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Another NBA Nominee: "19 Varieties of Gazelle"
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 18:12:18 -0600
Adult literature in the NBA competition is divided by genre, but the "juvenile literature" category is divided by intended audience, an audience so broad in developmental scope that even if the category only involved Fiction, there would still be apples and oranges to compare. The technical standards for each genre differ greatly, as we've already see while discussing creative nonfiction. Add to this that few of us have the technical skill to critique serious poetry.
I applaud the most recent NBA committee's selection of "19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the MIddle East" (Greenwillow) as one of its finalists. Naomi Shihab Nye is an internationally admired poet whose poems for adults have received considerable formal acknowledgment. Her published picture books for younger readers ("Sitti's Secret," "Benito's Dream Bottle" - which MUST be brought back into print, and
"Lullabye Raft") could be categorized as poetry, too, even though at first glance this might not come to mind to someone with any of these books in hand.
If you've had a chance to read some of the poems in "19 Varieties of Gazelle" how do you rate them as poems? as having an emotional impact? I've returned to these poems repeatedly during the past several months, and I always discover something new in a poem I read earlier.
For example, in the poem "Red Brocade" I now cherish these words: "The Arabs used to say, When a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he's come from, where he's headed. That way, he'll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then you'll be such good friends you don't care..." I read it differently earlier, but now Nye's reference to beautiful traditional stitchery created even today represents something older, lasting, and more important than what seems to be immediate. Maybe even steps toward Peace.
Or, what about the poem "Steps" in which Nye writes about children coming to a grocery shop with coins jingling in their hands. "...One of these children will tell a story that keeps her people alive. We don't know yet which one she is..." Every teacher or parent can relate to that fragment. And if you've seen this book, have you noticed Nye's repeated references to children, classrooms, schools?
There's so much to think about in each poem. Each is a little gem in itself.
What an enormous responsibility for a handful of people charged with the selection of book for a literary award when their finalists encompass such varying literary forms.
- Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Sun 12 Jan 2003 06:12:18 PM CST
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 18:12:18 -0600
Adult literature in the NBA competition is divided by genre, but the "juvenile literature" category is divided by intended audience, an audience so broad in developmental scope that even if the category only involved Fiction, there would still be apples and oranges to compare. The technical standards for each genre differ greatly, as we've already see while discussing creative nonfiction. Add to this that few of us have the technical skill to critique serious poetry.
I applaud the most recent NBA committee's selection of "19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the MIddle East" (Greenwillow) as one of its finalists. Naomi Shihab Nye is an internationally admired poet whose poems for adults have received considerable formal acknowledgment. Her published picture books for younger readers ("Sitti's Secret," "Benito's Dream Bottle" - which MUST be brought back into print, and
"Lullabye Raft") could be categorized as poetry, too, even though at first glance this might not come to mind to someone with any of these books in hand.
If you've had a chance to read some of the poems in "19 Varieties of Gazelle" how do you rate them as poems? as having an emotional impact? I've returned to these poems repeatedly during the past several months, and I always discover something new in a poem I read earlier.
For example, in the poem "Red Brocade" I now cherish these words: "The Arabs used to say, When a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he's come from, where he's headed. That way, he'll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then you'll be such good friends you don't care..." I read it differently earlier, but now Nye's reference to beautiful traditional stitchery created even today represents something older, lasting, and more important than what seems to be immediate. Maybe even steps toward Peace.
Or, what about the poem "Steps" in which Nye writes about children coming to a grocery shop with coins jingling in their hands. "...One of these children will tell a story that keeps her people alive. We don't know yet which one she is..." Every teacher or parent can relate to that fragment. And if you've seen this book, have you noticed Nye's repeated references to children, classrooms, schools?
There's so much to think about in each poem. Each is a little gem in itself.
What an enormous responsibility for a handful of people charged with the selection of book for a literary award when their finalists encompass such varying literary forms.
- Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Sun 12 Jan 2003 06:12:18 PM CST
