This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
What if you wrote an apology poem…and you received a response back? That is the premise of this book of poetry. Let’s shine the spotlight on these poems of apology and forgiveness:
Summary
A sixth grade class reads the poem “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams. His poem inspires the class to write poems of apology. They put these poems in a book to take pride in their hard work. They also decide to include a second part in the book. They invite the people who received their apology poems to have the opportunity to respond by writing poems back. This book is a collection of the poems of apology and the responses.
Discussion
This book is a clever individual poet compilation with a topical connection. Sidman wrote all of the poems in the book under the themes of apology and forgiveness. She developed the idea for this book after working in a fourth grade class. They helped her write a sorry poem to her mother and she received a response back from her. She started thinking about what it would be like if students wrote apologies, gave them to the people they were written to and then those people wrote responses of forgiveness back. After all of this creative thinking, Sidman developed distinct voices and personalities for a classroom of sixth graders who had apologies to give, then developed the voices and personalities for all of the people who would respond.
The book begins with the Table of Contents. Part One is called Apologies, while Part Two is called Responses. The titles of the poems and their authors are clearly listed. An introduction is included and is a key element in the book. The introduction sets the reader up for the organizational layout of the book. The reader understands that an apology poem in Part One will match a response poem in Part Two. The mentor poem, "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams, is also included before Part One begins. Readers can see how one poem led an entire class to write poems of apology.
Part One begins with a poem which follows the outline of Williams’ poem. From there, most of the poems include a free verse style. One poem, "Spelling Bomb," stands out from the rest. Its written in pantoum form, where the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines in the following stanza. Typically, pantoum’s rhyme, but this example demonstrates flexibility in the form and did not rhyme. Part Two also includes mostly free verse poems, but also includes some variations in form like a poem for two voices, a haiku and a rhyme.
The rhythm of the poems flows through free verse. Some poems include shorter lines, while others include longer lines. Many of the poems do not include matching sounds, however the sound of the poems seems natural when read aloud. There are examples of figurative language in many poems like in "I Got Carried Away," where Sidman (2007) writes, “all those red rubber balls thumping like heartbeats against the walls and ceiling, blinking back and forth like stop lights…” (p. 10). Or in "Fashion Sense," where Sidman (2007) says, “You smiled, but your smile looked like a frozen pond” (p. 12). Also, in "Sparkling Deer," she writes, “…your little snow scene drew me like a magnet” (Sidman, 2007, p. 17). The figurative language allows the reader to add clarity to the pictures they are making in their mind while reading the poem.
Many of the poems include imagery due to the use of sensory words. A favorite poem for imagery is "Brownies – Oops!" Sidman elicits all of the reader’s senses to create a visual picture of a little girl taking a large portion of fresh baked brownies. Sidman (2007) begins the lines of the poem with words like “I smelled,” “I crept,” and “I slashed,” and adds phrases like “a wafting wave of chocolate-ness,” “cold linoleum on my bare toes,” “warm, thick brick of brownies” and “gooey hunks of chocolate”(p. 14).
The emotion from the poems comes through to the reader in the apology, but truly comes together after reading the response. In Sidman’s poem "Fashion Sense," the reader can feel Carmen’s regret. Then after reading "Haiku for Carmen," the reader can feel Mrs. Merz sense of delight after receiving Carmen’s honest apology. In the poem "Balance," the reader understands Jose’s sense of remorse and understanding he was wrong to follow his friend’s actions in his apology to his dad. In his dad’s response, "I’m Telling You Now," the raw emotions of pride and seeing his child growing into something more than he was ring true for the reader. In "Sparkling Dear," the reader understands how much the glass dear meant to the mother and the pain that has remained with the daughter since the incident. Then in the response, "Little Ruth," the reader feels the mother’s sweet longing for her daughter. All of the poems allow you to feel what the poet felt as they were writing either the apology or response. Each moment is captured by Sidman’s words.
The illustrations are made up of mixed media and completed on paper, canvas and wood. They also include collages and computer graphics. Zagarenski captures meaning in each poem and includes an illustration which compliments the poem. The background colors and graphics change to distinguish each poem from the next. The font also changes with each poem. The readers eyes have something new to take in on each page.
Overall, the strength of this book is in the organization and in the shifting voices throughout the poems. The apology and forgiveness poems include vivid imagery and delicate emotions adolescents and adults will be able to connect with.
Awards/Reviews
Joyce Sidman is an award-winning author of poetry for children. Swirl by Swirl was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Dark Emperor was a Newbery Honor Book, a Boston Globe Horn Book Award Honor Book and the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book. Ubiquitous was an IRA Teacher’s Choice Award winner and an ALA Notable Book. Song of the Water Boatman and Red Sings from Treetops were both Caldecott Honor Books. Butterfly Eyes won the Cybils Award.
This Is Just to Say won the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Cybils Poetry Award and the SLJ Best Book of the Year.
Here are samples of a few reviews:
“Sidman (Song of the Waterboatman and Other Pond Poems) explains, via an introduction from one of the book's sixth-grade characters, that the poems contained in this often humorous and touching anthology were inspired by the title poem of apology, which was penned by William Carlos Williams. The student in Mrs. Merz's class who introduces the book explains that some of the students received answers to their "sorry" poems. One pair of poems shares a spread and addresses a dodge ball exchange ("Sorry/ Reubs,/ for belting you/ as hard/ as I could/ in dodge ball/ I'd like/ to say/ I wouldn't/ do it again/ but I'd/ be lying"). But for most entries, unfortunately, in order to read the call-and-response in succession, readers must awkwardly flip from the first half of the book ("Apologies") to the second ("Responses"). Yet the poems successfully navigate the complicated terrain for those who seek forgiveness. In one especially moving poem, "The Black Spot," Alyssa tells her sister Carrie that the black spot of lead on Carrie's arm makes manifest the "nugget of darkness" within Alyssa that propelled her to injure her sibling (Carrie's response conveys her enduring anger at Alyssa). Zagarenski's (Mites to Mastodons) inventive mixed-media illustrations brim with items found in a classroom: a dictionary entry on "apology," for instance, becomes part of a student's clothing, and white hole reinforcements resemble a character's stolen doughnuts. But the book's odd organization seems a missed opportunity to tie the well-wrought, corresponding poems together and reinforce the complex relationships between the characters.” – Publisher’s Weekly
“Mrs. Merz assigns her sixth-grade students to write poems of apology, and what emerges is a surprising array of emotions, poetic forms, and subjects from dead pets and biting hamsters to angry siblings and betrayal of trust. The children decide to create their own book of these poems, complete with an introduction and occasional notes by editor Anthony K. Fast-talking Thomas writes a humorous poem patterned after William Carlos Williams's This Is Just to Say, apologizing to Mrs. Garcia in the office, for stealing the jelly donuts in the teachers' lounge: Forgive me/they were delicious/so sweet/and so gloppy. Mrs. Garcia's response poem says, Of course I forgive you./But I still have to call your mother. A more serious concern emerges in Next Time, written by Jewel: Please, please come back./Don't leave me spinning alone,/like a slow, sad tornado./I'm sorry, Daddy./Next time I'll be/perfect. In the response poem, Jewel describes her father's wrenching reply telling her that, None of the stupid things/I have ever done/are even close to being your fault. Sidman's ear is keen, capturing many voices. Her skill as a poet accessible to young people is unmatched. Zagarenski's delicately outlined collage drawings and paintings are created on mixed backgrounds–notebook paper, paper bags, newspaper, graph paper, school supplies. This is an important book both for its creativity and for its wisdom.” – School Library Journal
Teacher’s Tools
Teachers could use this book when focusing on comprehension strategies like questioning, inferring and visualizing while reading. Students could work with a partner to discuss the deeper meaning of selected poems from the book. Students could make notes of questions and inferences. They could also be asked to use their visualizations to illustrate the poem they discuss.
Teachers could use the poem by William Carlos Williams and the poems in this book as mentor poems to engage students in writing apology poems of their own.
Teachers could incorporate Joyce Sidman’s website (www.joycesidman.com). Her website features a tab called Poem Starters. Teachers can use this link to develop lessons to help students start writing poetry. She also includes a Poetry Kit teachers can download to use in poetry lessons along with the books she has written.
Bibliographic Information
Sidman, Joyce. 2007. This is Just to Say. Ill. By Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN-13: 978-0-618-61680-0.
