NCTE Award Poetry:

Greenfield, Eloise. Brothers & sisters family poems. Illus. Jan Spivey Gilchrist. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. Print. ISBN 9780060562847.

Greenfield's theme in this particular collection is the importance of family relationships which are at various ages and in different aspects of the familial relationships. The poems reflect how an African American family supports each other in good and bad times. Experiences include misunderstanding family, jealousy of a baby sibling, and experiences children realize growing up in a family. Greenfield’s characters are learning how to find happiness as they deal with difficult feelings and have a positive outlook in tough situations. Each poem expresses a mood, some quite or somber, while others are loud and fun.

The timeless poems are written in various styles. Some rhyme but all are concrete poems that convey a special family bond through love, fun, frustration, or experiences in family interactions. Greenfield uses alliteration, the repetition of other sounds, words, and phrases in the poetry. Hearing and seeing are some of the sensory imagery present in the poems. The poems are appealing to the children because they can relate to the relationships they have in their families. The poems are filled with emotion and connect to the readers’ feelings and experiences.

The index lists the poem titles such as, “Mad at Dad,” “Who is this Girl?” “At the Home Place,” and “The Two of Us,” The titles all reinforce the family theme and ensure the theme is carried through out the book. The title page and the last page have the same illustration of a brother and sister lovingly looking at each other.

Gilchrist, the illustrator, uses colorful pen and ink to bring the poem to life with colorful action and emotion filled detailed pictures framing the poem as they convey love, fun, and hurt feelings found in the poetry. The white space assists the reader in focusing on the poem and its complimentary illustration.

Poem for Library Lesson:

“The Two of Us”
When we grow up
We’re going to have
Our own big company,
Side by side we’ll sit
At the head of the meeting table,
Say yes to this and
No to that. Maybe we’ll make
Movies or cars or cities.
We don’t know yet,
But whatever we do,
We know we’re going to do it together.

Activity:
First, I would introduce the poem as my favorite in the book because it invokes memories of when my brother and I would make plans of what we would do when we were finally grown up. Then, I would read the poem aloud and discuss the emotion, mood, and theme of the poem. Next, I would ask the students to reflect on a family member that they would like to do an activity with. Finally, I would ask the students to then write a personal poem describing their plans with that relative. Students may voluntarily share their work with the class and then we would make the collection into book for the school.