I've been counting down to election week all month with poet Tony Medina's books for children. His latest is The President Looks Like Me and Other Poems, which will be out in 2013. I'm taking that as a good sign for the next four years.
My past posts featured Tony's books, Love to Langston, I and I Bob Marley, and DeShawn Days.
Hey, Laura!
1. What drew you to picture books and children’s poetry collections as a form?
As a child, I didn't grow up with books in my household. The only picture books I got to explore were the ones at the school library when we had class there. It wasn't until I was an adult that I grew fascinated by children's books. I was taken by the marriage between art and text, as well as the progressive messages in the stories and poems I encountered.
I also was inspired by the wide-ranging work Langston Hughes had published. He not only wrote for adults, but children as well. (Note: Baltimore Blogger Ariel S. Winter has done a series on Hughes' children's books.)
I wanted to do that as well. I had grown disillusioned with what I perceived to be a lack of seriousness with writers and poets of my generation in NYC and I felt I needed to spend my time communicating with a younger generation.
I also felt compelled to bring the stories and images of young people of color and those from disadvantaged communities to the forefront of American children's and young adult literature. There had been books out there, but they were mostly speaking from a middle class perspective. I really didn't see kids from the 'hood depicted in the scant amount of books being published by authors and illustrators of color.
This is how my first book for young readers, DeShawn Days (Lee & Low Books, 2001), was born. DeShawn Williams is a sensitive, precocious 10 year-old child from the projects talking about his life through poetry.
2. What are some of your favorite books of poetry for children?
This is really a difficult question because I love so many poetry books for young people, from collections to narratives in verse. But I'll share a few: Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems by Eloise Greenfield (with illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon); Nikki Giovanni's Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young People (illustrated by George Ford), as well as her book, Spin a Soft Black Song (illustrated by George Martins); Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems about Love by Pat Mora; Naomi Shihab Nye's A Maze Me: Poems for Girls, as well as her picture book, Come with Me: Poems for a Journey; and Gary Soto's fantastic, Neighborhood Odes.
3. I know you were involved with the anthology Hip Hop Speaks to Children, which I love. (Here is a clip of Nikki Giovanni talking about the book.) What do you think kids like to hear in a poem?
I think kids are really drawn to rhyme, rhythm, tone, color, humor and detail (specificity) in poetry. They are also drawn to poignant depictions of family, as well as struggles and triumphs in a narrator of a poem. Kids like to relate directly with a poem, as if it's coming from them. And when a poem sings, they sing.
This poem from the collection speaks to the loss of a male role model in a boy's life. It is an elegy, but it also sings.
Uncle
Pepe
Had a face
Like a
dandelion
His cheeks
speckled
Into a million
Gray stubbles
sharp
As sandpaper
sheets
Two teeth
parted
By a world
Was his smile
His laughter
Brought down
A thunder
From the clouds
In his chest
He walked
The stairs
Slowly
Then after
Needed rest
When your head
Was too short
To see over
The tabletop
He’d bounce you
On his knee
Dazzle you with
Lemon and lime
Lollipops
Feed you
Cakes, cereal,
Raspberries
‘Til your face
Turned red
On this memory
And the music
In his eyes
I am fed
Not the rainy
days
Of never seeing
him
Again instead
The President Looks Like Me and Other Poems is a collection less about President Barack Obama himself and more of a multicultural collection of poems that explore a wide-range of subjects and themes from the perspective of young people. A lot of the poems are narrated from the voice of young boys of color, which is rare.
The title poem is an example of that voice:
The
President Looks Like Me
The President
looks like me
The President
is brown like me
His hair is
like my hair:
Tightly curled
and neatly trimmed but free
He has a name
like me
He plays b-ball
too
He is mad cool
The President
makes me
Want to stay in
school
Go to college
so one day
I can achieve
my dreams
Make them a
reality
Granddad said
he could not believe
He’d live to
see the day
That we would
have
A Black President
When Barack
Obama
Put his hand on
the Bible
During his
inauguration
On that coldest
of the coolest day
I saw a tear in
my
Granddad’s eye
A smile so wide
It made me want
to fly
| nytimes.com |
The book also has poetry prompts and forms (from haiku and tanka to odes and the sonnet) that would be useful for young readers wishing to write their own poems. It consists of 44 poems in 6 sections with a poetry forms and prompts addendum, as well as a list of vocabulary words and historical, pop culture and musical references.
The cover is a dynamic original collage created by the artist Mansa K. Mussa.
I am really excited about those prompts, Tony. Arts educators like me, who do poetry residencies in the schools, love new resources and writing prompts.
5. The President Looks Like Me will be published by Just Us Books, a publisher of black-interest books for children. How do you think Barack Obama’s presidency has affected children of color? How did you hope to reflect that in your book?
The President Looks Like Me and Other Poems is meant to empower all children, but particularly young people of color who see in the first African American President the possibilities for their own hopes and dreams and aspirations to achieve in our culture.
6. Bonus Question: What are you working on next, for kids?
I have a few projects I have had on the back burner due to prior book project commitments that I wish to get back to. But I don't want to jinx myself and speak about them now. I'm still wresting with the muse on these manuscripts. I'll just say that I have not abandoned my undying love of poetry in these works-in-progress. Hopefully, I'll be able to give birth to them and they'll be able to grow wings and make their way in the world.
Here is one more poem from The President Looks Like Me to savor over the weekend:
| Buttery biscuits from Grandmaskitchen.com |
Sundays
Sundays we go
to church
Mama wakes me
early
I wash and
Put on my dress
clothes
My shiny patent
leather shoes
Mama cooks a
light breakfast
‘Cause after
church we really
Throw down with
baked chicken
Mac and cheese
big buttery biscuits
Piles of mashed
potato and black-eyed peas
With peach
cobbler and sweet potato pie
Tastes so sweet
it makes you cry—
Hallelujah!
Sundays we go
to church
I sing in the
choir
We stand behind
our pastor
He gives his
sermon that inspires
Us to do good
things for other people
Which is called
God’s work
The
congregation says—
Amen!
Mr. Russel
plays his piano
My sister sings
her sweet solo
Hands raise up
in the air
My auntie and
our neighbor Miss Rosie
Get the Holy
Ghost
Everybody
shouts—
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen!
My stomach
starts to grumble
My nose catches
the Holy Spirit
Of all that
yummy smelling soul food
The pastor
says, Let us all eat!
Come share in this bountiful feast…
Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!
Selections from The President Looks Like Me and Other Poems posted with permission of Tony Medina. All rights reserved.
Tony Medina is the author/editor of a number of books for adults and young readers, the most recent of which are I and I, Bob Marley; My Old Man Was Always on the Lam (finalist for the Paterson Poetry Award); Broke on Ice; An Onion of Wars; and The President Looks Like Me and Other Poems. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Howard University.
Have a wonderful Poetry Friday, everyone. This week's host is Mainely Write.
Great interview! I too am fascinated "by the marriage between art and text" in picture books.
ReplyDeleteWonderful interview, Laura (with thanks to Tony for sharing)! I have been reading your Tony Medina series with great interest, and you've turned me into a new fan. As a writer of mostly humorous poetry, I am always intrigued by those who write more serious poetry for kids, and Tony has really inspired me to look at other subject areas and forms for my writing. Love the remembrance in "Uncle Pepe" and the joy of "Sundays"!
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna and Renee. You're right, Renee. Tony's work for kids honors both their sense of humor and the fact that little guys' lives can be just as complicated as adult lives. I like that "Uncle Pepe" trusts the reader and does not spell out what happened to the speaker's uncle. That puts the poem's focus on emotion.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds wonderful! It's going on my wish list.
ReplyDeleteI have so much enjoyed this series! It's great to hear more from Tony about the ideas behind the books. I am putting The President Looks Like Me on our Christmas list. Thanks for sharing so many wonderful poems today!
ReplyDeleteHi, Ruth and Andi. Andi, thanks for your comment about the series. This is the first time I've done group of posts featuring a single author's books. The feedback has been positive, so I may do it again!
ReplyDeleteOh, that description of Uncle Pepe's face is so wonderful!
ReplyDeleteSo enjoyed this interview (great questions, Laura!). Love the poems shared too, especially "Sundays." Are you surprised? :)
ReplyDeleteIt's been wonderful to get to know Tony's work better and to hear the underrepresented voices of young boys of color. Thank you both!
Hi, Laura and Jama. Laura -- I agree, it 's a great portrait poem.
ReplyDeleteJama, thank you for paying attention to that aspect of Tony's work. Those young readers connect very deeply with Tony's characters, particularly DeShawn of "DeShawn Days."
Thanks for an informative series!
ReplyDelete(love the new blog banner, too!!)
Thanks, Mary Lee. I'm thinking of doing topical banners, rather than sticking with one look for the blog. I'm glad you like it.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this photo of Obama kids' Halloween costumes? http://theobamadiary.com/tag/kids/
ReplyDeleteLove it.