By Marilyn Nelson
Illustrated by Philippe Lardy
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2009
Genre
Poetry
Awards
- Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book (2005)
Review
This is a well-written heroic crown of sonnets, beautifully illustrated to represent the feelings elicited by the horrible murder of fourteen-year old Emmett Till in 1955. Though packaged like a children's picture book, this book is much more intense and dark and more appropriate for older middle grade students or high school students. Many of the poems are from the perspective of the poet reviewing the lynching and Emmett himself, but a few are from other perspectives like that of the tree where he was hung or that of his mother. Nelson skillfully weaves this wreath in memory of an event that haunts her from her childhood.
Opinion
This book unfortunately looks like a picture book, which means many older children may have qualms about picking it up, but it is certainly not meant for children. The artwork is beautiful and I loved how she incorporated the language of flowers, making a wreath of poems and a symbolic wreath of flowers. The back of the book contains a description of the events that spurred this book, and as someone unaware of this event, I wish this description was at the front. There is also an explanation of the imagery and literary references in each sonnet that I found very useful. I think this book deserves many readings to get the true meanings, as some of the poems may be too "intellectual" to draw out their intended emotions in the first read.
Ideas
A great book for Black History Month it shows an event that "helped spark the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s". This is a good example of a heroic crown of sonnets, what I can only imagine to be a very difficult form of poetry to compose, and could be a challenging project for students to examine.
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