POEMS IN THE ATTIC

POEMS IN THE ATTIC

by Nikki Grimes

Illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon

Image credit: www.leeandlow.com

Bibliography

Grimes, Nikki. 2015. Poems in the Attic. New York: Lee and Low Books.  ISBN 9781620140277

Critical Analysis and Review

This poetry collection is the story of a seven-year-old girl who finds a set of poems in her Grandmother's attic written by her mother.  Through reading the poems, she finds out that her mother moved around to different Air Force bases as a military brat, but always wrote down her memories in poem.  Interestingly, the two characters' words alternate throughout the book as the young girl reads each of her mother's poems.  It is easy to understand which character wrote the poem, because the daughter's poems appear on the left side, while the mother's poems are on the right side and in italics. 

Grimes is best known for her skill in deftly using poetry to tell a story.  To some readers, this book may not even seem like a collection of poetry because the story is so richly woven into each poem.  In this book, the poems have numerous poetic elements woven throughout.  In "Air Force Brat", the young girl describes her mother's "childhood on wings", a metaphor for moving from place to place. In "Aurora Borealis", the  children watch a "dancing rainbow / shimmy 'cross Alaska's sky" showing the use of sensory images.  These poems evoke strong feelings, but are not overly sentimental.  In "Moving Day", the young girl empathizes with her mother musing, "I get dizzy thinking about / all those good-byes."  Finally, the young girl decides to "copy Mama's poems, then / stitch them together with mine" as a gift to her mother.  

Poems in the Attic has additional content in an author's note, in which Grimes explains that she has a lot of friends who were military brats and their stories inspired this work of fiction.  There is also a brief description of the Air Force Bases and their locations that are featured in the Mother's poems.  Grimes also provides information about the two forms of poetry used in the story.  The young narrator tells her story in consistent three to four line free verse.  The mother's poems from the attic are all written in tanka with a specific syllable count.  Grimes encourages readers to try out free verse and tanka on their own.  

Spotlight Poem

GRANDMA SAYS
by Nikki Grimes

Memories can be like sandcastles

the waves wash away.

My mama glued her memories with words

so they would last forever.

I chose this poem because this whole poetry collection is about a young girl learning about her mother's memories preserved in poems.  This poem compares memories to sandcastles because they "wash away".  The little girl was able to learn more about her mother's interesting life because her mother "glued" her memories into poems, so they didn't "wash away".

To introduce "Grandma Says" with students, we would discuss memories with a few questions.  Can you remember being a baby?  Can you remember being a toddler? Can you remember last year?  Do you think you would you be able to remember special memories more vividly if you wrote them down in a journal?  What about in a poem?  After reading the entire text, I would ask students, "How do you think that you could preserve your memories so they don't wash away?"  As a follow up activity, students could begin creating a daily poetry journal to preserve their memories.