Roots and Flowers: Poets Write About Their Families - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Rezensionen

Gr 7 Up-A wonderful anthology from 40 contemporary poets (some famous, some lesser known), all touching somehow on the subject of family. As an added attraction, the poets have included a family snapshot and a brief note on their family and its effect on their poetry. The selections are well chosen, and the personal details in the notes may help to draw some readers more eagerly into the poems. The styles are diverse, and the poems vary in length from Naomi Shihab Nye's seven-line "How Far Is It to the Land We Left?" to the six pages of Stanley Kunitz's "Journal for My Daughter." Some are humorous, some confrontational, many are soothing, and at least one includes street language. This is a great picture of what's going on in contemporary American poetry.-Herman Sutter, Saint Agnes Academy, Houston, TX

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

In another title that takes its inspiration from the family tree, Roots & Flowers: Poets and Poems on Family, ed. by Liz Rosenberg, 40 poets make a statement about family, followed by one to three poems. Perhaps the soul of the collection is best summed up by poet Stanley Kunitz, whose statement marvels at his mother's memory for detail, and whose poem, "My Mother's Pears," concludes (as mother and son plant a small pear tree beside the house she built), " `Make room for the roots!' my mother cries, `Dig the hole deeper.' "

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 9-up. "Poetry . . . is the language with which we speak of the things that matter most to us. And so, poetry is also the language of the family," writes David St. John in this excellent anthology. Rosenberg combines photographs and statements from well-established and emerging poets with selections of their work that explore many aspects of family relationships. There are poems about parents and children, siblings, grandparents, and even children outside traditional family borders. Naomi Shihab Nye writes about the poignancy she feels for a child she once held on a plane. Some poems are so rooted in adult concerns that younger readers may have trouble connecting; others have immediate appeal for teens, such as a Maria Mazziotti Gillan piece about fitting in and finding a voice. Even the book's handsome design, reminiscent of a family album, speaks to the theme with a lovely recurring botanical image suggesting flowers pressed between pages. Biographical notes conclude this deeply affecting collection. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved