I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices - Hardcover

Fleischman, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060218819 ISBN 13: 9780060218812

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1985

Synopsis

A collection of poems about birds to be read aloud by two voices.

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Reviews

Grade 4 Up Fifteen poems covering the space of a day and the birds active during that day are designed to be read aloud by two voices. Each poem is accompanied by a handsome black-and-white drawing. The collection fails to offer any new insights and degenerates to the merely silly, especially if the attempt is made to read it aloud. The viewpoints expressed and the imagery used ("Doves of Dodona" or "The Common Egret") will mean nothing to most children. Wonderful, accessible poems about birds already exist. Why bother to clutter up the skies with "Warblers" ("Warblers warbling /Warblers warbling") when Edward Thomas' "Sedgewarblers" exists? The poem "Owls" ("Sun's down, /Sky's dark,") cannot evoke the mood of Randall Jarrell's poem "The Bird of Night." In this year of Audubon's anniversary, honor the beauty of birds with poetry worthy of thempoems found in collections like Cole's The Birds and the Beasts Were There (Collins, 1963; o.p.) or MacKay's A Flock of Words (HBJ, 1970; o.p.). Kathleen D.u Whalin, New Canaan Library, Conn.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

During a short career, Fleischman has received rave reviews and awards for his distinctive stories, radically different from each other. Here the author gives way to the poet, his alter ego, composing works that are arranged as duets but can also be relished by one alone, reading or reciting the lines as paeans to birds of various feathers. From dawn to dusk, Fleishchman keeps his ears attuned to the music and messages in the calling of finches, wax wings, condors, sparrows, the passenger pigeon (lamenting over its kin, murdered by the millions), finally the owl who owns the night. The doves of Dodono in Greece sing about people who beseech the goddess for answers; the wandering albatross thinks about shipwrecks, mariners swept into the ocean beneath the bird's wings. There are many other wonders to experience in the echoic, inspiring poetry. Nutt's splendid drawings complement and enhance the words in a singular book.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0060218819
• ISBN 13: 9780060218812
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 51