BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grimes, Nikki. 2015. Ill. Elizabeth Zunon. Poems in the Attic. NewYork: Lee & Low Books Inc. ISBN 9781620140277
PLOT SUMMARY
In Poems in the Attic, Nikki Grimes complies an intergenerational story of poems. A young girl sifts through her grandmother’s attic and discovers a collection of poems composed by her mother when she was a girl the same age. The poems share a story of the family moving from place to place because of a father in the Air Force. The mother’s work is displayed on the right side of each page, while on the left are short poems written by the little girl as a reflection on what she reads of her mother’s work.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Nikki Grimes pens a story through poetry when a young girl discovers a box of poems in her grandma's attic. The poems were written by her mother when she was growing up, almost as a journal. Reading the poems introduces the young girl to the various places her mother lived because of her father's military career. She is able to see and experience the world through her mother’s eyes and feel closer to her. Inspired by her mother’s writings, the little girl decides to respond through her own reflective poetry.
Poems in the Attic alternates between two poetic forms: tanka for the mother's poems and free verse for the daughter's. Each set of poems is paired on every two-page spread and complemented beautifully by Elizabeth Zunon's vibrant paint and collage illustrations.
The author includes notes at the end with a list of the eleven U.S. Air Force bases where the poems are set, a description of the free verse and tanka forms, and an invitation to the reader to write their own.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Texas Bluebonnet Award Winner 2016-2017
A little girl finds her mother's stash of childhood poems reflecting the mother's travels as an Air Force brat. The daughter's free-verse poems about finding and reading her mother's work appear on left-hand pages, facing her mother's tanka poems (a Japanese poetic form) on the right. Pink-toned acrylic and oil illustrations are enhanced by cut-paper and fabric collage. Notes on the poetic forms are appended. - Horn Book Guide, 2015
Sweet and accessible but never simplistic, this collection captures the experience of a military childhood with graceful sophistication. - School Library Journal
CONNECTIONS
With students, read the author’s note at the conclusion of the book containing the invitation to write their own poem. Encourage them to brainstorm places they have visited and could compose one of the two types of poetry about.
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