Poetry Review: Sidman Poetry

This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness                                 by Joyce Sidman                      Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

Bibliographic Citation: Sidman, Joyce. This is just to say: poems of apology and forgiveness. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Chicago:Houghton-Mifflin. 2007.

ISBN-13: 978-0-618-61680-0

Review: This clever book of poetry written mostly in letter form between the two persons that have had an argument of some sort, can be funny, touching and sometimes just not so sincere.  The poetry is divided into two sections.  The first part are the poems asking for forgiveness or apologizing.  The second part are the poems in response to the apology.  Students have fun flipping back and forth from the front to the back to read each poem. The short, rhyming poems have some that are familiar to all and some newly written poetry to make you think.

to Carmen
   Haiku for Carmen

    Just these few warm words,
and spring sunlight fills the room;
    my dress turns to sky.

by Ruth Merz

Introduction to Share: This poem is the response to a poem from the student apologizing for making fun of the teacher's dress.  But what a great way to get students involved in perspective.  After reading the apology and response, students could write an alternate response to the student from the teacher. Other ideas: after completing a favorite read-aloud, students could use the character to write poetry from the perspective of the character, apologizing for something they did in the story and then write what another character could say back to them.  Or, what could animals apologize for to their humans? What about bugs? Could they be sorry for biting, stinking or stinging? The possibilities could be endless for writing.  Just have fun thinking about it from someone else's point of view.