Chapter 9: Poetry

Chapter 9: Poetry

This chapter discusses the format of poetry and how to evaluate it in conjunction with YA literature. There are 5 main questions that are outlined in the chapter to ask yourself for evaluating Poetry for children: Is the subject of the poem something with which children would be familiar?; Does the poem use imagery?; Does the poem rhyme?; How is the rhythm used?; and what role does sound play?

Another important aspect of this chapter discusses the findings of studies surrounding poetry for children. For example, they found that most children prefer narrative style poetry. This study focused on elementary schools, but you can also tell that this is still prevalent in YA literature. Some very popular YA literature that is written in this format- Kwame Alexander’s Crossover series, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, and Ellen Hopkin’s Crank series.

When evaluating these books, it is important to look not only at the content of the book like themes, characters, and settings that help communicate the world in the book, but also to look at the specific style and format that that authors choose. Novels written in verse are becoming more and more popular in the most recent years.

Reflection:

As this chapter discusses the format of poetry, it is also very important to note the increased use of poetry for children and young adults being produced. The YA literature being produced in the format of poetry has increased over the past few years and has also been critically acclaimed. One of the first YA novels written in verse that I remember seeing while growing up was Crank by Ellen Hopkins. I noticed that many of my friends (especially the self-proclaimed non-readers) gravitated toward this book because of the edgy topic and the accessibility of the way it was written. While many students dread reading poetry in an English Classroom, they gravitate towards it in their own reading because they do not have to pick it down to the skeleton as we often do in the classroom. Crank was written about drug addiction which was not a topic that was often talked about in my small town- even if it was something that many people in my rural town dealt with. The fact that it was written in poetry and was roughly 500 pages also made this book feel like a huge accomplishment for those who always said they “hate reading.” I have found this same sentiment as a teacher in the classroom. If I asked a boy to read a poem in class, the inevitable answer would be groans, but when I introduced my boys to Crossover by Kwame Alexander they could not put it down. Crossover which was published in 2014 has won the Newberry Medal and was a Coretta Scott King honor book in 2015. The 2019 Printz, Pura Belpre and the 2018 National Book Award winner for Young People’s literature was Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. When evaluating these books, it is important to look at the craft of the poetry as well as the story telling involved that makes the book so popular and well regarded.