Customer Reviews

Emily Dickinson's Letters to the World

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"My sister Emily was buried today..." So begins Jeanette Winter's very brief biography of poet, Emily Dickinson. Narrated by her sister, Lavinia, as she cleans out Emily's room, we learn just a few small facts about the elusive poet. She was a recluse who lived in the smallest upstairs room of the family's house. She loved words, studied the dictionary, and spent all her time writing on scraps of paper. She wore only white dresses, and most townfolk thought her strange. After her death, Lavinia finds drawers full of those scraps of paper, Emily's "letters to the world," and Ms Winter fills the rest of this small volume with a selection of 21 poems, some famous...There Is No Frigate Like A Book, I'm Nobody! Who Are You?, and If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking, and others less recognizable to complete her story. Her vibrant illustrations, done in an engaging folk art sytle, complement the text and enhances each poem beautifully. Though a bit light on biographical material, Emily Dickinson's Letters To The World is a simple and intriguing introduction to a remarkable poet that should open interesting discussions and whet the appetite of youngsters 7 and older, and send them out looking for more.

The pictures in this book are vivid and appealing, and the selection of poems is very well-done. The poems included in the book feature striking images and simple language that will appeal to children.
I agree with other reviewers that the "biography" portion is a little flat and doesn't give much information at all about the poet--but it's enough to whet the appetite of a young reader who may want to seek out more detailed sources to learn more about Emily Dickinson.
For a parent who wants to read some good poetry aloud with their child, this is just right.

It was a wonderful idea, but I was disappointed by the book. In my view the illustrations are stylized, sterile, and off-putting - you can see if you agree with me by enlarging the cover and taking a look at it - , the graphic design and color patterns produced visual clutter, and the poems are in not-easy-to-read stylized italics. But what prompted me to comment was the alteration of language of at least one, and I suspect more than one, of the poems. The eight-line poem I checked begins: "I'm nobody. Who are you?" In Ms. Winter's book line four of this poem substitutes "advertise" for "banish us," line six substitutes "frog" for "fog," and line seven substitutes "June" for "day." As you can see for yourself, these changes degrade the poem. I suppose this is considered legitimate bowdlerization, given the audience. I don't agree. In any event the author and editors were remiss in failing to include a notice that at least one of the poems was altered.