Poems in the Attic

by Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Zunon (Illustrator)

Overview

Award-winning poet Nikki Grimes presents a tender poetry collection where a young girl learns about her mother, the child of an Air Force serviceman.

During a visit to her grandma's house, a young girl discovers a box of poems in the attic, poems written by her mother when she was growing up. Her mother's family often moved around the United States and the world because her mother's father was in the Air Force. Over the years, her mother used poetry to record everything she saw and did in the many places their family lived.

Reading the poems and sharing those experiences through her mother's eyes, the young girl feels closer to her mother than ever before. To let her mother know this, she creates a gift: a book with her own poems and copies of her mother's. And when she returns her mother's poems to the box in the attic, she leaves her own poems too, for someone else to find, someday.

Using free verse for the young girl's poems and tanka for her mother's, master poet Nikki Grimes creates a tender intergenerational story that speaks to every child's need to hold onto special memories of home, no matter where that place might be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620142974
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	50 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	6 - 11 Years

About the Author

Nikki Grimes, New York Times bestselling author of more than one hundred books for young people, is well-known for the poetry that appears in both her picture books and novels. Grimes is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Children's Literature Legacy Award, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Grimes lives in Corona, California. To learn more, visit nikkigrimes.com.

Elizabeth Zunon has illustrated several books for children, including Bottle Tops: The Art of El Anatsui, published by Lee & Low Books. Zunon spent her childhood in Ivory Coast, West Africa, and now lives with her husband and young son in Albany, New York, where she was born. Her honors include Bank Street's Best Children's Books of the Year list, the Children's Africana Book Award Honor, and a Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People selection. To learn more, visit lizzunon.com.

Editorial Reviews

05/11/2015
During a visit to her grandmother's house, a seven-year-old African-American girl discovers poems her mother wrote in her youth, giving the daughter a window into her mother's peripatetic upbringing as an Air Force brat. Grimes (Chasing Freedom) alternates between the daughter's free-verse poems and her mother's five-line tanka poetry. In one scene, the girl's grandmother shows her how to make paper luminarias, just as she did with her daughter while they were living in New Mexico ("After we were done,/ our brown bag candleholders/ bloomed bright, lighting up the night"); a Japanese dinner between girl and grandmother ties into a trip to Japan. (In author's notes, Grimes highlights the poetic forms she uses, as well as the Air Force bases that correspond to locations in the book). Fully in step with Grimes's empathic writing, Zunon's (One Plastic Bag) warmly painted collages carry readers from the waterways of Virginia to a German castle atop a hill, highlighting the powerful emotional ties between the girl and her elders, as well as her mother's adventurous spirit. Ages 6–11. Author's agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. Illustrator's agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words. (May)

Publishers Weekly

* "Succinct poetry shines in this impassioned celebration of history; the stories of this African-American family traveling the globe are rich with heart and color." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"[A] story that conveys decades of family history with an almost magical concision... Elizabeth Zunon's warm, bright illustrations provide a cheerful balance, but it's the ache of a parent's absence that most powerfully animates the book." — The New York Times

"A gem of a book." — School Library Journal

"Each page turn is like opening that old box in the attic—you never know what is coming next... Young poets (and their parents and grandparents) will be inspired to write poems for future generations." — The Horn Book

"A book about discoveries, this celebrates poetry and the quixotic life of a military family." — Booklist

"Fully in step with Grimes's empathic writing, Zunon's (One Plastic Bag) warmly painted collages ... [highlight] the powerful emotional ties between the girl and her elders, as well as her mother's adventurous spirit." — Publishers Weekly

Arnold Adoff Poetry Award Honor - Board of the Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural Literature for Youth
Best Books - Kirkus Reviews
Best Children's Books of the Year - Bank Street College of Education
CCBC Choices - Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Notable Books in the Language Arts - National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Notable Poetry and Verse Novels - National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Texas Bluebonnet Award Shortlist - Texas Library Association (TLA)

From the Publisher

04/01/2015
Gr 1–4—During a visit to Grandma's, a seven-year-old girl discovers a stash of poems in the attic written by her mother as a child. Each subsequent set of pages pairs a poem written by the girl with one by her mama. An air force brat, Mama wrote a different entry in each new place her family was stationed, showcasing the experiences of her "childhood on wings," from painting luminarias in New Mexico to kayaking in Virginia to catching cherry blossoms like snowflakes in Japan. Her writing also touches upon painful situations, such as leaving her friends behind when she moved and missing her father when he was away. The daughter's poems compare her and her grown-up mother's lives with the experiences detailed by Mama as a girl ("It's funny to think of Mama/making a mess with arts and crafts"). Sweet and accessible but never simplistic, this collection captures the experience of a military childhood with graceful sophistication. Grimes uses different styles of poem for each voice (free verse for the daughter and tanka poems for the mother), a choice that she discusses in an explanatory note on poetry forms that will serve budding poets and teachers alike. Rendered in acrylic, oil, and collage, Zunon's warm, vibrant illustrations complement the text perfectly. Readers with an especially keen interest in the locations highlighted can look to a complete list of Air Force Bases appended. VERDICT A gem of a book.—Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

School Library Journal

★ 2015-02-23
A girl discovers her mother's childhood poems in her grandmother's attic and embarks on a journey through family history that inspires her own poetic tribute to her mother. The mother's poetry tells of a childhood of constant resettling as the daughter of a base-traveling Air Force captain. Grimes' poems and Zunon's paint-and-collage illustrations take readers through the lands and cultures surrounding global U.S Air Force bases, including stories of aurora borealis observed in Alaska, the cherry blossoms seen in Japan, the hills hiked in Germany, and the mountains climbed in Colorado. (The specific bases are identified in a note in the backmatter.) Poetic forms alternate between the free verse of the daughter and her mother's tanka, an ancient five-line poetry form originating in Japan (and also further explained in the backmatter). Each spread presents one of her mother's poems within a large, bright illustration and the narrator's free-verse rumination on it, placed above a smaller, oval vignette. According to her author's note, Grimes drew on the varied stories of friends who grew up as military brats to create this imagined intergenerational dialogue. The standout "Grandma Says" enlightens readers to the power of reflective writing: "My mama glued her memories with words / so they would last forever." Succinct poetry shines in this impassioned celebration of history; the stories of this African-American family traveling the globe are rich with heart and color. (Picture book/poetry. 6-11)

Kirkus Reviews