Pawlak, Mark, D. Lourie, & R. Hershon When We Were Countries : Poems and Stories by Outstanding High School Writers

Pawlak, Mark, D. Lourie, & R. Hershon When We Were Countries : Poems and Stories by Outstanding High School Writers
Hanging Loose Press 2010 279p 19.00
978-1-934909-05-8 secondary Multicultural E-BN
A collection of poems and story written by high school teens. All of the writings have been previously published in the “hanging Loose magazine that specializes in publishing the works high school students. In this collection you will find the best of the best.
Very well written pieces by high school students are collected in this new anthology called “When We Were Countries.”. Selection for this book have come from the magazine “Hanging Loose” which is now celebrating it’s 44th year of publishing work by students.
In this new book the writing is quite sophisticated and sometimes quite complex to have been written by students. They have poured out their life in these pieces and are sharing their most intimate moments. Here students let loose and share their inner thoughts with us.
There are three pieces where their teachers share their experiences in working with their students and their techniques they encourage their students to practice. They also share how working with students has helped them continue to learn and practice their writing. They give excellent advice on how to encourage students to continue the practice of writing and through this particular technique their writing will become better and they will acquire excellent experience along the way. The teachers are candid and give very good advice to students and to teachers who are teaching the writing classes.
There is one special piece written by a former student writer who first published in the magazine Hanging Loose . He shares how this experience changed his life. Since then he has continued to write and has met with some success. Joanna Fuhrman is now on her fourth book titled Pageant and has just won an award. She share the fact that the experience of writing has had such positive effects for her and she encourages other students who would, or hope to begin writing to take that first step and just do it. you never know where it may lead. Diaz, Magna
United States - Teenage poems

World Poetry - “Evidence of Life”.

Johanson, Paula. World Poetry - “Evidence of Life”.
Enslow 2010 160p 34.60 Poetry Rocks (Enslow)
978-0-7660-3280-4 hs/adult E-BNS
This volume of poetry contains in poetry form, the life stories of peoples of the world including Babylonians, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Indian, written by the most famous poets since earliest times when oral tradition was the way to tell a story. This volume is a bit different from others of this series in that it encompasses literature almost since its beginnings. In 1200 B. C. E., Sin-leqi-unninni recorded the Epic of Gilgamesh, based on the feats of King Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, Babylonia. It included themes of love, death and friendship and influenced Homer as well as writers of several Bible stories. The reader quickly learns that this anthology represents the best and most influential poets ever known! Famous world poets such as Homer, Vyasa and Dante as well as less well-known poets such as Du Fu, Rumi and Basho are presented with biographical data, samples of their works, explanations of style and theme and critical responses to their writings. More contemporary poets such as Lorca and Neruda were chosen by author Paula Johanson to round out an extraordinary “cast” which has changed the way the world thinks and acts. The poems are not easy to read, and the reader quickly realizes that to master all of the life lessons and poetic techniques of these poems requires much more than a glance. This book is a beginning to an exploration that could take years! Johanson is not only an excellent researcher but also a student of poetry, shown by her choice of poets to include in this volume and by her impeccable organization of a wealth of material. The layout follows that of the series, with a FACT section strategically placed within each chapter. Finally, the photographs, the glossary, the extensive notes and the index aide the reader in navigating these pages. Serious readers will know all of the poets but delight in the selections and analyses; newer readers will learn enough to help them choose a poet for their next encounter. Squaresky, Martha

Honeybee: Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye

Nye, Naomi Shihab. Honeybee: Poems.
Greenwillow see Harper Collins, 2008,164p, $17.89, 978-0-06-085390-7
Middle school

In eighty-two poems and short prose paragraphs, Naomi Shihab Nye examines the world in which we live. She touches on many of the essentials of that are necessary in living the “good” life. Her work ranges from a description of the beautiful dance of the honeybee and its importance to the world to sorrowful discussions about the art of war. Lovely in tone, she both illuminates the dichotomies that cause such divisions in our lives and calms the emotions. SO