Free Choice:

Wong, Janet S. Twist: Yoga Poems. Illus. Julie Paschkis. New York: Margaret K. McElderry, 2007. Print. ISBN 9780689873942.

Twist is a collection of poems about yoga positions. Through lyrics and child friendly writing Wong conveys the poetic essence and uses sensory images in sixteen yoga positions such as Tree, Warrior, and Crow. Most of the poses have animal names allowing the readers to make a connection to the prose through imagery. The damp soil can be felt beneath you as you read Cobra and you grab the star as Half-Moon. Wong’s use of sensory imagery allows the yoga to live through the poem. Each poem has several layers of meaning including explaining the meaning of the yoga position in addition to providing a story and an imagery of the position. The author’s note is found in the book. It states the collection was written as a gift for the illustrator of the book, Paschkis. Wong did each position then stopped reflected and wrote poetry about that position. She acknowledged that some positions were difficult but doing them as well as personally possible is beneficial. After doing the positions, it is apparent that the Table of Content lists the collection from easies to most difficult position. (Yes, I too, did each position). The collection received the Bank Street Best Books of the Year and was the Garden State Children’s Book Award Nominee.

Paschkis, the illustrator, uses vibrant watercolors to picture each exercise and to exercise the reader’s imagination in addition to the body as it compliments each poem. The book is appealing with its attractive and inviting designs, warm colors, format which lends added dimension, energy, and beauty to Wong’s collection. The format of the book compliments the poetry topic. She uses complimentary patterns to accentuate the subject, such as using triangle patterns “Triangle” and in “Cobra” the lines in the boarder and clothes snake around. Two pages are used for each poem and the accompanying illustration which illustrates the position featured in the poem. Both the poem and illustration are framed with the illustrations on the left pages and the poems on the right pages throughout the collection. The framed illustrations and poems are set inside a boarder illustration which explempfies details from the accompanying poem as well as extend the yoga theme throughout the collection. Paschkis’ work makes the collection visually appealing and adds a dimension to the poems while providing subjects for the reader to make connections.

The illustrations and poetry work in tandem allowing the reader to experience the pose as they have an emotionally moving, literary, and artistic interpretation of yoga.


Poem for Library Lesson:

“From Tree”

Trees watch.

This is why
They grow tall,
this is why they bend
and sway,
so they can see around
a house, over a hill,
beyond a fire…

At the tip of each branch
There is an eye.


Activity:

After reading the poem discuss how the poem reflects the how a tree would be able to see if it had eyes at each branch. Would the tree be able to stand in one place and see or would the tree need to move, stretch, and sway to see around a house, over a hill and beyond a hill? Students demonstrate how the tree would have to move to see everything. Do any two trees move the same way? Why or why not? The students focus on how they as a tree are moving to see things. They complete the activity by writing a poem that describes a position their tree makes in order to see. Students voluntarily share their poetry and demonstrate their tree position.