105 Ways to Give a Book

Poetry Friday: Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It

I have a lot of chores to do today, so let's get right to the book.

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It
by Gail Carson Levine, illustrated by Matthew Cordell

HarperCollins 2012, reviewed from library copy

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do ItStart with the idea that William Carol Williams' famous poem about plums in the icebox was pretty lame as a plea for forgiveness. Then turn the template of that poem into a series of false apologies and you have one entertaining poetry book for kids. Many of the poems allude to other familiar stories like Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin, while others refer to everyday situations. Well, with a bit of a stretch as to the normalcy of a kid's world, but it's all in good fun. The humorous, lightly sketched illustrations add to the entertainment value of a book of poems all entitled, This is Just to Say. My favorite:
This Is Just to Say

while you were buying
doll dresses
I sanded off
your Barbie's face

which
you constantly
patted
and praised.

Forgive me
her beauty
was only
skin deep.
Find more Poetry Friday selections with our host Teaching Young Writers. Also, don't forget to get in your Cybils nominations which are coming to a close (checking calendar....) on Monday, and consider sending a book to Ballou (which sounds like a Seuss village) the fall book drive which ends on Sunday. Go Nationals!


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5 comments:

Andromeda Jazmon said...

LOL that is great! I love how these little gems tell such huge stories.

Darshana said...

This book was a fun read. My young girls enjoyed the poems too, the ones they knew that is.

Betsy Hubbard said...

My children would love this. Looks like a fun read.

GatheringBooks said...

You had me at the title of the book. The cover also looks great as well as the poem you just shared. :) Thanks for sharing this, Pam. :) Will look for this one in our libraries.

Beth said...

Several years ago I listened to a book of poems selected by Garrison Keiller in the car, which forced my kids to listen to most of them as well. "the plum one" and its answer were among the few that they approved us, and so when I brought home a poetry book that I declared they'd enjoy they were astonished to find I was right.

They enjoyed the various situations and also the innovative table of contents. I'm always pleased when I find an approved book of poems for my poetry-averse barbarians.