A Poem for Girls
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Nye, Naomi Shihab. A Maze Me : Poems for Girls. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 2005.
ISBN 0060581891
This book is a delightful collection of over 70 poems written from observations and experiences of Naomi Shihab Nye. All of the poems in this book are free verse, and they talk about life experiences of girls in childhood and teenage years. This book was written for girls ages 12 to 17 years old. Nye writes these poems like they are her own thoughts and young readers will be able to connect with poems. There is a very strong personal connection to be had when reading this book.
This collection is simply arranged and separated by five sections. Each section is beautifully introduced with pastel-colored illustrations by Terre Maher. The beginning of the book contains a table of contents and introduction where the author talks about childhood and reminisces about school days before adulthood. She even suggests young readers to start writing three lines everyday about anything they want. She believes the reader will be able to make connections and truly learn more about who they are. This introduction really helps add to the personal touch of this book. The back of the book has an index that is a little different than most. The poems are listed by alphabetized first lines. The back cover and the inside dust jacket information are not summaries but actual poems to represent the contents of the book.
Poems in this book are not too flashy or complicated to read and understand. Some have abstract content, but the majority are descriptive and full of sense imagery, emotional impact, and figurative language. Nye writes a few poems with some rhyming features, but there is no specific rhyming patterns in her writing. She does include many metaphors and examples of personification. This is an overall pleasant book that is definitely recommended to have in any library who serves middle to high school age females.
A poem I would choose to highlight from this book would be Ellipse. As a Reading/English class warm-up, the teacher would read the poem aloud to the students. The students would then be asked to write down their impression of the poem. What came to mind as you were listening to the poem? Can you visually see punctuation marks on people? How do you feel about the poem? After a few minutes of reflection there would be a whole class discussion on the student's impression of the poem and the use of punctuation as physical markings on a person. This could also lead into a lesson on the mentioned punctuation marks and how they are normally used.
Ellipse
By Naomi Shihab Nye
My father has a parenthesis
on either side of his mouth.
His new words
live inside his old words.
And there's a strange semicolon
birthmark on my neck-
what does it mean,
my sentence is incomplete?
Please,
live with me in the open slope
of a question mark.
Don't answer it!
Curl up in a comma
that says more, and more, and more...
This book is a delightful collection of over 70 poems written from observations and experiences of Naomi Shihab Nye. All of the poems in this book are free verse, and they talk about life experiences of girls in childhood and teenage years. This book was written for girls ages 12 to 17 years old. Nye writes these poems like they are her own thoughts and young readers will be able to connect with poems. There is a very strong personal connection to be had when reading this book.
This collection is simply arranged and separated by five sections. Each section is beautifully introduced with pastel-colored illustrations by Terre Maher. The beginning of the book contains a table of contents and introduction where the author talks about childhood and reminisces about school days before adulthood. She even suggests young readers to start writing three lines everyday about anything they want. She believes the reader will be able to make connections and truly learn more about who they are. This introduction really helps add to the personal touch of this book. The back of the book has an index that is a little different than most. The poems are listed by alphabetized first lines. The back cover and the inside dust jacket information are not summaries but actual poems to represent the contents of the book.
Poems in this book are not too flashy or complicated to read and understand. Some have abstract content, but the majority are descriptive and full of sense imagery, emotional impact, and figurative language. Nye writes a few poems with some rhyming features, but there is no specific rhyming patterns in her writing. She does include many metaphors and examples of personification. This is an overall pleasant book that is definitely recommended to have in any library who serves middle to high school age females.
A poem I would choose to highlight from this book would be Ellipse. As a Reading/English class warm-up, the teacher would read the poem aloud to the students. The students would then be asked to write down their impression of the poem. What came to mind as you were listening to the poem? Can you visually see punctuation marks on people? How do you feel about the poem? After a few minutes of reflection there would be a whole class discussion on the student's impression of the poem and the use of punctuation as physical markings on a person. This could also lead into a lesson on the mentioned punctuation marks and how they are normally used.
Ellipse
By Naomi Shihab Nye
My father has a parenthesis
on either side of his mouth.
His new words
live inside his old words.
And there's a strange semicolon
birthmark on my neck-
what does it mean,
my sentence is incomplete?
Please,
live with me in the open slope
of a question mark.
Don't answer it!
Curl up in a comma
that says more, and more, and more...
This collection is simply arranged and separated by five sections. Each section is beautifully introduced with pastel-colored illustrations by Terre Maher. The beginning of the book contains a table of contents and introduction where the author talks about childhood and reminisces about school days before adulthood. She even suggests young readers to start writing three lines everyday about anything they want. She believes the reader will be able to make connections and truly learn more about who they are. This introduction really helps add to the personal touch of this book. The back of the book has an index that is a little different than most. The poems are listed by alphabetized first lines. The back cover and the inside dust jacket information are not summaries but actual poems to represent the contents of the book.
Poems in this book are not too flashy or complicated to read and understand. Some have abstract content, but the majority are descriptive and full of sense imagery, emotional impact, and figurative language. Nye writes a few poems with some rhyming features, but there is no specific rhyming patterns in her writing. She does include many metaphors and examples of personification. This is an overall pleasant book that is definitely recommended to have in any library who serves middle to high school age females.
A poem I would choose to highlight from this book would be Ellipse. As a Reading/English class warm-up, the teacher would read the poem aloud to the students. The students would then be asked to write down their impression of the poem. What came to mind as you were listening to the poem? Can you visually see punctuation marks on people? How do you feel about the poem? After a few minutes of reflection there would be a whole class discussion on the student's impression of the poem and the use of punctuation as physical markings on a person. This could also lead into a lesson on the mentioned punctuation marks and how they are normally used.
Ellipse
By Naomi Shihab Nye
My father has a parenthesis
on either side of his mouth.
His new words
live inside his old words.
And there's a strange semicolon
birthmark on my neck-
what does it mean,
my sentence is incomplete?
Please,
live with me in the open slope
of a question mark.
Don't answer it!
Curl up in a comma
that says more, and more, and more...
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