Module 1: Poetry Book by Lee Bennett Hopkins

 

Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems

 Bibliography

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. (2010). Sharing the seasons: A book of poems. Illustrated by David Diaz. Margaret K. McElderberry Books. ISBN: 9781416902102

Summary

Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems is a collection of 48 poems all having to do with one of the four seasons.  Each season is given a separate table of contents page with 12 poems for each season.  Each poem is listed with title, author, and page number on its corresponding season content page.  The poems were all selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and written by various poets.  The 26 poets that are included in the collection are a mix of classic well-known poetry greats like Carl Sandburg and contemporary authors including Hopkins himself.  Due to the large number of diverse poets this collection is also very diverse in the types and styles of poetry that are included.  Also included at the back of the book are indexes of titles, authors, and first lines, as well as a small excerpt about the author and illustrator.

 

Analysis

The collection begins with the season of spring and continues through the seasons of summer, fall, and winter in sequential order.  The illustrations are colorful and vibrant and the color schemes lend themselves to the particular season the poems are about.  For example, spring poem illustrations are mostly blues and greens, summer illustrations include lots of blue, green, orange and pink, fall poems are predominantly viewed with yellows and oranges, and finally winter pages are illustrated with mainly white and blue colors.  The illustrations will appeal to all grade levels and the diverse poetry will also interest all students.  Each poem is either featured on one page or two pages depending on length and illustrations included which allows for lots of white space.

Due to the large number of poets and poems that are included in this collection the variety of poetry and poetic elements is substantial.  This allows the collection to be used for many different purposes and at many different grade levels.  Some of the poems are short and some are long.  Some of the poems rhyme and some do not.  Even the poems that rhyme seem to rhyme differently, either lines or stanzas.  Some of the poems discuss specific items that can be observed during the specified season (sun, flowers, frogs, birds), while others describe activities or events that take place (swinging, Fourth of July, apple picking, Thanksgiving).

The poems included in the collection use many different types of figurative language and sense imagery throughout the book.  For example, there are many instances of personification of animals or objects including in “Spring Sun” where the sun is speaking saying “I open buds on branches, stir frozen dirt, release crocus from its earthy bed”. Another example, is in “Alone in Winter” where Lewis writes “wind galloped through the trees and the trees stepped back.”  Most of the sensory imagery used in the collection is focused on sights and sounds of the seasons so that the reader can better visualize the particular season.  Actually, the entire poem “In Concert” by Fran Haraway consists of a list of the sounds of spring.

 

Poem

Spring by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Roots

sprouts

buds

flowers

 

always—

always—

cloud-bursting showers

 

rhymes

April fools

fledglings on wing

 

no thing

is

newer

 or

fresher

than

spring.

 

Activity

This collection would be a great one to use to introduce writing poetry due to its diverse authors and poems.  I would love to read and show 1-2 poems for each season to a class of K-2 elementary students to show them the variety in types and styles of poetry.  I would then have each student write down in their journals or on a piece of paper everything they can think of about their favorite season.  This can then lead to another follow up lesson using those journal thoughts to create their own seasonal poem.  I chose to highlight a spring poem from the book because that is my favorite season.