Sidman, J. (2007). This is
just to say: Poems of apology and
forgiveness.
One of my favorite books of poetry this semester, This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and
Forgiveness is so realistic in its fictional setting and characters that I
almost needed to reread the introduction to make sure that it is the work of
one author. Sidman is the newest
recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English Award for Poetry for
Children. This book demonstrates her
creativity and a writing style that is engaging and entertaining while still
using poetic language and introducing different poetic styles.
Broken into two parts, the fictional students from Mrs.
Merz’s sixth grade class write poems apologizing and asking for forgiveness in
“Part 1 Apologies.” Then as an
afterthought, the students decided to seek responses to the original poems, and
“Part 2 Responses” was created. The
poems in both parts pair with each other.
Students reading the book will find themselves flipping back to Part 1 while
they read Part 2 in order to remind themselves of the content of the first poems
as they read the responses. The poems
cover a variety of topics from apologizing to classmates, siblings, and
parents; to feeling sad over the loss of pets and parents; to confessions of
stealing the class lizard (which died) and rubbing the school’s namesake statue’s
nose.
Supposedly inspired by William Carlos Williams’s poem “This
is Just to Say,” the students in Mrs. Merz’s class bare all, sometimes in a
serious way, sometimes silly. Sometimes
sincere in their apologies, sometimes not so much.
Take the first and last stanzas of Thomas’s poem of apology
to Mrs. Garcia in the office:
This is
Just to Say
I have
stolen
the jelly doughnuts
that were
in
the
teachers’ lounge
. . . .
too bad
the
powdered sugar
spilled all
over my shirt
and gave me
away
and Mrs. Garcia’s response back which ends:
Dear Thomas
Of course I
forgive you.
But I still
have to call your mother.
The format of this book offers students who read it some
great inspiration of their own in writing poetry. Some different types of poems, such as haiku
and pantoum are defined and demonstrated.
Students who owe someone an apology might be inspired to write that
person a poem while being relieved to find in the book that the transgressions
were long ago forgiven and forgotten by parents and teachers.
Although this book of poetry is by a group of fictional
sixth graders, the poems are fun, funny, serious, and sensitive, and students
of all ages will be able to relate to the topics of the poems. Who among us has not needed to apologize or
respond to an apology? This book is on
my recommended list for my high school students who want to read poetry that is
easily accessible, relevant, and enjoyable.
No comments:
Post a Comment