Hey, You!: Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things - Hardcover

Janeczko, Paul B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060523476 ISBN 13: 9780060523473

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2007

Synopsis

What would you say to a mailbox?
What would you say to your shoe?
To a sea horse?
A snowflake?
A bee?
A mosquito?
An octopus?
Light?
The faraway moon?

What would you say to a poetry book?
Give it a try: Hey, you!

About this title

About the Authors

Paul B. Janeczko speaks as an editor, anthologist, poet, and teacher in his many award-winning books for young readers. Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices, a companion to Hey, You!, was named a Riverbank Review Children's Book of Distinction and was a finalist for the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Paul B. Janeczko lives with his wife and daughter in Hebron, Maine.

Robert Rayevsky lives in the beautiful countryside—far away from the skyscrapers, but close to many mosquitoes. His books include Under New York by Linda Oatman High and Pirate Pup by Caroline Stutson. Robert Rayevsky lives in Parksville, New York, with his wife, kids, cats, and a dachshund.

From the Back Cover

What would you say to a mailbox?
What would you say to your shoe?
To a sea horse?
A snowflake?
A bee?
A mosquito?
An octopus?
Light?
The faraway moon?

What would you say to a poetry book?
Give it a try: Hey, you!

Reviews

Grade 2–5—These 30 poems by various writers were all written to their subjects, directly addressing "skyscrapers, mosquitoes, and other fun things." Yet, a ballad to the Vietnam Memorial sits between a vacuous bit of verse to a police officer's horse and a longer poem to the moon. On occasion, similar subjects will follow one another. The most interesting of these pairings are two selections to bees, "Straight Talk" by Nikki Grimes, and "Bee, I'm expecting you!" by Emily Dickinson (though the poet's original punctuation has been edited). There are several poems about sea life. Many of the better selections could be used to explore voice, address, looking at things in new ways, tone, and metaphor, but others are uninspired and flat. Norman MacCaig's "Toad" offers one of the collection's most unique poetic voices, as does Bobbi Katz's "Camel Question." Marjorie Maddox writes with zany hyperbole a letter to a mailbox. Rayevsky's watercolors are often gray without reason and rarely lend themselves to enriching readers' experience of the poems. Despite its many excellent elements, this collection is a mixed bag.—Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

In poetry, the term apostrophe means a direct address to an inanimate thing, an animal, or an abstract concept. That's what the poems in this lively anthology do, and the familiar poets' subjects range from dust mites to the universe's black holes. Many selections are light, rhyming verse, often grouped loosely by subject: Ogden Nash's "The Octopus" appears opposite Douglas Florian's "The Sea Horse," for example. Others pick humorous arguments with their subjects: "Look, Bee. / Fair is fair. / I don't burst into your honeycomb," writes Nikki Grimes in "Straight Talk." Rayevsky's mixed-media illustrations, composed of digitally manipulated collage-and-inked drawings, include some dot-eyed cartoon figures that distract from the somber tone in a few selections, such as Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "Whispers to the Wall," addressed to the Vietnam Memorial. On many spreads, though, the artwork creates an interesting, textured counterpart to the words. Poems based on apostrophe lend themselves easily to popular, kid-friendly writing exercises, and teachers will appreciate the range of styles represented here. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060523476
• ISBN 13: 9780060523473
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Rayevsky Robert
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40