Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps [Paperback]

Bill Aguado (Author), Richard Newirth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 2003

Today my name is colorful.
Yesterday my name was dead souls.
Tomorrow my name will be lively spirits.
My friends think my name is fire.
The police think my name is burden.
My parents think my name is symphony.
Secretly I know my name is anything I want it to be.

Paint Me Like I Am is a collection of poems by teens who have taken part in writing programs run by a national nonprofit organization called WritersCorps. To read the words of these young people is to hear the diverse voices of teenagers everywhere.

Included are a foreward by acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni, an essay from Kevin Powell, another poet associated with WritersCorps, and writing tips from WritersCorps instructors.

WritersCorps was started in 1994 to help at-risk youth in three American urban centers: San Francisco, Washington, DC, and New York City (the Bronx). Thousands of children and teenagers have since benefited from finding creative expression through writing.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-WritersCorps works with disadvantaged youth, encouraging teens to express themselves through writing and recording voices that might otherwise not be heard. The young people have a lot to say about race, drugs, abuse, and self-image, as seen in these honest and sometimes raw poems. There are some good metaphors here ("Bodies sprawled along the shelter's floor-,/like sloppy cursive writing-" "I'm a sleepy flower,/and the ground waves at me"). "Alone in a darkness that laughs in your face," one poem notes. All the contributors are intensely aware of "self." One girl writes, "When I feel like I'm going to fall apart,/I hold my ribs, all the way around-/I hold brightness and shadows in/the hollow where my ribs meet-/I hold my ribs, until I feel solid." As in any anthology, there are some literary jewels and some less-poetic but more openly honest rants. There is much to learn from these young people.
Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-12. "I am the Great Wall sleeping on the land." "I'm the broken pieces on the floor." "My name is furious." "Secretly, I know my name is anything / I want it to be." The teen voices in these poems, collected from the WritersCorps youth program, are LOUD--raging, defiant, giddy, lusty, and hopeful. Grouped into arbitrary categories, the poems explore identity, creative expression, family, neighborhood, drugs, and relationships. They're rough, sometimes cliched, sometimes forgettable. But the brave experiences and "rawdog emotions," as Kevin Powell writes, are what will stay with readers. "I'm rich baby / Ever since you died," writes a girl after she loses her drug-addicted boyfriend. In "Leaving China," Jeff Miao writes, "To say good-bye / Words sick at my heart / The tears would not drop out." A foreword from Nikki Giovanni rounds out this moving collection, which also includes a few thoughtful writing exercises. Gillian Engberg
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

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen; 1 edition (February 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064472647
• ISBN-13: 978-0064472647
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Writing > Poetry
  • #5 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Reference & Nonfiction > Language Arts > Composition & Creative Writing
  • #10 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Literature > Poetry > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Hit or Miss, November 1, 2004

By 

M. Cramer "-Nicole" (Potomac, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps (Paperback)

To be honest, I felt rather bored while reading, "Paint Me Like I Am." Being thirteen, I was quickly compelled to assume from the start that I was going to immediately relate to every poem, and every word written. From reading the description, I had been familiarized with the book as, "True, honest, and real teens with real issues." The only issues I found were temporary broken hearts from relationships. A lot of the material was repetitive, I found many lines copied from famous movies, or books. These poems many unfortunate grammar turn-ups, which made the compesition some what confusing and un-flattering. Juvenile would be an understatement, as most of these young inexperienced, first time poets talked of how terrible their lives were, and how the boy they liked would never like them.

Some poems were good. I shouldn't lie about that. As one boy expresses his fear of his step dad, through saying the F word only about twenty times, it was at times difficult to grasp any such meaning of the writing, but his story stayed in your mind for a good while.

If I am correct, "Paint Me Like I am" was created by Writers Corps, a corporation which is stationed in three different cities in America. Their main goal is to help children and teens find their "creative side in writing." These children have gone through hard-times, and tough childhoods.

These kids seem to have utterly terrible life-altering stories to tell. Unfortunately though, through the failed attempts to rhyme, and the general loss of words, their poems, in my opinion, would have been better off as a bunch of short stories.

-Nicole

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The poems are great!, April 2, 2006

By 

S. Gilbert - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps (Paperback)

I'm 16 yrs. old and I absolutely love this book of poems. There isn't really a subject that a teenager would bring up or think about that isn't in Paint Me Like I Am. It even gives you activities you can do with poetry. I would give this book to anyone, it to me is even a book that most adults would even enjoy I know for a fact that my mom loves it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, July 6, 2003

By 

Devansi Ved (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps (Paperback)

This book filled with insipring poems helped me a great deal to get a new bright perspective in life. It talked about life and friends. Highly reccomend it to any teen wanting to read poems to explore his or herself.