Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices [Hardcover]

Paul Fleischman (Author), Beppe Giacobbe (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Have some toe-tapping, tongue-flapping fun with this brilliant new book by Newbery Award-winner Paul Fleischman and gifted illustrator Beppe Giacobbe. You'll have to see, shout, share, perform, and experience it to believe it!

Two's company . . . four's a blast! Especially when you're joining voices with family or friends. Around the kitchen table, on the front steps, or in the classroom, these rousing, rib-tickling, delicious poems will fill you full of the joy of reading aloud. Paul Fleischman won the Newbery Medal for JOYFUL NOISE: POEMS FOR TWO VOICES. Now he invites us to make more word music.

Settle back and chant "The Quiet Evenings Here," as Grandma rocks, the clock tick-tocks, Sister hums, raindrops rap, and no one cares a hoot for the noisy, fast-paced world outside. Delight in the gossipy "Seventh-Grade Soap Opera," alive with whispers, invitations, and hearsay about who's fibbing, eavesdropping, or holding hands with whom. Let the poignant "Ghosts' Race" reveal the secret hungry ghosts know—and their spirited take on mortal mealtime. Arranged in color-coded groups of four lines, one line per speaker, each poem weaves a rich tapestry of rhythm, sense, and sound.

Written by Paul Fleischman, the renowned author of WESLANDIA, and evocatively illustrated by Beppe Giacobbe, this hip, innovative, and extraordinary book will have readers of all ages sounding off.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Fleischman expands the choir in this new collection of poems for multiple readers. Four voices intertwine to narrate the three amusing scenarios. Rhythmic refrains define "The Quiet Evenings Here," with "Sister hummin'," "Grandpa strummin'," "Grandma rockin'," and the "Clock tick-tockin'." Once readers get their color-coded lines sorted out, this will be a toe-tappin', audience-joinin'-in pleaser. "Seventh-Grade Soap Opera" catalogs the doings and dramas of the peer group in terse verse, inviting improvisation. And "Ghosts' Grace," with the longing voices of spirits yearning for old pleasures as they observe a family hastily dispatching with dinner, is both poignant and fun. Giacobbe's computer-generated paintings in warm, muted tones are an effective folksy backdrop. While there are a few full-page pictures, most of the art consists of strips of small vignettes running below the narrative. Instructions for group reading introduce the poems. This book will find a host of uses in choral reading and in stimulating reading, discussion, and writing. The likely cacophony will bring giggles as readers work on getting the hang of all of this big talk.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Ghosts, gossip, and Grandma rockin are the diverse subjects of three knee-slapping, tongue-twisting poems intended for choral reading by two, four, or more people. Helpful hints at the beginning will easily jump-start students into a readers theater of rhythmic, repetitive sounds and phrases. Songbook spacing and color-coded line bars dispel any confusion as to how the poems are to be read. As readers settle in with the comfortable format, a gentle walk picks up to a canter, then a trot as they naturally and eagerly up the pace to enliven the story. The first and simplest is a so-called quiet evening in the country, the second a seventh-grade soap opera told mostly over the telephone. In the third, ghosts hover around a table at mealtime, remembering fondly the savory, succulent crunch of cucumbers, the warm buttered roll, a small treasure chest or baked chicken still sizzling, so worthy of praise. Half the fun is the choreography of voices, blending, stumbling, laughing, and harmonizing. Breaking from the black-and-white drawings that graced Fleischmans Joyful Noise (1987) and I Am Phoenix (not reviewed), Giacobbe sets color-clad storyboards in cinematic borders along the lower edge of each page. Gulped breaths and guffaws from the naturally evolving quickened pace are the height of this orchestrated cacophony. (Poetry. 9-13) -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763606367
• ISBN-13: 978-0763606367
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 1.9 x 7.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #795,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Fleischman grew up in Santa Monica, California, the son of children's book author Sid Fleischman. Drawing on history, music, art, and theater, his books have often experimented with multiple viewpoints and performance. He received the Newbery Medal in 1989 for JOYFUL NOISE: POEMS FOR TWO VOICES, a Newbery Honor Award for GRAVEN IMAGES, the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for BULL RUN, and was a National Book Award finalist for BREAKOUT. He lives on the central coast of California.

For more information, visit paulfleischman.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Turn kids on to Poetry, May 11, 2008

By 

D. Raphael (Northeast) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices (Paperback)

This book has three poems for four voices. Once you teach kids how to use the format they take on the task with gusto. Each poem has a different flavor. Paul Fleischman's flair for language is wonderful, phrases roll off the tongue. The concept of four voices really motivates kids to pay attention to each other and the "beat" of the poem. We need more of this kind of poetry experience to turn kids on to poetry.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun--can anybody actually do this???, January 3, 2005

By 

Krista Casada - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices (Hardcover)

Those who loved "A Joyful Noise" and "I Am Phoenix" will feel that they've hit upon a treasure trove in this group of poems for four voices. The only small disadvantages: this book only contains three poems (maybe somebody should write a sequel?), and the arrangement of the color-coded lines can be a bit confusing. (Each "voice," or color, can have more than one line on a page.)

So, have fun. And then go write a few masterpieces of your own. Keep the Big Talk going.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Talk = Big results for teaching oral poetry reading, May 29, 2008

By 

Joy A. Frasure "6th grade teacher" (Mead, CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices (Hardcover)

I wish I had videotaped this year school year but due to time constraints I did not. This book comes on the heels of using Paul Fleishmann's, Joyful Noise, Poems for Two Voices. Both books offer students an interactive way to practice oral poetry reading and have lots of laughs in the process. This was in my 6th grade classroom, and my professional peers in 7th grade used this book to have their students write Advice Poems to my 6th graders going into 7th grade next year using the two and four voice formats. This book is a classroom must - you won't regret the purchase! Use the two-voice poems for your grade-level students and the four-voice poems for your high level students!