Relatively Speaking: Poems About Family

Capturing the trials and tribulations of family life, an eleven-year-old boy recites poems about his own family, in a delightful collection of poetry from a renowned poet and novelist.

Grade 4-7-Like the puzzle pieces on the book's cover, these poems come together to form a picture of one family. Narrated by the youngest member, each poem highlights a different person or event. Readers learn about his older brother's serious accident, his new sibling, and the family's annual reunion. There are poems about seldom-seen cousins, big brother's "beach muscles," and an uncle's funeral. The selections are striking in their simplicity, universal themes, and realistic voice. Pen-and-ink line drawings detail items ranging from a favorite quilt to a water bucket and sponge used to wash the car. Ultimately, these pieces connect throughout the book and show how individuals mesh to become a family.
Kristen Oravec, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Strongsville, OH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

PLB 0-531-33141-5 In what amounts to a novel in poems, a narrator, 11, declares his satisfaction at ``Being The Youngest,'' introduces his big brother (``God's Gift to Girls''), who later has a scary brush with death, watches his grandmother plant tulip bulbs ``in that dirty confusion/of bulb and knuckle,/knuckle and bulb,'' observes several relatives at a huge family reunion, tracks his mother's pregnancy, and, after his sister is born, finds pleasure in ``Being A Middle Child,'' too. In easygoing free verse that hides no meanings behind oblique imagery or language, Fletcher (Ordinary Things, 1997, etc.) creates a close-knit, recognizable cast; Krudop's small pen-and-ink still lifes of food and common household items evoke an air of intimate, everyday domesticity. Children will enjoy reading or listening to these linked episodes of high drama, low comedy, and comforting human contact. (Poetry. 8-10) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.