HOME TO ME, POEMS ACROSS AMERICA BY LEE BENNETT HOPKINS

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ill. By Stephen Alcorn.  Home to Me, Poems Across America. New York:  Orchard Books. 2002.  ISBN  0439340969

SUMMARY:  This book of poems is written by contemporary poets who reside in diverse geographical areas. The book is a wonderful collection about different types of homes.  From a home on the sea to a glimpse into life on a reservation, there is a poem in this anthology for everyone.  The selections cover all different landscapes native to America. 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:  This anthology of poems about a variety of authors’ unique homes, depicts the vast North American landscape in a beautiful way .  Lee Bennett Hopkins’s book contains a Table of Contents, a short note from the editor, and at the end of the book, a brief biography of each of the authors.  The book is illustrated with wonderful paintings by Stephen Alcorn.  The pictures are not of the homes themselves, but of the landscape which each author describes. 

The poem I have chosen from the book contains a series of couplets that end in rhymes. The highlighted Poem is “On My Island,” by Patricia Hubbell. The author uses repetition in a few verses. She writes so that we use our senses to experience her home.  Sight, sound, smell, and touch come alive in her descriptions.  The descriptive language and imagery, make the reader feel that they are standing on the beach, feeling the wind and waves.  I think that elementary school students will love this beautiful book of poetry.

POEM EXCERPT: 

On My Island

by Patricia Hubbell

“I watch sleek seals on wave-wet rocks,

Rowboats bobbing at weathered docks,

I hear the buoy lonely bell,

I touch the chalky oyster shell,

All about me, pines grow tall,

All about me, seagulls call,

I dream of sunken ships, dim caves,

Mermaids floating on sunlit waves,

Then wake to silver everywhere—

Fog drifting through my island air.

I long, sometimes, to go away,

And other times, just want to stay

On my island far at sea,

This island—home to me.”(Hopkins p.16)

EXTENTION ACTIVITY: 

I think a great extension activity, would be to read this book, and discuss how it does not describe homes, but the landscape.  Then I would have students brainstorm to come up with adjectives and nouns to describe where we live in North Texas, the landscape, the wildlife, and the fauna.  After we have come up with all the words necessary, I would put students in groups and ask each group to pick a word.  Then, each group will write a couplet that rhymes at the end, and which describes our area.  Then, we will put the couplets together to create a poem about our area.  We will then brainstorm to come up with a title.  This would be great for a 4^th grade Texas History Class, because those students are studying the various landscapes which make up Texas.

REFERENCES:

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ill. by Stephen Alcorn.  Home To Me, Poems Across America. New York:  Orchard Books. 2002.

Image by Google Images.