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Using Jacqueline Woodson’sLocomotion with Middle School

Readers

Mary Napoli and Emily Rose Ritholz

Using poetry in the middle schoolclassroom builds literacy skills,such as recognition of imagery,

word play, and an overall appreciation oflanguage. Poetry appeals to our senses,our hearts, and our intellect. Integratingpoetry selections that explore issues ofglobal awareness and diversity (Damico &Carpenter, 2005; Freeman & Lehman,2001; Hadaway, Vardell, & Young, 2002;McCall, 2004; Napoli, 2007) has thepower to nourish students’ intellectualcuriosities, foster critical questioning, andprompt meaningful reflection.

How can poetry be integrated to motivate middleschool readers? I discussed this question at greatlength with Emily, an exceptional middle schoolreading specialist who teaches in a rural schooldistrict in central Pennsylvania. She is a voraciousreader and consummate professional who is con-tinually immersing herself and her students in richand authentic works of literature. During our dis-cussions about books and the teaching of reading,we wondered how a group of Title One middlelevel readers would respond to Locomotion(Woodson, 2003), a novel written in verse. Thediscussion piqued our curiosity about their atti-tudes towards poetry and reading.

Novels in verse provide readers with a storywritten in short passages with relatively simplelanguage and thought-provoking meanings. As aresult, novels in verse are appealing to reluctantand struggling readers. It is well established that

the most important factor in motivating a studentto read, regardless of level, is interest. Guthrie andWigfield (1997) state, “If we can engage studentsin reading books that interest them, their love ofreading as well as their reading ability will im-prove” (p. 12). Poetry novels afford readers anopportunity to become closely connected to thecharacters or a chorus of voices. Since many nov-els in verse published within the past decade dealwith sensitive and often controversial material,reading a novel in verse is much like dipping intoa stranger’s diary (Winship, 2002). For middle levelreaders, novels in verse open the door for indi-vidual expression and dialogue. Young adolescents,especially those who are struggling with reading,do not necessarily perceive the classroom to bepersonally relevant or connected to their needs(McCombs & Pope, 1994). In order to providestudents with personal connections, teachers canincorporate real-world interactions, such as dis-cussing books, magazines, or song lyrics in popu-lar culture (Alvermann & Hagood, 2000).

Nile Stanley’s (2004) classroom-based re-search reinforces the importance of integratingpoetry to teach reading with all levels of learners.Remember, too, that when introducing poetry inthe middle school classroom, presenting a varietyof forms and voices will help students appreciatethe genre (Lesesne, 2002). Poetry immersion isperhaps the most essential ingredient for ignitingthe interests of young adolescent readers. In whatfollows, Emily shares her rationale for integrat-ing Locomotion (Woodson, 2003) with her middlelevel students.

As a Title One reading specialist, we measure goals in termsof AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) and PSSA (Penn-sylvania System of School Assessment) scores. Success

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is measured by the number of students on my roster at theend of the year who are considered to be reading at a profi-cient level for their grade. My approach to accomplishingthis task varies from year to year with the interests of thestudents. What is consistent, however, is the plain fact thatif I can’t excite them into reading, if I can’t motivate themby inspiring them with great words, then I will not accom-plish my goal. Testing students on skills without a connec-tion to authentic literature does not align with my personalphilosophy or with my district’s mission to create lifelongreaders. Incentives in the way of prizes sometimes work;certificates that recognize accomplishments motivate to acertain extent; but nothing reels the students into readinglike the aha! moment in which they discover those words

SIDE TRIP: EXPLORING AND CONNECTING TO MULTICULLTURAL POETRY

Multicultural poetry adds new perspectives and understanding to the classroom curriculum. ThreeReadWriteThink lessons written by Jaime Wood, author of Living Voices: Multicultural Poetry in the MiddleSchool Classroom (NCTE, 2006), demonstrate how such poetry can engage students in fruitful ways.

Students move from personal experience to practical application with the activities in the ReadWriteThinklesson “Color of Silence: Sensory Imagery in Pat Mora’s Poem ‘Echoes.’” Students begin by using all of theirsenses to describe known objects, such as pasta, chocolate, or grapes. They then apply their understandingof sensory imagery to their own poetry to practice using this literary device before they evaluate how itfunctions in “Echoes.” As students read Mora’s poem, they look for sensory images and write an explanationof how these images contribute to the meaning of the poem. Access the resources in this lesson online athttp://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1104.

In the ReadWriteThink lesson “Entering History: Nikki Giovanni and Martin Luther King, Jr.,” students readMartin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in conjunction with Nikki Giovanni’s poem “The Funeral ofMartin Luther King, Jr.” This juxtaposition helps students better understand the speech and the impact ithad on observers like Giovanni during the Civil Rights movement and how it still affects Americans today.After completing student-centered vocabulary activities, students perform the speech in readers’ theaterstyle and synthesize their learning by writing reflections. For graphic organizers, vocabulary activities, andreflection and assessment materials, visit the lesson online at http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=963.

Finally, explore how memory works with the ReadWriteThink lesson “Discovering Memory: Li-Young Lee’sPoem ‘Mnemonic’ and the Brain.” Students begin by writing personal pieces about memories, which serve asa foundation for discussions about the brain and how memory is stored. Students then connect theirpersonal experiences with memory to the biology of the human brain by exploring relevant websites. Withthis personal and scientific background material gathered, students then read and analyze Lee’s poem andcreate multigenre projects to demonstrate their understanding of memory. Everything you need to completethe lesson is available online at http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1049.

–Traci Gardnerwww.readwritethink.org

that speak to their hearts—words that they feel they couldhave written themselves. And while they are predictablein their initial claim to have a dislike for poetry, it alwaysseems to be poetry that has that special hook.

Emily’s efforts to immerse her middle levelreaders in the right text, coupled with peer sup-port and encouragement, are to be commended.As Ryan and Deci (2000) have indicated, studentswill more likely engage in reading and schoollearning when they are given adequate supportand when they have a sense of self-efficacy—abelief that they can succeed.

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Students’ Attitudes about PoetryThough for many middle school readers, poetryis not a favorite genre, surveying students’ per-ceptions of poetry can provide useful informationfor developing meaningful explorations (Apol &Harris, 1999; Sloan, 2003). One way to invite stu-dents to share their ideas about poetry is to askthem to respond to an open-ended prompt, asEmily did in her reading classroom:

Poetry makes me feel . . . . Figures 1a, b, and cshow several of their responses.

The results of this survey confirmed the vari-ous levels of experience and exposure that thesereaders have had with poetry. As educators whowork with middle level readers, it is imperativethat we set extensive time aside for them to readand respond to self-selected texts (Worthy, 2000),to read with peers, and to respond to literature ina variety of ways. Using the dialogue feature torespond to each student provides Emily with au-thentic and real reasons to model written response.As Emily notes:

Transforming my students’ preconceived notion ofwhat poetry must be and watching them transitioninto poetry lovers gives me a great deal of personal

Figure 1a. Response to open-ended prompt

Figure 1b. Student response to open-ended prompt

Figure 1c. Student response to open-ended prompt

satisfaction. They have spent so much time in theirclassrooms learning about figurative language thatfinally making the connection to the thunderbolt ofthe metaphor or laughing along with the joke in anidiom becomes a powerful experience.

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Mrs. Marcus tells Lonnie to “Describe Some-one,” and I invite my class to do the same. I writewith them. When I am willing to read my poemsaloud, these middle level readers are more forth-coming with theirs. For my “Describe Somebody”poem (see Figure 2), I describe what I see as theyare writing, and they love being the subject of apoem. Then when it is time for these young ado-lescent writers to “Describe Somebody,” it is al-most as if my clumsy poem has given thempermission to write, and not be perfect. An ex-ample of this appears in Figure 3 where one of thestudents describes her father.

In one of the poems in the beginning of Loco-motion, Lonnie has not yet gotten the hang of writ-ing, and he complains that his ideas go out of hishead like a candle blowing out. This was some-thing that related to my students’ lives. They hadsuch empathy for Lonnie, and they all wanted towrite about the candles being blown out for them.No one wants to be alone in their frustrations, asAdam expresses in his poem in Figure 4.

Emily Invites Us into HerClassroomEmily writes: I’m standing in my classroom watch-ing Lauren (all names are pseudonyms) try tochoose a novel for silent reading, and have beenpatient for quite some time. Now, I try to hurryher along to make a selection by saying “We haveto start class now. We’re going to start readingpoetry today.” Lauren says, “I hate poetry.” “Notfor long,” I answer. “What book did you pick?”She shows me the cover of Out of the Dust (Hesse,1997) and I murmur “Perfect.”

I ask, “Why did you pick that book?” and sheresponds “Because it looks easy.” It does look easy.It looks manageable. It looks like she won’t getoverwhelmed by how many words are on the page,and how many pages there are to turn. It lookslike she will be able to remember what has alreadyhappened as she moves forward in the book, andif she forgets something, she will be able to findthe part she forgot with relative ease. Her bookwill look just as hard as the other sixth graders’books, and no one will ask her why she is readinga baby book. Her interest level and maturity levelwill not be compromised by her reading level. Andto top it off, it will provide her with a great modelfor her own creative writing. Novels in verse meetso many of the needs of struggling readers that Ihave come to use them routinely for novel unitsand literature circles. While the vocabulary mayrequire some extra pre-reading activities, the for-mat of a novel in verse more than makes up forthat.

I teach small groups of about six to eightmiddle school students, and this year I am usingLocomotion (Woodson, 2003) for our novel unit.In this book, Lonnie, the main character, learnsabout poetry from his teacher Ms. Marcus, andthe students learn about Lonnie through the po-etry he writes during class. His poetry writing tellshis story and becomes a means for him to ease thepain of losing his parents. My students tap outsyllables with Lonnie as they learn to write Haikuwith him. We commit our memories of Hallow-een to paper next to Lonnie’s.

Figure 2. Emily’s “Describe Somebody” poem

When I looked over at Lindsay her pencil was flyingAcross her journal and I loved watching her thinkAnd those highlights bouncing off the overhead light.Chris held his head in his handsAnd it made me feel bad thatI was torturing him.But not bad enoughTo let him stop.

Figure 3. Chelsea’s “Describe Somebody” poem

My dad.Happy and always doing something.Sitting in his big brown chair sipping his coffee.Sitting next to his girlfriend talking, then getting upAnd telling us stuff about what we’re going to do today.Yummy. We are going to get pretzels.Then shopping and buying all new thingsHaving so much fun going from store to store.Thanks dad. I love you.

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Infusing the Reading Curriculumwith Multicultural Literature/PoetryIn order for readers to explore literature with aglobal perspective, it must be made readily avail-able to them and presented in such a fashion thatwill captivate their interests and intellect. Qualityliterature can open doors to other places, cultures,and experiences. Multicultural literature has thepower, as Mazer (1993) states, to “transform ourunderstanding . . . [and] allow us to enter into an-other person’s experience and to feel it as if it wereour own” (p. viii). Bishop (1994) emphasizes that“readers need literature that serves as a windowinto lives and experiences different from their own,and literature that serves as a mirror reflectingthemselves” (p. xiv).

Galda (1998) and Bishop (1994) have bothexplored the metaphor of literature as windowsand mirrors in their seminal works onmulticultural literature. When middle level read-ers share common experiences with characters, themetaphor of a mirror becomes relevant as theysee reflections of themselves. It is important foreducators to locate exemplars of “mirrors” foryoung adolescents who have been underrepre-sented in literature. The window metaphor isemployed when readers meet unfamiliar charac-ters or discover themselves immersed in a storythat describes experiences they have not faced. Inboth cases, multicultural literature can serve animportant role. And who better to guide readersto explore and discuss multi-cultural literature

than their teachers and reading specialists?In Emily’s case, she has been successful atwriting various grants to purchase multiplecopies of multi-cultural literature to usewith literature circles, and to loan to col-leagues for whole-class or small-group ex-plorations. She has also provided hercolleagues with resources, similar to theone that appears in Figure 5, to help inchoosing quality multicultural selections.Emily has noticed that when her studentsread about and discuss diverse cultures,

Figure 5. Where to find multicultural poetry selections

There are numerous book lists and resources that middle level teachers canutilize to find outstanding selections of multicultural literature, includingpoetry. Here are just a few recommendations:

1. The American Library Association (http://www.ala.org) featuresinformation about the annual awards given for multicultural literature,including the Coretta Scott King Award for African American children’sliterature and the Pura Belpré Award for Latino literature.

2. Reading specialists, literacy coaches, and middle school teachers willalso want to access http://www.tcnj.edu/~childlit/ which highlights theNotable Books for a Global Society (NBGS) annual award. The committee,part of the International Reading Association Children’s Literature andReading Specialist Interest Group, selects outstanding trade books forenhancing student understanding of people and cultures throughout theworld. Winning titles include fiction, nonfiction, and poetry written forstudents in grades K–12.

3. Educators will also want to find Breaking Boundaries with GlobalLiterature: Celebrating Diversity in K–12 Classrooms (2007), an excellentresource edited by Nancy L. Hadaway and Marian J. McKenna.

Figure 4. Adam’s poem

It makes me feel frustratedBecause if you get an idea but suddenly your idea just disappearsInto the darkness you wonder ifMaybe eventually it is coming back.Like in science once I tried to think and it looks like I’mNot paying attention. I get called on and the candle thing happensJust gets blown out and I forget.Once a teacher says something, I sometimes forget instantly.They put too much pressure on and I have to decide.But I forget.

they begin to establish and identify with similari-ties to their own lives. She states:

The middle school in which I teach is located in a ruralarea. Many of my students will grow up, marry, and spendtheir lives in the same area. There is little diversity in theschool and in the town. Much of their contact with culturesdifferent from their own must come from qualitymulticultural literature. For many of these adolescents,Lonnie is the only African American they will know.Jacqueline Woodson’s poetry does indeed let my students into know him. His struggle with making sense of the richwhite world helps my students to understand the concept ofprivilege and to appreciate that life is not easy if you aredifferent. Lonnie remarks on the eyes that follow him whenhe walks through the drug store, to make sure he isn’t steal-

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ing. My students get defensive on his behalf: “If you’rewhite, people don’t follow you around in stores. And that’snot right, because the blacks were here before the Italians,anyway!”

In short, they begin to, as Landt (2006) describes,“take a step toward appreciating the cultural con-nectedness of all humanity,” and they begin toexplore issues of social justice and tolerance.

Reading LocomotionIn Locomotion (Woodson, 2003), Lonnie, who isan eleven-year-old African American boy, writesabout his experiences. Through various poetryforms, Lonnie shares glimpses of his life, includ-ing his emotions about the death of his parents,his sense of loneliness and separation from hisyounger sister, and his experiences of living in afoster home. Through her considerable talents,Woodson has crafted a rich and authentic voicethrough Lonnie. His words not only express hisfeelings, but offer opportunities for readers to con-nect to his life, his story, his heart, and his soulwhile leaving room to make personal connections.Throughout the novel, Lonnie finds his poeticvoice and explains the line breaks and poetry formsthat he employs. For middle school reading spe-cialists like Emily, these features make this the idealmodel for reading and writing poetry. In Figure6, Emily offers just a few of the invitations thatshe extended to her middle level readers to helpthem make cross-curricular connections.

It is important to note that Emily only gets towork with her Title One readers in literaturecircles once a week, so her time and lesson plansare aligned to her district’s goals, but also to herphilosophical stance to sustain the interest andmotivation of her readers. As she states,

I love that talking about poetry gives my students an op-portunity to be successful in school. There is no right orwrong when I ask them what they think, or what theythink Lonnie is feeling. They can converse about the eventsin his life or the sound of his poems, and no one will tellthem that what they have said is silly or that they do notunderstand what they are reading. Gaining this kind ofconfidence in small groups helps them when they are backin their regular classroom. I observed an English class inwhich they were reading “I Wandered Lonely as a

Figure 6. Some ways to use Locomotion in the readingclassroom

• PowerPoint presentation including images of the Bronx• Motown music including “Little Eva,” which is the

actual title of “Do the locomotion”• Poetry open-ended prompts• Time line of Lonnie’s life• Journal writing• Line Break minilesson (following line break poem on

page 4)• Idiom minilesson (On page 10, Lonnie writes, “children

should be seen and not heard.” Emily uses this sentenceas a springboard for idioms.)

• Epistle poetry exploration (page 24). (This particularpoem generates discussion about Langston Hughes.Emily also shares Langston’s Train Ride [2004] byRobert Burleigh.)

• List Poem minilesson and writing (On page 33, there isa list poem that is a great model for students to createtheir own.)

• Haiku exploration and writing• Name poems• Rap and Hip Hop as Poetry minilesson (On page 70,

Lamont is overjoyed to learn that Rap and Hip Hop areforms of poetry. Emily capitalizes on this opportunityby asking the students to bring in their favorite musicto write by and to use it as a model for writing theirown rap.)

• Epitaph minilesson and writing• Open-ended responses connected to standards-based

assessment for state testing

Cloud” (Wordsworth,1804), which I know would havepreviously thrown them for a loop. But I was pleased tohear one student remark on the fact that clouds actuallytravel in packs, and that maybe this guy was mixed upwhen he picked out his simile.

In some of the student samples in Figures 7–8, it is evident that the exploration and discussionof Locomotion has stimulated the interest of theseyoung adolescents while providing meaningfulconnections with reading and writing.

Final ThoughtsPoetry can certainly help shape the way studentsformulate their thinking and writing by givingthem ideas, images, and concepts. Poetry can fueltheir imaginations and minds while providing op-portunities to explore new possibilities and terri-

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Figure 7a. Instructions for writing a name poem

Instructions for Writing a Name Poem

Line 1: Write your first name.

Line 2: It means {write three adjectives that describe you!}.

Line 3: It is the number {write out your favorite number inwords}.

Line 4: It is like {write two things that are your favoritecolor; for instance, Roses and Lipstick}.

Line 5: It is when I {finish the line with a thing youaccomplished}.

Line 6: It is a memory of {name a person who means a lotto you}

Line 7: . . . who taught me {name a trait of goodcharacter}

Line 8: . . . when {finish the sentence with the event thathappened when they taught you the lesson}.

Line 9: My name is {your first name}.

Line 10: It means {finish the sentence with something youlike doing or something that is important to you}.

Figure 7b. Student samples of name poem

Charlotte

It means fun, smart, competitive,It is 4,It is like the sun in the sky,It is camping at Pine Edge,It is a memory of my mom,Who taught me trust and kindness,When she let me run all over,My name is Charlotte,It means I believe in doing things your own way.

By Charlotte

Jamie

It means funny, strong, brave,It is 1It is like grass in the morning,It is the greatest time ever,It is a memory of my mom,Who taught me how to write,When she did homework with me,My name is Jamie,It means keeping my brother happy and safe.

By Jamie

Figure 8. Example of rap written by sixth-grade class

2nd Period Middle School Rap!

Welcome to our Middle School

You can’t call us a fool—we rule.If you don’t come to school, then you’re a fool.

Some body once hit me in the head with a binderAnd they are so so much kinder.

I went to church to see a preacherThen he told me to be a teacher.

I make an awesome reader,But not a very good leader.

I go to the library to look at a bookIn FACS I go with friends so I can cook.

In the classroom I do some mathThe problems . . . they the ones that feel my wrath

On rainy days the road is muddyYo I like to study with my buddy.

I ride a big yellow busSometimes I make a fuss because the kids make fun of us.

Sometimes I have to take a test, I try my bestBut there’s always a pest who ruins the test

We gotta go to school every dayWe’d rather just stay home and play in the hay.

Every day I go to classThat is why I pass . . .

tories. Through careful planning, middle levelteachers can weave novels in verse throughouttheir literacy curriculum to support and motivatereaders. A list of recommended novels in verse isfeatured in Figure 9.

By working collaboratively with reading spe-cialists like Emily, readers reap many benefits.Middle level readers will not only begin to con-nect to their learning, they will begin to make ap-plications to their everyday life. Emily’s readingclassroom is truly a collaborative environmentwhere students and teacher work in small groups,in pairs, or independently, depending on what theyprefer. During the class discussions, everyone isencouraged to offer comments, share ideas, andelicit questions. Emily found that the best discus-

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Figure 9. List of novels in verse for middle-school readers

The following is a list of novels in verse that appeal to middle levelreaders. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but it is meant to serve asa springboard for launching a “novels in verse” literature exploration.Brown, S. T. (2006). Hugging the Rock. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.Bryant, J. (2005). The Trial. New York: Random House.Bryant, J. (2008). Ringside 1925: Voices from the Scopes Trial. New York:

Knopf Books for Young Readers.Carvell, M. (2005). Sweetgrass Basket. New York: Dutton.Cheng, A. (2005). Shanghai Messenger. New York: Lee and Low.Creech, S. (2001). Love That Dog. New York: Harper Trophy.Frost, H. (2003). Keesha’s House. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.Frost, H. (2004). Spinning Through the Universe: A Novel in Poems from

Room 214. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Frances Foster Books.Glenn, M. (1997). Jump Ball: A Basketball Season in Poems. New York:

Dutton.Glenn, M. (1997). The Taking of Room 114: A Hostage Drama in Poems. New

York: Dutton.Grimes, N. (2002). Bronx Masquerade. New York: Dial.Grimes, N. (2001). Stepping Out with Grandma Mac. New York: Orchard.Grimes, N. (2002). Danitra Brown Leaves Town. New York: HarperCollins.Grimes, N. (2004). What Is Goodbye?: Poems on Grief. New York: Hyperion.Grimes, N. (2005). Dark Sons. New York: Hyperion.Grover, L. A. (2002). Loose Threads. New York: Simon & Schuster.Havill, J. (2008). Grow: A Novel in Verse. Atlanta: Peachtree.Hesse, K. (1997). Out of the Dust. New York: Scholastic.Hesse, K. (2001). Witness. New York: Scholastic.Janeczko, P. B. (2004). Worlds Afire. Cambridge: Candlewick.Johnson, A. (1998). The Other Side: The Shorter Poems. New York: Orchard

Books.Johnson, A. (2002). Running Back to Ludie. New York: Scholastic.Johnson, L. L. (1998). Soul Moon Soup. Honesdale: Front Street/Boyds Mill

Press.Klise, K. (2005). Regarding the Trees: A Splintered Saga Rooted in Secrets.

San Diego: Harcourt.Koertge, R. (2003). Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. Cambridge: Candlewick.Ortiz-Cofer, J. (2006). Call Me Maria. New York: Scholastic.Rylant, C. (2004). God Went to Beauty School. New York: HarperCollins.Smith, H. A. (2003). The way a Door Closes. New York: Henry Holt.Smith, H. A. (2008). Keeping the Night Watch. New York: Henry Holt.Testa, M. (2002). Becoming Joe DiMaggio. Cambridge: Candlewick.Testa, M. (2005). Something about America. Cambridge: Candlewick.Wayland-Halprin, A. (2002). Girl Coming in for a Landing: A Novel in Poems.

New York: Knopf.Yu, C. (2005). Little Green: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution. New York:

Simon & Schuster.Zimmer, T. V. (2008). 42 Miles. New York: Clarion.

sions stemmed from student-generated questionsthat were formed during the literature explora-tions. Moreover, Emily discovered that she wasable to model effective reading strategies, such as

predicting, questioning, re-reading, visualizing,and clarifying. Within the novel in verse readingof Locomotion, Emily also guided her students’ writ-ing.

Sometimes I give them journal time to just scribble a mes-sage to me or just write down something that they maywant to put into a poem later. Occasionally, one of my “smallgroupers” will write something that reassures me that po-etry is a good choice for struggling readers. Lesley writesabout the class she has right before group:

“. . . and then we corrected our homework and Igot them all right. And then it was time to leaveand as I walked down the hall I got a little hap-pier because I knew we were going to read Loco-motion. And I had a feeling we were behind andneeded to catch up.”

In closing, novels in verse can open the doors ofconfidence and motivation for middle school read-ers. Let us invite our readers inside!

ReferencesAlvermann, D. E. & Hagood, M. C. (2000). Fandom

and critical media literacy. Journal of Adolescent &Adult Literacy, 43, 436–446.

Apol, L., & Harris, J. (1999). Joyful noises: Creatingpoems for voices and ears. Language Arts, 76,314–322.

Bishop, R. S. (1994). Kaleidoscope: A multiculturalbooklist for grades k–8. Urbana: National Council ofTeachers of English.

Damico, J. S. & Carpenter, M. (2005). Evoking heartsand heads: Exploring issues of social justicethrough poetry. Language Arts, 83, 137–146.

Freeman, E., & Lehman, B. (2001). Global perspectivesin children’s literature. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Galda, L. (1998). Mirrors and windows: Reading astransformation. In T. E. Raphael & K. H. Au(Eds.). Literature-based instruction: Reshaping thecurriculum (pp. 1–11). Norwood: Christopher-Gordon.

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Hesse, K. (1997). Out of the dust. New York: Scholastic.

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Landt, S. (2006). Multicultural literature and youngadolescents: A kaleidoscope of opportunity. Journalof Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49, 690–697.

Lesesne, T. (2002). The poetry of language and thelanguage of poetry. Voices from the Middle, 10(2),62–65.

Mazer, A. (Ed.). (1993). America Street: A multi-cultural anthology of stories. New York: Persea.

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Napoli, M. (2007). Using poetry to explore socialjustice and global understanding. In N. Hadaway& M. McKenna (Eds.), Breaking boundaries withglobal literature: Celebrating diversity in the k–12

classroom (pp. 151–164). Newark, DE: Interna-tional Reading Association.

Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic andextrinsic motivation: Classic definition and newdirections. Contemporary Educational Psychology,25, 54–67.

Sloan, G. (2003). Give them poetry! A guide to sharingpoetry with children, K–8. New York: TeachersCollege Press.

Stanley, N. (2004). Creating readers with poetry.Gainesville, FL: Maupin House.

Winship, M. (2002, September). Blending genres:Novels in verse for adolescents. Kliatt. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2008, from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Blending+genres%3a+novels+in+verse+for+adolescents.

Woodson, J. (2003). Locomotion. New York: G. P.Putnam’s Sons.

Mary Napoli loves children’s literature and working with teachers. Some of her research interestsinclude building interdisciplinary connections and children’s responses to children’s literature. She is

currently assistant professor of Reading at Penn State Harrisburg and can be reached atmxn130@psu.edu.

Emily Ritholz has been working with struggling learners for about 15 years. She is currently areading specialist in the Solanco School district in Quarryville, PA, and has also been an adjunct profes-sor at York College and Penn State Harrisburg. She can be reached at emily_ritholz@solanco.k12.pa.us.

2009 NCTE Excellence in Poetry AwardLee Bennett Hopkins is the 15th winner of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. A distin-guished poet, writer, and anthologist, he has created numerous books for children and adults throughout hiscareer.

NCTE recognizes and fosters excellence in children’s poetry by encouraging its publication and by exploringways to acquaint teachers and children with poetry through such means as publications, programs, and displays. Asone means of accomplishing this goal, NCTE established its Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in 1977to honor a living American poet for his or her aggregate work for children ages 3–13.

Lee Bennett Hopkins will be honored at the Books for Children Luncheon and at a Poetry Session during theNCTE Annual Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in November.

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