All We Needed to Say: Poems About School from Tanya and Sophie [Library Binding]

Marilyn Singer (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

Tanya and Sophie are totally different--Tanya is eager to get to school and Sophie is always late--but, in a collection of alternating poems, readers discover that the girls' differences may actually be the attraction leading to a special friendship in the future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Printed on creamy pages and decorated sparsely with black-and-white photographs, this unusual collection features verses, paired by topic and events, written in the voices of two middle-graders named Tanya and Sophie. For example, Sophie expresses her disgust with the school cook's tribute to Valentine's Day ("meat loaf/ bright red in slices shaped like hearts") while Tanya imagines herself hurling a handful of red Jell-O "like a shimmering cherry bomb" (so she can "startle the teacher/ custodian and cook/ and most of all Sophie sitting there/... / never knowing that I could maybe be/ as wacky wild/ as she." Clark's small, shadowy, generally unpopulated photographs are wonderfully evocative of an urban school, and Singer's (Please Don't Squeeze Your Boa, Noah) poems are filled with startling images. But while the theme is clear?the value in making friends with people who are "different from [oneself]"?she undercuts it somewhat in failing to differentiate between the two characters' narrative voices. Tanya is the good student who loves to learn, while Sophie is sent frequently to the principal's office and won't answer the teacher's questions even when she knows the right answer, but both girls speak in the same sophisticated, adult style. Although not wholly successful, it's an interesting experiment. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5?Accessible narrative poems that will pique readers' interest. Two classmates write of their day and of their awakening interest in befriending one another. The characters voice their feelings and perceptions in authentic-sounding poems that gradually reveal the two to be more similar than they first seemed. The book is attractive; small black-and-white photographs appear beside the poems and focus on classroom objects (a clock, notebooks, etc). Interspersed between pages of text are double-page views of playground and classroom that capture both the familiarity and mystery of school life. Another solid effort from a poet whose fresh approach merits the attention of students and teachers alike.?Marilyn Taniguchi, Santa Monica Public Library, CA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1st edition (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689806671
• ISBN-13: 978-0689806674
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,567,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides, and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories, and in 1976, her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over eighty books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling that says, "Hi. How are you? Sweet Birdie. Okay!" Her interests include ballroom/Latin dancing, dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, playing computer adventure games, and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

Marilyn is the former host of the AOL Children's Writers Chat and currently co-hosts the Poetry Blast at various conferences. Visit her web site: www.marilynsinger.net.