middle School Poems. cover illustration. Internet on-line. Retrieved January 26, 2012 from http://www.kirkusreviews.com/search/?q=swimming+upstream
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