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The Bulletin
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Forget-Me-Nots: Poems to Learn
by Heart
compiled by Mary Ann Hoberman; illustrated by Michael Emberley
Poetic recitation got a bad rap for a while there, associated as it was
with regurgitation of material rather than creative learning. Kids, who
can memorize thousands of riddles and belt out rude rhymes at the
slightest encouragement (or discouragement), know better, of course:
memorization can provide a window into words that merely reading them
doesn’t, it offers a special kind of ownership, and it’s often a whole
lot of fun. Fortunately, Hoberman is here to champion memorization’s
revival.
Already a superstar for her readaloud works (You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very
Short Fables to Read Aloud, BCCB 1/11, etc.), she here features
what you might call speakalouds. Approximately 120 poems from over
eighty poets are divided into eleven sections, some thematic
(“Beautiful Beasts,” “Strange and Mysterious”) and some categorized by
form (“The Long of It”) or origin (“Poems from Storybooks”). Poets
featured range from the contemporary (Hoberman herself, Nikki Grimes,
Douglas Florian) to the longterm anthology veterans (Langston Hughes,
William Carlos Williams, Elizabeth Coatsworth, Emily Dickinson); the
poems range from the free verse to the crisply metrical. Got kids
uncertain about memorization? The four-liners, limericks, and haiku of
the opening section, “The Short of It,” will be right in their
wheelhouse. Got some showoffs who like to go for length? Show them the
final section’s ballads from the likes of Kipling, Milne, and Lear. A
table of contents lays out the goods in advance, while an index of
first lines helps searchers their treasures.
Memorization isn’t just an offhand suggestion for the collection,
either. The verses are clearly chosen and arranged with considerable
care and attention to the goal (the test runs are probably still
echoing through the Hoberman household and leaving its compiler with
earwormish fragments of failed entries), and the opportunity to tackle
increasing challenges and explore the clearly demarcated sections
evokes the allure of working your way through gaming levels. The book
provides encouragement and guidance in a thoughtful introduction and a
closing spread of suggestions that gives some tips on methodology and
draws attention to components of sound and imagery within verse, a
focus that not only helps memorization but also the appreciation of the
poet’s craft. The volume could see additional duty as a readaloud
treasury or readalone delight, since it’s a pretty delicious assortment
in general; ultimately, though, it’s best suited to its noble purpose,
and it will provide an ideal spur for memorization and recitation in
any setting. The inclusion of some venerable classics provides
additional appeal for multigenerational sharing and, perhaps, joint
recitation; the varying levels of the poetry also ensure accessibility
for kids over a range of ages, making the volume a winner for family,
camp, or other non-graded situations.
Emberley’s art is an unassuming wonder, a playful masterclass in using
the page to support and extend the verse visuals. Watercolor lined with
pencil and touched with pastel, the illustrations perform their job
with assurance, taste, and humor, subtly linking spreads across the
gutter and framing verse in negative or even positive space. For
instance, the first anthological spread is a clever perpendical, subtly
framing the verses with a focused vertical downpour on the side (which
falls on a mournful, umbrella-wielding auk) and an oceanic horizon line
on the bottom (the auk bobs in a tiny boat). The subsequent spreads
plaster poems on the broad backs of animals, illuminate them in the
diagonal lightspill from a flashlight, or curve around them with snowy
footprints. Small jokes, visual stories, and sneaky allusions to the
poems add to the visual entertainment, insuring that kids will want to
return to the book even when they’ve tucked the poems into memory.
“I like to think of the process of learning a poem by heart as a game,
with the memorized poem as the prize,” says Hoberman. Now we can all be
winners.
--Deborah Stevenson, Editor
Cover image from Forget-Me-Nots:
Poems to Learn by Heart
©2012 by Michael Emberley. Used by permission of Little, Brown
and Company.
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This page was last updated on June 1, 2012.
