This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman, Ill. By Pamela Zagarenski

This Is Just to Say was an absolute delight. I know, I say that about all the books I review – EVERYONE says that about all the books they review – but this one can only be described by that word: a delight. This Is Just to Say is a book of poems by Joyce Sidman centered around the common theme of apology and forgiveness, as the title implies. Although all authored by Sidman, each poem is an apology written from the perspective of a different child in a fictitious sixth grade class. The premise of the poetry book is that these poems were sent to the person (or animal) deserving the apology, and the latter half of the book is poems written in response to the apologies. It is a clever and extremely effective way of tying the collection together into a cohesive whole.

The book is structured with an introduction (written by one of the sixth graders), a table of contents, and two sections: first come the apology poems, followed by the responses. Structurally, it might have been easier to follow the many relationships in the collection if each apology and its response were put on facing pages; with two distinct sections, it is harder to track which response goes with which apology. Before the students' poetry is William Carlos Williams' poem This Is Just to Say, which is the inspirational apology poem on which the poetry collection is based.

Sidman has a remarkable ability to reflect different voices in her poetry, and most of the time, I felt as if I were really reading the poetry of sixth graders. There were brief moments when the word choice or depth of feeling didn't seem authentic to a 12-year-old's somewhat limited life experiences, but the overall tone was very much in keeping with preteens, displaying the wide range of emotions that come with being in middle school. The subject matter in the poetry ranges considerably, from innocent crushes, to euthanizing a beloved pet, to catching a parent doing something unmentionable (which I interpreted as having an affair, but the poem does not actually specify. This is the beauty of poetry – one's imagination makes the decision). Kirkus Review had a similar reaction: “...the whole is far more captivating than expected. Packed with the intensity of everyday pain and sorrow, kids and adults exchange the words that convey grief, delight, love and acceptance of themselves and others” (Kirkus Review 2010).

Pamela Zagarenski's illustrations pair seamlessly with the poems on each full-color page. There is no literal white space in this poetry collection; rather, the negative space is filled with a background color, which changes on each page. The illustrations are reminiscent of doodles a student might make in the margins of a notebook, and the drawings often have lines and boxes in the background that one would find on notebook paper or graphing paper (which middle schoolers would have in abundance for doodling). The children's book professionals over at the Blue Rose Group blog agree that “Zagarenski’s mixed media illustrations are hip, playful, expressionistic, and add touches of humor in just the right spots” (Magliaro 2007). While the introduction (which Sidman cleverly wrote from the perspective of one of the sixth graders) claims the art was drawn by a student in the class, the quality and consistency of the artwork in most cases far exceeds the abilities of a typical sixth grader. Sidman varies the font and the size of the text in each poem, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious rhyme or reason for each font selection. Serious poems have both serious and more playful fonts, as do some sillier poems.

Sidman's anthology shows a great talent for poetry. This is to be expected from a book that is the winner of a Cybils poetry award and School Library Journal's Best Book of the Year, among others (including IRA Teacher's Choice Book and New York Public Library's "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing"). This Is Just to Say contains a variety of poetry forms, though most of the poems are free verse. There is a haiku, a poem for two voices, and even a pantoum – a form which I had never encountered but found fascinating. While Sidman employed several literary devices, by far the most prevalent was the simile. This is in keeping with middle school development and made for some vivid lines, such as “the silence seemed like a hundred crushing elephants” and “the principal's eyes are like hot sparks.” There is a notable absence of other poetic devices – I expected to see some alliteration or assonance somewhere in the anthology, but it simply wasn't there. While this did not detract from the quality of the poetry, it certainly took me by surprise. There is an author's note at the bottom of a few pages explaining that the poem had been changed so that it could be printed, presumably because the original content wasn't appropriate for middle school. This feature was used somewhat inconsistently, though, as another poem used the word “pissed,” which might bring up some challenges in an elementary classroom or school setting.

This book provides many opportunities for teaching poetry. In teaching poetic devices, there are ample opportunities to send students on a scavenger hunt for similes throughout the book, and this collection also serves as a great springboard for having students write their own apology poems. Two good companion books to This Is Just to Say might be Newbery honor winner Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems for a closer look at the author or Gail Carson Levine's Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems, which was inspired by Sidman's poetry collection and looks at less-than-sincere apologies from a perspective of humor.

I enjoyed the sweet, tender, and vulnerable moments in this collection of poetry. The illustrator's use of bright color and sketchbook-style art draws the reader in, and the beautiful moments of love and forgiveness are punctuated by clever humor at just the right moments. This collection is a great way to share poetry with young people, and I give it my sniff of approval.

Wags and Woofs, 

Charlie Brown

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References

Kirkus Review. 2010. “This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness.” Kirkus Review, Posted May 20, 2010. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joyce-sidman/this-is-just-to-say/.

Magliaro, Elaine. 2007. “Poetry Friday: This Is Just to Say.” Blue Rose Girls. Posted March 23, 2007. http://bluerosegirls.blogspot.com/2007/03/poetry-friday-this-is-just-to-say.html.

Sidman, Joyce. 2007. This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 9780618616800