The following review is in partial fulfillment of the requirements for LS5603.20, Genre 3—poetry.
1. Bibliography
Grimes, Nikki. 1998. A Dime a Dozen. Ill. by Angelo. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0-8037-2227-3
2. Plot Summary
Nikki Grimes is the 2006 recipient of the NCTE Poetry Award. In this Junior Library Guild selection, she uses poems to tell about family members and childhood events that helped shape her life and lead her to become a writer. The book is divided into three sections: Genius, The Secret, and A Dime a Dozen. The first section deals with the author’s relationships with her family members and with her dream of becoming a writer. The overall impression of the section is that this is a loving family that encourages the author’s writing. When she wakes her sister up at night to share a new poem, the sister says, “We have a genius in the house.” The second section, The Secret, is about some problems that arise in the family. The parents are divorced, the father gambles and doesn’t keep his promises, the mother is depressed and drinks too much, and the children go to a foster home. The section ends on a note of hope when the author reveals her secret—that she knows that her parents still care for each other. A Dime a Dozen, the last section of the book, shows that the author is growing up and becoming more independent. She argues with her grandmother, refuses to eat food she doesn’t like, says she wants to be her own person like her father is, and promises that someday her mother will stop telling her that writers are a dime a dozen and be proud to say, “My daughter, the Writer.” The book has a table of contents which lists the three sections and the individual poem titles.
3. Critical Analysis
A Dime a Dozen is told in first person. It is the author’s story of growing up and wanting to become a writer. Because of the way the story is told, it is very authentic and believable. The author has feelings and emotions that are common to all young people. It is obvious that she loves her family, but is still sometimes angry with them (“The Last Word”) and disappointed by them (“Daddy’s Promises.”) She is also proud of them (“Self” and “Something New”) and worried about them (“Less Than Perfect.”) The author shows herself to be a strong person because she will not let anyone discourage her from becoming a writer. She is able to grow and change as the story progresses. In the first section of the book, she needs her sister’s approval to know that her poems are good, but by the last poem, she is listening to her own heart instead.
A Dime a Dozen is filled with figurative language and rich imagery. The author’s dream is “to poet/like a laser,/pierce darkness/with one word!” She accomplishes her goal by using phrases like “The choir paints/the sanctuary walls/with bands of sound/more glorious than gold” and “Mom’s shadow of a grin/brightens into/a smile so wide/I could dive/into her dimples/and disappear/for days/and not be missed.” Some of the poems use rhyme, but many are free verse, which makes them more effective because it is like the reader is just hearing the thoughts of the writer.
Angelo’s illustrations are pencil drawings that are so detailed and realistic that they look like black and white photographs. Each picture seems to be a perfect likeness of someone in the author’s family, based on her descriptions of them in the poems.
Each poem in A Dime a Dozen could stand alone because it expresses one thought or idea, but when they are collected together, they tell a compelling story of a young girl with a gift and the determination to use it.
4. Review Excerpts
Booklist: “The black-and-white drawings illustrating each poem reinforce the sense that the African Americans in the poems are vivid individuals, not fuzzy generalizations. Free-flowing and very accessible, the poetry may inspire readers to distill their own life experiences into precise, imaginative words and phrases.” (Reviewed December 1, 1998)— Susan Dove Lempke
School Library Journal: “Grimes's carefully crafted word placement matches the rhythms and messages of the poems. …emotion flows through these verses. The melodic rhythms gracefully sing when read aloud. Resembling photographs, the soft black-and-white illustrations portray the family members and offer images of the words without infringing on readers' imaginations or personal reactions to the poetry. A quietly profound, heartfelt work.”--Shawn Brommer
VOYA: “Through twenty-eight slice-of-life poems, Grimes tells a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story that comes alive with stunning black-and-white drawings by Angelo….The poems describe the emotional highs and lows that a young girl, aged probably eleven to fifteen, experiences as her parents go through divorce.”
5. Connections
Use this book to invite young people to share their own hopes and dreams, and to talk about achieving them in spite of circumstances or other people’s opinions.
Read the poems aloud. Some of them would work well as call-and-response readings, especially “Family Movers” and “The Last Word.”
From Nikki Grimes’ website (http://www.nikkigrimes.com/poems.html):
●have students create a poster or other display depicting their dreams
●play a charades game performing an action from one of the poems (playing hopscotch, chopping food, moving furniture, etc.) and let other students name the poem that goes with the action
1. Bibliography
Grimes, Nikki. 1998. A Dime a Dozen. Ill. by Angelo. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0-8037-2227-3
2. Plot Summary
Nikki Grimes is the 2006 recipient of the NCTE Poetry Award. In this Junior Library Guild selection, she uses poems to tell about family members and childhood events that helped shape her life and lead her to become a writer. The book is divided into three sections: Genius, The Secret, and A Dime a Dozen. The first section deals with the author’s relationships with her family members and with her dream of becoming a writer. The overall impression of the section is that this is a loving family that encourages the author’s writing. When she wakes her sister up at night to share a new poem, the sister says, “We have a genius in the house.” The second section, The Secret, is about some problems that arise in the family. The parents are divorced, the father gambles and doesn’t keep his promises, the mother is depressed and drinks too much, and the children go to a foster home. The section ends on a note of hope when the author reveals her secret—that she knows that her parents still care for each other. A Dime a Dozen, the last section of the book, shows that the author is growing up and becoming more independent. She argues with her grandmother, refuses to eat food she doesn’t like, says she wants to be her own person like her father is, and promises that someday her mother will stop telling her that writers are a dime a dozen and be proud to say, “My daughter, the Writer.” The book has a table of contents which lists the three sections and the individual poem titles.
3. Critical Analysis
A Dime a Dozen is told in first person. It is the author’s story of growing up and wanting to become a writer. Because of the way the story is told, it is very authentic and believable. The author has feelings and emotions that are common to all young people. It is obvious that she loves her family, but is still sometimes angry with them (“The Last Word”) and disappointed by them (“Daddy’s Promises.”) She is also proud of them (“Self” and “Something New”) and worried about them (“Less Than Perfect.”) The author shows herself to be a strong person because she will not let anyone discourage her from becoming a writer. She is able to grow and change as the story progresses. In the first section of the book, she needs her sister’s approval to know that her poems are good, but by the last poem, she is listening to her own heart instead.
A Dime a Dozen is filled with figurative language and rich imagery. The author’s dream is “to poet/like a laser,/pierce darkness/with one word!” She accomplishes her goal by using phrases like “The choir paints/the sanctuary walls/with bands of sound/more glorious than gold” and “Mom’s shadow of a grin/brightens into/a smile so wide/I could dive/into her dimples/and disappear/for days/and not be missed.” Some of the poems use rhyme, but many are free verse, which makes them more effective because it is like the reader is just hearing the thoughts of the writer.
Angelo’s illustrations are pencil drawings that are so detailed and realistic that they look like black and white photographs. Each picture seems to be a perfect likeness of someone in the author’s family, based on her descriptions of them in the poems.
Each poem in A Dime a Dozen could stand alone because it expresses one thought or idea, but when they are collected together, they tell a compelling story of a young girl with a gift and the determination to use it.
4. Review Excerpts
Booklist: “The black-and-white drawings illustrating each poem reinforce the sense that the African Americans in the poems are vivid individuals, not fuzzy generalizations. Free-flowing and very accessible, the poetry may inspire readers to distill their own life experiences into precise, imaginative words and phrases.” (Reviewed December 1, 1998)— Susan Dove Lempke
School Library Journal: “Grimes's carefully crafted word placement matches the rhythms and messages of the poems. …emotion flows through these verses. The melodic rhythms gracefully sing when read aloud. Resembling photographs, the soft black-and-white illustrations portray the family members and offer images of the words without infringing on readers' imaginations or personal reactions to the poetry. A quietly profound, heartfelt work.”--Shawn Brommer
VOYA: “Through twenty-eight slice-of-life poems, Grimes tells a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story that comes alive with stunning black-and-white drawings by Angelo….The poems describe the emotional highs and lows that a young girl, aged probably eleven to fifteen, experiences as her parents go through divorce.”
5. Connections
Use this book to invite young people to share their own hopes and dreams, and to talk about achieving them in spite of circumstances or other people’s opinions.
Read the poems aloud. Some of them would work well as call-and-response readings, especially “Family Movers” and “The Last Word.”
From Nikki Grimes’ website (http://www.nikkigrimes.com/poems.html):
●have students create a poster or other display depicting their dreams
●play a charades game performing an action from one of the poems (playing hopscotch, chopping food, moving furniture, etc.) and let other students name the poem that goes with the action
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