The Firefly Letters

1. Bibliography

Engle, Margarita. 2010. THE FIREFLY LETTERS: A SUFFRAGETTE’S JOURNEY TO CUBA. New York: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 0-689-30072-7

2. Summary

This story, written in poetry, is based on the diaries and letters of Fredrika Bremer, a Swedish suffragist who spent three months in Cuba in 1851. The focus is on oppressed women. The book features stories about Fredrika, Cecilia – a teenage slave who was captured in the Congo when she was eight, and Elena – a privileged girl in a slave owning family and how the characters are all connected.

3. Critical Analysis

Engle creates dramatic tension among the characters, especially in the story of Elena, who makes a surprising sacrifice. Engle's poetry intertwines three characters that help each other find hope and courage. There are many similes and metaphors for slavery and freedom in the poetry with the main metaphor being cocuyos, a bright firefly that the natives capture in bottles and weave alive into their hair. Rich descriptions of the beauty of Cuba enliven the gentle plotline, from the starlit sky and lush vegetation to the bountiful cocuyos (fireflies), whose flight and capture symbolize freedom and entrapment throughout. Engle has instilled powerful emotions into the free-verse text. The text is rife with metaphors of captivity and freedom: Cecilia’s enslavement is literal, Elena also longs to fly beyond the “ornately barred window” that defines her privileged life, and Fredrika’s relative independence was borne of great sacrifice while inspiring Cecilia and Elena to explore their own purpose.

4. Awards and Review Excerpts

- AWARDS -

Pura Belpre Award, 2011 Honor Book Author United States

- REVIEW EXCERPTS -

KIRKUS review: “The free-verse novel effectively alternates the voices of the three protagonists (with a fourth voice for Beni, Cecilia's husband) and demonstrates how each character affects the others, all learning a measure of freedom in their roaming the island, Fredrika always recording her observations in letters and diaries by the light of Cuban fireflies resting on her fingers. And like the firefly light, Engle's poetry is a gossamer thread of subtle beauty weaving together three memorable characters who together find hope and courage.”

THE BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS review: “The author has a gift for imbuing seemingly effortless text with powerful emotions; though this is briefer and less nuanced than her earlier works, it remains memorable nonetheless.”

5. Connections

This book can be used as a supplement for lessons on slavery and early feminism.

Students can make personal connections to any struggles they have had in their life and anyone who has helped overcome them.

Develop other similes and metaphors using bugs or animals to describe people, events, personalities, etc. as the fireflies did.

Mathematickles!

1. Franco, Betsy. 2003. MATHEMATICKLES!. Ill. by Steven Salerno. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. ISBN 0-689-84357-7

2. Summary

This is a collection of poems written in the form of mathematical problems. The poems are grouped according to seasonal themes. The words are formatted into mathematical equations that will intrigue both mathematicians and literature buffs alike.

3. Critical Analysis

In this book of poetry, Franco brings together the analytical thinking of math and the creativity of poetry. Some of the poetry snippets rhyme while others are free verse; simple words come together to make vivid imagery that take the reader through the seasons. The book includes some metaphorical language that create wonderful pictures in the mind such as the line about leave sailing through puddles like ships. The inspiration for these poems is mathematical, but they don’t always follow the mathematical fundamentals they are great examples of wordplay.

Salerno’s watercolor illustrations help the reader’s travel through the seasons. The lovable girl character and friendly animals all play a part in adding to the poetic words. The lively pictures and catchy word equations are sure to interest children in trying it themselves.

4. Awards and Review Excerpts

- AWARDS -

Children’s Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006 H.W. Wilson United States

- REVIEW EXCERPTS -

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE review: “This innovative volume of poetry seeks to fuse math and language in a unique and fun way. The poems are necessarily short but make the reader think of things in new and unusual ways.... thinking of it in mathematical terms twists it in such a way that it becomes interesting in a whole other way.”

BOOKLIST review: “Ultimately, they will appeal most to lovers of wordplay. Using this colorful book as a springboard, language arts teachers can challenge their students to write their own mathematickles.”

5. Connections

Have students write their own mathematickels or other fun formats of poetry.

Read other poetry that is written in a different format such as upside down words or in the shape of animals.

Read other poems that travel through the seasons and compare the imagery and adjectives used.

Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Colors

1. Bibliography

Sidman, Joyce. 2009. RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS: A YEAR IN COLORS. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-547-01494-4

2. Summary

This book of poetry travels through the seasons, describing them using colors along with descriptive words. The changing weather and seasonal activities are depicted throughout the poetry. The season of spring begins the book with the color red singing in the tree tops in the form of birds saying “cheer-cheer-cheer”. The final poetry about winter also with the color red in the form of birds singing “cheer-cheer-cheer”.

3. Critical Analysis

Sidman uses colors to take the reader through the seasons. The color red is the only color seen throughout all four seasons and it is followed by repetition of sounds such as “cheep-cheep-cheep” and “crunch”. The sounds give life to the poems and allow for expression when being read orally. The descriptive words used for each season allows the reader (or listener) to feel as if they are actually in that season. All of the senses are utilized through vivid imagery as Sidman describes the different seasons: touch in spring with “mossy-soft at my feet”; in summer with “smells like butter, tastes like salt”; in fall with sight “orange flickers, all smoke and candles”; and in winter with sound “white whispers, floats”. The poems have a definite rhythm that flows well when read aloud.

Zagarenski uses colorful illustrations in mixed-media that flow well. The colors are blended, composed of bits of newspaper print in places, and created on wood and through computer generation. The book has a light and European folksy feel in that the people and some animals in the book are adorned with crowns. Wheels are another frequent feature in the main character of the illustrations balancing on top. The most prominent feature is the frequent use of text in the illustrations. The illustrations are clearly the illustrator’s interpretation of the poem. For example, the poem reads, “Red darts, jags, hovers; a blur of wings, a sequined throat.” And the picture includes humming birds.

4. Awards and Review Excerpts

- AWARDS -

Claudia Lewis Award, 2010 Winner United States
Cybil Award, 2009 Winner Poetry United States
Minnesota Book Awards, 2010 Winner Children’s Literature United States
Randolph Caldecott Medal, 2010 Honor Book United States

- REVIEW EXCERPTS -

BOOKLIST review: “All of these evocative images are matched in the imaginative illustrations.” “And as the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page do sing.”

KIRKUS review: “The seasons flow into each other, bringing readers full circle. Fresh descriptions and inventive artistry are a charming inspiration to notice colors and correlate emotions.”

5. Connections

Choose (or have the students choose) a poems and illustrate it in an individual manner based on what you imagine when you hear it.

Write your own poem about a season.

Read other poems about seasons and compare them.

Look at the illustrations and find letters or words within the print that is used to compose the pictures.