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"Poetry Speaks Who I Am" Edited by Elise Paschen Series Editer Dominique Raccah (Reviewed by Cindy Hannikman)

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Books & Stories - Books

Written by Ares

Saturday, 03 April 2010 09:20

Order Poetry Speaks Who I Am from amazon here

In honor of April being National Poetry Month I was approached to review Poetry Speaks Who I Am, an poetry anthologies meant for the middle grade audience that is filled with poems that are meant to inspire both the love of poetry and the child themselves. It is one of the first anthologies of poetry that is specially made for the middle school audience.

Poetry has always been a present in my life. I remember reading some of the poetry books in the library when I was in 5th or 6th grade. I think I would have a better grasp of poetry and make it a bit more of a priority if at that age I wasn't reading poems that were above my head. When reading Poetry Speaks Who I Am, I kept thinking "I wish I had this book when I was in middle school."

Poetry Speaks Who I Am, is filled with over 100 poems that are specially picked out for this anthology. There are current poets, poets of the past and all types of poems. This really is a great introduction to poetry for those that are younger or even those that wish to get poetry into their lives.

The poems are all very easy to read, nothing mystic and filled with double or triple meanings. The thing that is so amazing about this book is the editing, it doesn't feel as though poems were taken and just thrown into a book for those to read. It feels as if careful thought was put into each poem and where to place it in the book. There are poems by Robert Frost, Edger Allan Poe, and Emily Dickinson so it gives an introduction to poets that are some of poetry's greatest authors.

I really believe the mixture of the older poets and the newer poets really makes this book unique. It can speak to those that are a bit younger and hopefully inspire the kids to learn to love poetry, because a first experience in poetry is a lasting one.

Poetry Speaks Who I Am also comes with a CD that has some of the poems actually read aloud. Not only do you get to read the poetry but you get to hear the speed and flow of some of the poems which is an added bonus.

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One day an out of work mime is visiting the zoo and attempts to earn some money as a street performer. Unfortunately, as soon as he starts to draw a crowd, a zoo keeper grabs him and drags him into his office. The zoo-keeper explains to the mime that the zoo's most popular attraction, a gorilla, has died suddenly and the keeper fears that attendance at the zoo will fall off. He offers the mime a job to dress up as the gorilla until they can get another one. The mime accepts. So the next morning the mime puts on the gorilla suit and enters the cage before crowd comes. He discovers that it's a great job. He can sleep all he wants, play and make fun of people and he draws bigger crowds than he ever did as a mime. However, eventually the crowds tire of him and he tires of just swinging on tires. He begins to notice that the people are paying more attention to the lion in the cag e next to his. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he climbs to the top of his cage, crawls across a partition, and dangles from the top to the lion's cage. Of course, this makes the lion furious, but the crowd loves it. At the end of the day the zoo-keeper comes and gives the mime a raise for being such a good attraction. Well, this goes on for some time, the mime keeps taunting the lion, the crowds grow larger, and his salary keeps going up. Then one terrible day when he is dangling over the furious lion, he slips and falls. The mime is terrified. The lion gathers itself and prepares to pounce. The mime is so scared that he begins to run round and round the cage with the lion close behind. Finally, the mime starts screaming and yelling, "Help, Help me!" but the lion is quick and pounces. The mime soon finds himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and the lion says, " Shut up you idiot! Do you want to get us both fired?"