Home To Me - Hardcover

Grade 1-5-From prairie to mountain, shining sea to Texas trailer park, bustling city to western pastureland, this book examines the American landscape through poetry. Joseph Bruchac describes life on a reservation in "Rez Road"; readers feel his connection to the land and his pain when he writes, "But even though it's not that large/a nice new state superhighway/cuts through the middle of maple forest-/hunting grounds where we found medicine plants." C. Drew Lamm writes about living on a houseboat in "Rocking House," and Sharon Darrow describes a first day in a new trailer park in "First Saturday Morning: Beaumont, Texas." The poems celebrate simple, basic aspects of life so that all readers can imagine the solitude of a desert night in Lillian Fisher's "My Desert Home." The styles and rhythms vary; some poets write in rhyming iambic pentameter while others choose free verse to describe their homes. Alcorn's thoughtful, folklike illustrations creatively depict the settings. A loon and its reflection dance on a lake in Jane Yolen's "By Edge of Sight," and a farmer milks his cow in early morning moonlight in Tony Johnston's "Milking." The hues are light and dreamy and match the tone of the poems. A note about the 15 contributors, including information about the places they call home, is appended. This book is perfect for instructors looking for inspiration for children to create poems of their own.
Shawn Brommer, South Central Library System, Madison, WI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

*Starred Review* Gr. 2-5. An editor's note accompanied by an illustration of a quiet log cabin sets the scene for the evocative poems in this patriotic anthology of 15 thoughtful works. Selections such as Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "A Place Called Prairie" give a sense of place; others, such as Ann Whitford Paul's "Walking Home from School," reflect the poet's experiences growing up. Each poem is different, but all of the selections speak honestly and well about the meaning of home--whether home is an island "far at sea," or a reservation where tourists look for "chiefs in warbonnets, not some dark-haired kid wearing sneakers / and headphones." Imaginatively stylized illustrations--some earthy and concrete, some more fanciful--make fitting partners for the poetry, which gives children a nostalgic feel for the American experience. A brief note on each of the contributors, including editor Hopkins (whose "City I Love" is one of the few selections with an urban setting), is appended. A welcome addition to the poetry shelves, especially now when patriotism and home are particularly prized. Diane Foote
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