I Am a Pencil: A Teacher, His Kids, and Their World of Stories [Paperback]

Sam Swope (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2005

"Swope's marvelous, moving book revives the teaching memoir . . . And takes it to new realms of tenderness, insight and humanity." -Phillip Lopate

In 1995, writer Sam Swope gave a workshop to a third-grade class in a Queens school bursting at the seams with kids from around the world. So enchanted was he with his twenty-eight students that he "adopted" the class for three years, teaching them to write stories and poems. I Am a Pencil is the story of his years with this very special group of students. It is as funny, warm, heartbreaking, and hopeful as the children themselves.

Swope follows his colorful troop of resilient writers from grades three to five, coaxing out their stories, watching talents blossom, explode, and sometimes fizzle. We meet Cindy (whose mom was a Taoist priestess), Brian (who cannot seem to tell the truth), and Lourdes (a wacky Dominican chatterbox). Preparing his students for a world of adult dangers, Swope is astonished by their courage, their humanity, and most of all, their strength. I Am a Pencil is a book about the power and magic of imagination, providing a unique window on the immigrant experience as seen through the lives of children.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Children's book writer Swope (The Araboolies of Liberty Street, etc.) was in a slump. And what better way to liven things up than by accepting an offer to teach a 10-day writing workshop to a class of third-graders in Queens, New York City, a prime destination for immigrants to the U.S. and one of the world's most ethnically diverse areas? Swope became so intrigued by the children, he devoted himself for the next three years to teaching them, unpaid. This delightful, sometimes heartbreaking work relates how, as Swope taught, his writing lessons extended into story-writing collaborations with his students, lessons in how to draw a tree and assignments to play in the snow and write about it. Swope's affection for the kids involved him deeply in their lives, which were often ridden with familial stress. His teaching (and writing) approach is seriously playful; he bestows on his students the power of words (as when Miguel, infuriated by his home life, uses the word "stalwart" to keep himself from giving up during troubled times). Swope shows how children flourish when their imaginations are nurtured and they are challenged to find inner discipline and write what they see as truth. He also reveals the painful seesaw of hope and limitations in their lives.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

A writer of children's books, Swope accepts a request from the Teachers and Writers Collaborative to run a 10-day writing workshop with a class of third-graders, never imagining how emotionally involved he'll become or that the workshop will turn into a remarkably fruitful three-year project. Swope throws himself into his new role, and his first assignment, the Box Project, ends up spanning the entire year as each child writes a story, makes a book, and builds a box to hold it. The results are surprisingly good, each box "unique as a fingerprint." The reader soon becomes familiar with individual students and eagerly follows the fourth-graders' struggle with the Island Project, during which they write about their own imaginary island. In the final year, Swope and his aspiring writers take on the Tree Project, which includes a poem about trees, letters to a favorite tree, and trees drawn from direct observation. All are turned into a book, which each child takes home and saves for the day when some, Swope is sure, will actually become writers. Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 1st edition (June 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965386961
• ISBN-13: 978-0805078510
• ASIN: 0805078517
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sam Swope is a Wise Man, Indeed, August 27, 2004

By 

Richard (STATESBORO, Gabon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Am a Pencil: A Teacher, His Kids, and Their World of Stories (Hardcover)

Sam Swope's *I Am a Pencil" is the best. A wise, compassionate, and witty book about children's writing and about teaching children, *I Am a Pencil* should be mandatory reading for all entrusted with our young people's imaginative health. Following the same group of children over four years, Swope's account reminds us of all that is wrong with current methods of "standardized" education and all that can be right when a gifted teacher is given relatively free-rein to work his or her magic in the classroom. All parents, educators and citizens should pay attention to this account of real children, instead of listening to a lot of hand-wringing conservative nonsense about, to quote Paul Lynde, "what's the matter with kids these days."

Buy this book, read it, and pass it on to others. You won't regret it.

Richard Flynn,
Editor, *Children's Literature Association Quarterly*

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Writer Stands Up for Children, August 20, 2004

By 

Janet Zarem - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Am a Pencil: A Teacher, His Kids, and Their World of Stories (Hardcover)

"I Am a Pencil" tells of one man's journey into the creative lives of children who are too frequently dismissed or stereotyped by politicians, bureaucrats, and even some exhausted teachers and administrators. These children are doomed to understaffed, physically deteriorating schools where they are expected at best to struggle with learning elementary English reading and wrtiting, too often taught in rote, mind-numbing ways. They are fortunate indeed when they meet a dedicated teacher or volunteer who has resisted burnout. Few adults consider that these kids are capable of or interested in intelligent, coherent, playful or elegant writing. It seems as though many of us more entitled Americans would prefer to either ignore or to sit in judgement on these children and their families. We are looking for someone to blame. And we are looking for easy answers.

Sam Swope was not looking for easy answers when he volunteered to teach creative writing to the children of immigrants to Queens for three years He was not looking for someone to blame. He was not promoting a program or testing a policy. He was on a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage into the hearts and minds of youngsters struggling to make sense of their world, a world their parents didn't entirely understand or navigate well. And he was on a pilgrimage into his own heart and mind, his own fears and hopes for a new generation of Americans. "I Am a Pencil" is not a "how to." It's a "why not." Why not give Jorge, Maya, MeiKai, Rafael and Fatma the chance to master their world through writing well? Why not work for them to get into excellent middle schools by getting involved with parents and administrators? Why not take the risk to care?

Mr. Swope doesn't hide behind the mask of authority. He doens't pretend that things are good when they aren't. (You won't find facile cheerleading here.) Neither, however, does his miss any authentic opportunity to celebrate victories, both large and small. It's the very realism of his story that makes it so valuable a companion for those who care intensely about the future of American education. If you are one of them, this is your book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Am A Pencil, August 9, 2004

By 

J. Ciment (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Am a Pencil: A Teacher, His Kids, and Their World of Stories (Hardcover)

I AM A PENCIL is a delight. It's an amazing account of teaching creative writing to the children of immigrants. In the end, however, what it really is about is the imagination of changing cultures. As a teacher of writing for over 25 years, this memoir is a rare and honest achievement.