Mother Poems [Hardcover]

Hope Anita Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2009 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Ayoung girl thinks of her mom as a superhero, a doctor, her North Star. She feels loved in her mother’s arms and capable of conquering the world. But when her beloved role model unexpectedly dies, she cannot even cry; sadness is too overwhelming. As she struggles with grief, she must learn how to carry on while keeping the memory of her mother very much alive inside her heart.

In moving poems, Hope Anita Smith explores a personal yet emotionally universal subject: the death of a parent. Through the eyes of a child and then a young woman, these poignant poems, together with stunning folk-art images, powerfully capture the complicated feelings of someone who shows great hope, strength, and will to overcome.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

With the same lyrical simplicity as in Keeping the Night Watch (2008), Smith writes about an African American child’s grief at the sudden death of her mother. The first poems celebrate Momma’s unconditional love and the intimacy of her embrace in daily life: “I’ve got a momma / who combs and plaits my hair . . . who wraps me in her arms.“ Then suddenly Momma dies, and the child’s “ultimate superhero” is gone. More than half the book is about her shock, sorrow, guilt, anger, and loving memories. Like the poetry, Smith’s simple, torn-paper collages in a folk-art style show the close embraces and vignettes without overwhelming the words. In one unforgettable picture, the child stands tall, her feet in Momma’s shoes. The girl feels bewildered by her friends who hate their mothers. Other adults, including a father and stepfather, get passing mention. Readers will recognize the regret: the last words you remember, “and the words you didn’t say.” Grades 4-7. --Hazel Rochman

Review

Praise for MOTHER POEMS:

 

“Illustrations in torn-paper collage of a small girl, then a grown teenager, accompany the affecting poems on Smith’s latest collection.  Scenes of intimacy with a mother, fixing hair or soothing sadness…give way to stark grief when the mother suddenly dies.  Smith makes simple drama out of the void she leaves …and of the daughter’s acceptance of life with others she learns to love, while not forgetting.”—New York Times Book Review

“Smith's (Keeping the Night Watch) deeply personal collection of poems, accompanied by free-form collages, forms a distinct narrative arc, with early poems striking an easy tone…But after the mother's death, the poems draw on complex emotions and memories that lead, eventually, to rejuvenation.”—Publishers Weekly

“The collection has a depth in character growth that lingers and brings readers back to savor moments again and again.”—School Library Journal

“In this touching sequence of poems, a girl speaks of her relationship with her mother...its literality rings true as the expression of a preteen girl, and the unapologetic sentimentality will touch readers. Each poem imbues the everyday with a luminous sheen of loss, anger, and grief walking the girl through periods of bargaining, sadness, and ache to acceptance and loving memory. Textured paper torn and shaped into faceless figures forms iconic representations of love and longing, adding mute eloquence to an already moving exploration of growing up with and through loss of the one who holds your heart.  Encourage patrons to read this in private, where tears can flow freely.”—BCCB

“With the same lyrical simplicity as in Keeping the Night Watch (2008), Smith writes about an African American child’s grief at the sudden death of her mother… Like the poetry, Smith’s simple, torn-paper collages in a folk-art style show the close embraces and vignettes without overwhelming the words.”—Booklist

“The raw emotion contained in these poems is undeniably visceral...The author supplies her own visual accompaniment, lovely torn-paper collages...”—Kirkus

“This book of poetry...accomplishes the difficult task of taking readers from the banal to the extraordinary...Teens of all ages who have experienced the loss of a loved one will find comfort in this powerful and affecting book of poetry.  The raw emotions sting and make the reader flinch, but they also bring the realization that memory is ultimately the gift that brings consolation.”—VOYA

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (March 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080508231X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805082319
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,402,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mother love, October 29, 2009

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mother Poems (Hardcover)

The book had me fooled. I opened it up and had the notion that what I was dealing with here was just a collection of mom-centric poetry. In my defense, I don't like reading bookflaps and I'd never read a Hope Anita Smith book before. Nope. I hadn't read "The Way a Door Closes" or "Keeping the Night Watch". Also, as a children's librarian I've been trained to think that if a book is called something like "Mother Poems" then it's probably going to be a bunch of unrelated verses about mothers and how swell they are. The kind of thing publishers like to release around the Mother's Day time of the year. As I started reading, I was struck by Smith's voice and sheer clarity of her verse... and then the mother died. Suddenly I had a story on my hands. A tale told in poems about the needs of girls who lose their mamas. Stark and solid, Smith pulls no punches and gives us a strong story infused with the raw pain of loss.

"She is my mom." Thirty-one poems and that's the thought that cannot leave this young girl's mind. They have the normal mother/daughter relationship. The hugs and kisses. The annoyance and the whining. But through it all they're remarkably close. So much so that when the girl's mother dies she's cast adrift. Told entirely in the first person, we see the pain of losing someone you love and the snail-like crawl back from the feeling of utter abandonment. In this world there are only two people, a mother and a child, and when you take the mother away what's left is a series of thoughtful, moving, utterly honest poems complemented by collage paper illustrations.

The sheer hunger of wanting your mother roars through this book. I've never read a collection of poetry that just leapt into that void so unabashed. At times the book resounds with the girl's desperation. "Good Behavior" catalogs her attempts to do everything right. To be the model child who will be rewarded with the return of her mother once again. Then Smith socks in you the gut with the simplicity of those last two lines. "Tomorrow / I will try harder." "Mother Poems" shifts from merely being a sweet series of poems about a mom, to cataloging the stages of grief in a child. The layers of hurt that have to be mended and healed are revealed here. The father hardly plays any part at all, which is interesting. Maybe there's a story behind who he is, but if that's the case it will have to be told in another book. She may die, but the mother in this story overwhelms everyone else, and the dad is left as merely a plot device and not much more.

And while she's doing all that with one hand, the other hand is mixing together delicious turns of phrase. "My Mother's Kitchen" discusses an aunt whose cooking leaves something to be desired. "We all `Mmmmm' together / and raise our eyebrows ever so slightly, / hoping the gesture will act as a lever / to open our throats, / allow Aunt Nedra's / home cooking to pass through." Meanwhile the poem "Sound Advice" talks about earning the right to have an attitude. "Get your hands off of your imagination" is what the girl's grandmother says to her when she plants her fists on her (as of yet) nonexistent hips. The turns of phrase ring in your ears as you read them, and linger there like catchy songs when you're done.

For the most part, the book is free verse, but once in a while Smith shakes things up a bit. "Dangerous Game" is like that. I can see using this poem with kids. Each stanza is four lines and the final line is always "This is a dangerous game." Here's a taste: "I saw her when I went out one day. / She asked me if I wanted to play. / I should have turned the other way. / This is a dangerous game." Kids should be asked what they think this poem means, particularly when you read the poem right after it "Sleuthing". Because whoever that mother is, she appears and then disappears from the final three poems in the book. Is she a new stepmom? Just a woman who lives on the street? A threat? Smith raises the questions, and then returns to memories of the old mother, and finally the daughter's peace (if not acceptance). Funny choices, but ones that make for great discussion.

It's funny that on Ms. Smith's other books she usually is paired with an illustrator. And after reading through "Mother Poems" it seems impossible to think that anyone's art could be better suited to her work than her own. For this book, Ms. Smith creates torn paper collages. The pieces look rough and accidental, though the likelihood is nil that a scrap would just happen to come out indicating the slightest hint of a nose or the raised second finger on a hand. Though supposedly flat they also reveal a certain amount of depth to them. The poem "Sleepover" shows a mother sleeping on her side, arm above head above hand. Next to her, the daughter has flung one of her legs backwards and over the mother's knee. It's very difficult to view this as a picture that wouldn't even lift a centimeter off the page. In this scene there is a layering to people that overwhelms the layers of pulp. The pictures also suggest, though they never outright say, how the mother died. In many of the pictures, the mother is featured as bald or wearing a headwrap of some sort. And maybe it's just a creative stroke on Smith's part, but for people looking for an answer, there's one in the details.

Assumptions stamped into the dust, I view "Mother Poems" as a unique, beautiful collection. On the outset, it looks all sunshine and light. Inside, there's more pain than you might think to expect. A book that lures you in with the promise of banality, then hits you over the head with meaning and light. A whole lot of people are about to be surprised.

Ages 6-10.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My poetic throughts on the loss of my mother, May 22, 2009

By 

Sonya Tupone Lloyd "Author of Call Me Sonya G... (Halethorpe, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mother Poems (Hardcover)

MOTHER DEAR

(Oh mother dear, I miss you like never before)

Where are your warm hugs?
Have they cracked and wilted in your empty arms

Where are your sweet smiles?
Have they dried and shriveled on your cold lips

Where are your funny jokes?
Have they turned to dust and lay at your feet
To whom will comfort me?
To whom will dry my tears?
To whom will I lay my head,
When no one else is near?

(Oh mother dear, I need you more than ever)

Where have you been?
Have you finally been laid to rest

Where are you now?
Are you flying high with the angels?
OR
Are you down in the deep dark well?

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