Myra here.
I am delighted to be joining Poetry Friday community this week with this gorgeous picturebook in verse that I learned about through people from the kidlitosphere. Thank you to Elizabeth Steinglass for hosting this week.
In this nonfiction picturebook written in verse, the beauty and power of imagination is unleashed in quiet waves and soft colours, creating a masterpiece that will be read for years to come.
Imagine
Written by Juan Felipe Herrera Illustrated by Lauren Castillo
Published by Candlewick Press (2018)
ISBN: 076369052X (ISBN13: 9780763690526)
Borrowed from the NIE Library. Book photos taken by me.
Initially, I did not know where the story was leading me, then the refrain
imagine what you could do…
hit me like stars falling from trees.
Based on the childhood of US Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, it speaks of what life was like as a young migrant boy unfamiliar with the English language, confronting the “new concrete school” with nothing but his red backpack filled with dreams.
What struck me the most was the hunger for – and affinity with – words unrecognized, ensnared, and “sprinkled” on paper to create imagined narratives and lyrical phrases. There is resilience, grit, determination – and a celebration of that which is beautiful. There is also unremitting faith in what young children can do with everything they have, right here, right now, at this moment.
My Poetry Friday offering today is a Juan Felipe Herrera poem I found in Poets.org entitled Poem by Poem. I took a screenshot of the poem and edited the image using an iPhone app. Enjoy!
#LitWorld2018GB Update: United States Of America
Gathering Books 
What a beautiful, poetic book. Thank you so much for sharing!
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“Poem by Poem” hit me right in the heart. What a heavy weight our children are carrying today.
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I love the concept that some poems are made of action. We all have to do what we can to make the world a better, safer place.
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Oh, my goodness. I need this book. Your blog post is powerful about its beauty…..the book looks spectacular. I love the change in a person because of language. It’s so miraculous and special to see and be a part of.
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I am beginning to worry that our world is such that a person must be extraordinary to survive. Or maybe we are painfully birthing a world in which everyone gets to be extraordinary and thus survives.
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Herrera’s is a beautiful story of resilience and success. I wonder what stories will come from the children who have been separated from their parents or blocked at the US border by current politics?
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Thanks for sharing this gorgeous calling out poem of Herrera’s–to hear each slain individual as one–and to bring them back up again. And also for sharing this new book.
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What a beautiful book! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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