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.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
