Created by Alan Sitomer, an award-winning teacher and author of several ALA award-winning young adult novels, and Michael Cirelli, teacher, poet and executive director of Urban Word NYC, the Poetry Jam is a collection of poetry featuring everything from hip-hop to Shakespeare and Tupac Shakur to Tennyson, accompanied by standards-based curriculum and cutting-edge multimedia projects.
One Composition JamBox, an easy-to-use resource for assigning podcasts, slideshows and other engaging multimedia projects
View performances from New York City Youth Poet Laureate Zora Howard and award-winning Urban Word NYC poet Ceez, listen to panelists including award-winning author Sharon Flake discuss the performances, and hear Alan talk about why he created the BookJam at the BookJam Bash at NCTE 2009.
30 copies – Including work from everyone from Allen Ginsburg to Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Shakespeare, this anthology provides a solid framework for the activities in the Poetry Jam.
6 copies – Giovanni has added 10 new poems to her acclaimed 1973 collection of 23 poems for young people. Ford’s illustrations in sepia shades are bold and full of character and dreaming. As Virginia Hamilton says in her foreword, Giovanni’s voice is personal and warm, she “celebrates ordinary folks” and writes of struggle and liberation. She’s upbeat and celebratory without minimizing hard times. The publisher doesn’t indicate which are the new poems, but, certainly, any library that doesn’t have the original title will want to buy this one. These are poems that sing. Giovanni says, “if i were a poet / i’d kidnap you,” and that’s what she does. (Booklist)
Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins (Audiobook not included)
6 copies – The surface structure of these poems appears simplistic, but subtle changes in tone or gesture move the reader from the mundane to the sublime. In an attempt to sleep, the speaker in “Insomnia” moves from counting sheep to envisioning Noah’s arc to picturing “all the fish in creation/ leaping a fence in a field of water,/ one colorful species after another.” Collins will tackle any topic: his subject matter varies from snow days to Aristotle to forgetfulness. The results are accessible but not trite, comical but not laughable, and well crafted but not overly flamboyant. Collins relies heavily on imagery, which becomes the cornerstone of the entire volume, and his range of diction brings such a polish to these poems that the reader is left feeling that this book “once opened, can never be closed.” This volume belongs in everyone’s library; highly recommended. (Library Journal)
Chinua Achebe: Collected Poems by Chinua Achebe (Audiobook not included)
6 copies – The dean of the modern African novel in English (Things Fall Apart [1958] and several others), Achebe is also a powerful poet. In the introductory “parable” in this book, he suggests that, compared to his fiction, his poems have been nigh unpublishable. Yet their quality is high enough that they should never go out of print after this fine collected edition. There aren’t many of them, and not many fill even three pages. But–contemplating, with remarkable restraint, the cultural effects of imperialism; reeling, seemingly forever, from the horrors of postcolonial wars; striving to understand the present and modernity by means of traditional wisdom, story, and ceremony–they trenchantly make their points about contemporary African life. They are often pungently humorous and ironic, as when telling the case of a modern-day Nigerian “Lazarus” or considering lovemaking “Vultures.” Elsewhere they can be rueful as the blues about the human condition; see “Knowing Robs Us,” in which, when it comes to joy, we humans don’t measure up to mere birds. (Booklist)
The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda (Audiobook not included)
6 copies – Once called “a one-man Renaissance,” Nobel laureate and Chilean poet and statesman Neruda (1904-1973) wrote these 74 poems and 316 playful questions about death, nature, and rebirth in the last year of his life. Cryptic and intriguing, these brief answerless riddles, like Roethke’s visionary poems, ask the sophisticated question of the innocent child–”Is the sun the same as yesterday’s/ or is the fire different than that fire?”–and probe what it means to be human: “Whom can I ask what I came/to make happen in this world?” (Library Journal)
I Never Said I Wasn’t Difficult by Sara Holbrook (Audiobook not included)
6 copies – These poems center on the difficulties of growing up, especially those times when we just can’t seem to help being miserable. From friendship to loneliness and love to depression, these lyrics don’t try to solve any problems but simply try to put feelings on paper. The nonjudgmental and fair presentation of the situations portrayed by these poems makes them a great collection for pre-teen and teenagers. (Children’s Literature)
Poetry Speaks by Elise Paschen and Rebekah Presson Mosby
1 copy, audio included – This anthology’s high accessibility and its clean and unusual layout ensure its usefulness in most collections. Organized chronologically by the poets’ dates of birth, followed by their pictures, a short introduction to their lives, a critical essay by a poet/essayist, some rarely seen handwritten notes, and several of their important poems, this offering would be enough to satisfy most readers. However, the package also includes three CDs of the poets’ interpretative readings of these poems. These recordings reflect the pitch, intonation, and age of the poet at the time of the recording such as Robert Frost’s gravelly voice, a young Sylvia Plath, or Dylan Thomas’s singing cadences. The essays by such writers as Robert Pinsky and Anthony Hecht will be of particular value to teachers introducing literary criticism because their writing is so clean and uncluttered. In addition to the CDs, the poets’ notes heighten the sense of the creative process. For example, Dr. William Carlos Williams used prescription pads to scrawl lines as the words came to him. These items punctuate the pages, letting readers know that poetry comes slowly, after numerous cross outs and revisions. The reason for omissions of such great poets as Emily Dickinson is obvious-this collection focuses only on poets whose recordings are available. A must for poetry lovers. (School Library Journal
Spoken Word Revolution by Eleveld
1 copy, audio included – Poetry began as an oral tradition and has circled back to its “live” roots in a movement known as the spoken-word revolution. Thanks to the innovators profiled in this delineating anthology, poetry is now performed, often competitively and quite dramatically, in front of large and enthusiastic audiences in bars and coffeehouses all over the world. Editor Eleveld, a high-school teacher in Joliet, Illinois, cofounder of EM Press, and an eloquent champion of spoken-word poetry, has joined forces with Smith, the acclaimed Chicago-based poet and creator of the poetry slam, to trace the evolution of spoken-word poetry from the Beats to rap, hip-hop, and performance art. The result is a dynamic and clarifying volume chock-full of fresh and informative commentary by the likes of Billy Collins, Marvin Bell, and Jerry Quickley and an exciting array of knock-out poems by Patricia Smith, Tara Betts, Jeff McDaniel, Roger Bonair-Agard, Bob Holman, Regie Gibson, DJ Renegade, Jean Howard, Luis Rodriguez, Saul Williams, and many more. Eleveld and his contributors not only celebrate the verve, artistry, and significance of performance poetry but also anchor it firmly within the splendid, age-old, and life-sustaining universe of poetry, where it so rightfully belongs. And speaking of spoken, an accompanying CD presents poets performing their work. (Booklist)
Essential Pleasures by Robert Pinsky (Audiobook not included)
1 copy – Pinsky, poet, scholar, and poetry advocate, has been a motivating and innovative force in the great popularization of poetry. His Favorite Poem Project brought poetry lovers of all ages and tastes together in a stream of excellent anthologies, including Poems to Read (2002), and he continues to match erudition with unabashed fun in his latest dynamic endeavor. Pinsky’s mission is to share both the “intellectual and bodily” pleasures of poetry, the latter best appreciated when poetry is read out loud—hence this ebullient read-aloud anthology. With an oceanic knowledge of poetry and a musical ear, Pinksy has assembled an astonishingly vital, enjoyable, centuries-spanning array cleverly organized by form. Here are beautiful, mournful, and funny love poems; narrative poems; odes; complaints; celebrations; parodies; and insults by both celebrated and obscure poets. …Readers who read these wisely selected poems out loud, whether to themselves, a sweetheart, friend, cat, or plant, will be amazed at what they discover. (Booklist)
Oxford Book of American Poetry by David Lehman and John Brehm (Audiobook not included)
1 copy – Here is the eagerly awaited new edition of The Oxford Book of American Poetry brought completely up to date and dramatically expanded by poet David Lehman. It is a rich, capacious volume, featuring the work of more than 200 poets-almost three times as many as the 1976 edition. With a succinct and often witty head note introducing each author, it is certain to become the definitive anthology of American poetry for our time. … This stunning collection redefines the great canon of American poetry from its origins in the 17th century right up to the present. It is a must-have anthology for anyone interested in American literature and a book that is sure to be consulted, debated, and treasured for years to come. (From the Publisher)
The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur (Audiobook not included)
1 copy – When nineteen-year-old Shakur joined the writing circle of Leila Steinberg, as she relates in her introduction to this collection, he became its leading force. The young rapper-to-be wrote love poems, distressed poems, depressed poems. There is passion here, including anger, but this poetry is far more gentle, albeit less powerful, than the rap lyrics that would make him infamous. Each poem is presented in his handwriting as well as in typeface, an engaging device. … Many teens will see themselves as future poets/lyricists; from gangsta rap to Paul Anka, it is all poetry. Nevertheless Shakur’s rap lyrics, none included here, are much more effective poetry. However one might wish to clean up both their words and intent, they sing from a place that many are, mercifully, unlikely to experience. Was Shakur a dangerous gangsta wannabe who precipitated his own murder by attacking a Crip, or was he a misunderstood but talented poet and performer—or was he both? This slim volume of Shakur’s youthful poems, collected by his manager, Steinberg, and published with the permission of the rapper’s mother, will not answer the question. Nevertheless it might allow the reader to see the hopelessness that the author felt as a young black male, a poet who thought he had to be tough to survive and whose posturing killedhim. It is strongly recommended that librarians and teachers read his rap lyrics if they have not already done so. (VOYA)
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein (Audiobook not included)
1 copy – Come in … for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein’s world begins. You’ll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist. Shel Silverstein’s masterful collection of poems and drawings is at once outrageously funny and profound. (From the Publisher)
Stage a Poetry Slam: Creating Performance Poetry Events: Inside Tips, Backstage Advice and Lots of Examples by Marc Kelly Smith and Joe Kraynak (Audiobook not included)
1 copy – Slams are captivating poetry events that focus an audience’s attention on the presentation of poetry that’s been composed, polished, and rehearsed for the purpose of being performed—very often in a competitive arena. A slam can be a carnival, a pageant, an interactive classroom, a town meeting, a con game, a versified boxing match, and a churchlike revival all rolled into one mind-bending, border-breaking event constructed to electrify and animate the people listening to and watching it, as well as the performers who bring their words, bodies, and voices to life onstage to actuate it. (From the Introduction)
Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam by Tony Medina, Louis Reyes Rivera, and Sonia Sanchez (Audiobook not included)
1 copy – There’s no doubt that the crowd-rousing competition of poetry slams has injected an often marginalized literary genre with new energy and brought it out of the academy and into people’s lives, where it belongs, but much of the impact of spoken-word poetry is rooted in its bravura performance, not its often banal writing. Co-editor Medina acknowledges this flaw and then triumphantly refutes it by presenting a solid volume of smart and exhilarating poetry by poets from diverse backgrounds participating in poetry slams across the country. Poems by such well-known front-liners as Wanda Coleman, Michael Warr, and Patricia Smith are interleaved with poems by emerging poets forging dramatic new forms to express outrage and sorrow over the endless cascade of tragedies born of racism and greed. Here are poems about sex, love, family, poverty, police brutality, Hollywood’s perpetuation of stereotypes, and the willful blindness of Washington. Poets of the body, the home, the neighborhood, and the world-at-large, Medina and Rivera’s contributors are passionate, witty, wise, socially conscious, and artistically adventurous. (Booklist)
30 copies – Including work from everyone from Allen Ginsburg to Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Shakespeare, this anthology provides a solid framework for the activities in the Poetry Jam.
6 copies – Giovanni has added 10 new poems to her acclaimed 1973 collection of 23 poems for young people. Ford’s illustrations in sepia shades are bold and full of character and dreaming. As Virginia Hamilton says in her foreword, Giovanni’s voice is personal and warm, she “celebrates ordinary folks” and writes of struggle and liberation. She’s upbeat and celebratory without minimizing hard times. The publisher doesn’t indicate which are the new poems, but, certainly, any library that doesn’t have the original title will want to buy this one. These are poems that sing. Giovanni says, “if i were a poet / i’d kidnap you,” and that’s what she does. (Booklist)
6 copies – The surface structure of these poems appears simplistic, but subtle changes in tone or gesture move the reader from the mundane to the sublime. In an attempt to sleep, the speaker in “Insomnia” moves from counting sheep to envisioning Noah’s arc to picturing “all the fish in creation/ leaping a fence in a field of water,/ one colorful species after another.” Collins will tackle any topic: his subject matter varies from snow days to Aristotle to forgetfulness. The results are accessible but not trite, comical but not laughable, and well crafted but not overly flamboyant. Collins relies heavily on imagery, which becomes the cornerstone of the entire volume, and his range of diction brings such a polish to these poems that the reader is left feeling that this book “once opened, can never be closed.” This volume belongs in everyone’s library; highly recommended. (Library Journal)
6 copies – The dean of the modern African novel in English (Things Fall Apart [1958] and several others), Achebe is also a powerful poet. In the introductory “parable” in this book, he suggests that, compared to his fiction, his poems have been nigh unpublishable. Yet their quality is high enough that they should never go out of print after this fine collected edition. There aren’t many of them, and not many fill even three pages. But–contemplating, with remarkable restraint, the cultural effects of imperialism; reeling, seemingly forever, from the horrors of postcolonial wars; striving to understand the present and modernity by means of traditional wisdom, story, and ceremony–they trenchantly make their points about contemporary African life. They are often pungently humorous and ironic, as when telling the case of a modern-day Nigerian “Lazarus” or considering lovemaking “Vultures.” Elsewhere they can be rueful as the blues about the human condition; see “Knowing Robs Us,” in which, when it comes to joy, we humans don’t measure up to mere birds. (Booklist)
6 copies – Once called “a one-man Renaissance,” Nobel laureate and Chilean poet and statesman Neruda (1904-1973) wrote these 74 poems and 316 playful questions about death, nature, and rebirth in the last year of his life. Cryptic and intriguing, these brief answerless riddles, like Roethke’s visionary poems, ask the sophisticated question of the innocent child–”Is the sun the same as yesterday’s/ or is the fire different than that fire?”–and probe what it means to be human: “Whom can I ask what I came/to make happen in this world?” (Library Journal)
6 copies – These poems center on the difficulties of growing up, especially those times when we just can’t seem to help being miserable. From friendship to loneliness and love to depression, these lyrics don’t try to solve any problems but simply try to put feelings on paper. The nonjudgmental and fair presentation of the situations portrayed by these poems makes them a great collection for pre-teen and teenagers. (Children’s Literature)
1 copy, audio included – This anthology’s high accessibility and its clean and unusual layout ensure its usefulness in most collections. Organized chronologically by the poets’ dates of birth, followed by their pictures, a short introduction to their lives, a critical essay by a poet/essayist, some rarely seen handwritten notes, and several of their important poems, this offering would be enough to satisfy most readers. However, the package also includes three CDs of the poets’ interpretative readings of these poems. These recordings reflect the pitch, intonation, and age of the poet at the time of the recording such as Robert Frost’s gravelly voice, a young Sylvia Plath, or Dylan Thomas’s singing cadences. The essays by such writers as Robert Pinsky and Anthony Hecht will be of particular value to teachers introducing literary criticism because their writing is so clean and uncluttered. In addition to the CDs, the poets’ notes heighten the sense of the creative process. For example, Dr. William Carlos Williams used prescription pads to scrawl lines as the words came to him. These items punctuate the pages, letting readers know that poetry comes slowly, after numerous cross outs and revisions. The reason for omissions of such great poets as Emily Dickinson is obvious-this collection focuses only on poets whose recordings are available. A must for poetry lovers. (School Library Journal
1 copy, audio included – Poetry began as an oral tradition and has circled back to its “live” roots in a movement known as the spoken-word revolution. Thanks to the innovators profiled in this delineating anthology, poetry is now performed, often competitively and quite dramatically, in front of large and enthusiastic audiences in bars and coffeehouses all over the world. Editor Eleveld, a high-school teacher in Joliet, Illinois, cofounder of EM Press, and an eloquent champion of spoken-word poetry, has joined forces with Smith, the acclaimed Chicago-based poet and creator of the poetry slam, to trace the evolution of spoken-word poetry from the Beats to rap, hip-hop, and performance art. The result is a dynamic and clarifying volume chock-full of fresh and informative commentary by the likes of Billy Collins, Marvin Bell, and Jerry Quickley and an exciting array of knock-out poems by Patricia Smith, Tara Betts, Jeff McDaniel, Roger Bonair-Agard, Bob Holman, Regie Gibson, DJ Renegade, Jean Howard, Luis Rodriguez, Saul Williams, and many more. Eleveld and his contributors not only celebrate the verve, artistry, and significance of performance poetry but also anchor it firmly within the splendid, age-old, and life-sustaining universe of poetry, where it so rightfully belongs. And speaking of spoken, an accompanying CD presents poets performing their work. (Booklist)
1 copy – Pinsky, poet, scholar, and poetry advocate, has been a motivating and innovative force in the great popularization of poetry. His Favorite Poem Project brought poetry lovers of all ages and tastes together in a stream of excellent anthologies, including Poems to Read (2002), and he continues to match erudition with unabashed fun in his latest dynamic endeavor. Pinsky’s mission is to share both the “intellectual and bodily” pleasures of poetry, the latter best appreciated when poetry is read out loud—hence this ebullient read-aloud anthology. With an oceanic knowledge of poetry and a musical ear, Pinksy has assembled an astonishingly vital, enjoyable, centuries-spanning array cleverly organized by form. Here are beautiful, mournful, and funny love poems; narrative poems; odes; complaints; celebrations; parodies; and insults by both celebrated and obscure poets. …Readers who read these wisely selected poems out loud, whether to themselves, a sweetheart, friend, cat, or plant, will be amazed at what they discover. (Booklist)
1 copy – Here is the eagerly awaited new edition of The Oxford Book of American Poetry brought completely up to date and dramatically expanded by poet David Lehman. It is a rich, capacious volume, featuring the work of more than 200 poets-almost three times as many as the 1976 edition. With a succinct and often witty head note introducing each author, it is certain to become the definitive anthology of American poetry for our time. … This stunning collection redefines the great canon of American poetry from its origins in the 17th century right up to the present. It is a must-have anthology for anyone interested in American literature and a book that is sure to be consulted, debated, and treasured for years to come. (From the Publisher)
1 copy – When nineteen-year-old Shakur joined the writing circle of Leila Steinberg, as she relates in her introduction to this collection, he became its leading force. The young rapper-to-be wrote love poems, distressed poems, depressed poems. There is passion here, including anger, but this poetry is far more gentle, albeit less powerful, than the rap lyrics that would make him infamous. Each poem is presented in his handwriting as well as in typeface, an engaging device. … Many teens will see themselves as future poets/lyricists; from gangsta rap to Paul Anka, it is all poetry. Nevertheless Shakur’s rap lyrics, none included here, are much more effective poetry. However one might wish to clean up both their words and intent, they sing from a place that many are, mercifully, unlikely to experience. Was Shakur a dangerous gangsta wannabe who precipitated his own murder by attacking a Crip, or was he a misunderstood but talented poet and performer—or was he both? This slim volume of Shakur’s youthful poems, collected by his manager, Steinberg, and published with the permission of the rapper’s mother, will not answer the question. Nevertheless it might allow the reader to see the hopelessness that the author felt as a young black male, a poet who thought he had to be tough to survive and whose posturing killedhim. It is strongly recommended that librarians and teachers read his rap lyrics if they have not already done so. (VOYA)
1 copy – Come in … for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein’s world begins. You’ll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist. Shel Silverstein’s masterful collection of poems and drawings is at once outrageously funny and profound. (From the Publisher)
1 copy – Slams are captivating poetry events that focus an audience’s attention on the presentation of poetry that’s been composed, polished, and rehearsed for the purpose of being performed—very often in a competitive arena. A slam can be a carnival, a pageant, an interactive classroom, a town meeting, a con game, a versified boxing match, and a churchlike revival all rolled into one mind-bending, border-breaking event constructed to electrify and animate the people listening to and watching it, as well as the performers who bring their words, bodies, and voices to life onstage to actuate it. (From the Introduction)
1 copy – There’s no doubt that the crowd-rousing competition of poetry slams has injected an often marginalized literary genre with new energy and brought it out of the academy and into people’s lives, where it belongs, but much of the impact of spoken-word poetry is rooted in its bravura performance, not its often banal writing. Co-editor Medina acknowledges this flaw and then triumphantly refutes it by presenting a solid volume of smart and exhilarating poetry by poets from diverse backgrounds participating in poetry slams across the country. Poems by such well-known front-liners as Wanda Coleman, Michael Warr, and Patricia Smith are interleaved with poems by emerging poets forging dramatic new forms to express outrage and sorrow over the endless cascade of tragedies born of racism and greed. Here are poems about sex, love, family, poverty, police brutality, Hollywood’s perpetuation of stereotypes, and the willful blindness of Washington. Poets of the body, the home, the neighborhood, and the world-at-large, Medina and Rivera’s contributors are passionate, witty, wise, socially conscious, and artistically adventurous. (Booklist)
