Thursday, November 5, 2015

Poetry Friday: Enormous Smallness




Writer Matthew Burgess and illustrator Kris Di Giacomo have captured the playful spirit of E. E. Cummings in this charming biography for young readers. Burgess reveals how Cummings’s love of nature and his sense of imagination as a child developed into an exploration of language. The delightful illustrations blend fittingly with lively displays of text—words and letters dot the trees, spot tulip petals, hover in clouds, and spout from an elephant’s trunk.



From a young age, Estlin Cummings expressed his fascination with nature through his poems, which his mother recorded in a book.







Estlin’s first workspace was his tree house where he created art and wrote poems.






Quotations weave in and out of the story of Estlin’s life. We learn more about the poet through the words he spoke, the words of those around him, through full poems, and poem fragments.






Burgess and Di Giacomo introduce Cummings’s experimental style in a way that is intriguing and accessible.






Children will be fascinated to see Cummings as an inventor of words who broke rules and faced criticism.







Readers will discover that despite the criticism Cummings received, he pursued his dream and went on to become respected and loved for his work as a poet.




Surrounding examples of the poems is the poetic telling of Cummings’s life—Burgess’s words are as playful as the poet they describe. Throughout the book, Burgess and Di Giacomo reveal the interconnectedness of the enormous and the small.


E. E. Cummings is an attractive personality for children to explore. Young readers are sure to connect with the poet’s playful approach to expression wonderfully expressed in this book.


Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings
by Matthew Burgess
illustrations by Kris Di Giacomo
Enchanted Lion Books
2015

Thanks for stopping by! For more Poetry Friday fun this week, please visit Write. Sketch. Repeat.

17 comments:

  1. One of my favorite books of the year!

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    1. Definitely a favourite for me, too. I discovered your wonderful review recently, Jama. Thanks for stopping stopping by. : )

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  2. You have inspired me to read this bio, and even before that, to start claiming more for myself the being true to one's creative self that Cummings had the courage to live.God bless you! Thank you!

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    1. I'm so glad you're inspired to check out this book. I think you'll love it. Yes, let's always be true to our creative selves. Thanks, cb!

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  3. It is a wonderful book. My students (middle school) last year loved it too. And we all loved hearing so much more about e e cummings.

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  4. It's great to hear that your middle grade students loved this book. Cummings has written so many poems that young people love. I'll never forget my daughter's delight a few years ago when she "figured out" a Cummings poem. Thanks, Linda!

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  5. Thank you for reminding me that I need to pick up this book. The illustrations! The expression on his face made me smile.

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  6. Yes, the illustrations! And the story… I think you'll adore it.
    Thanks. Laura. : )

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  7. Wow. This sounds like an amazing book. I love Cummings' work.

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    1. I hope you get a chance to check it out. Thanks, Sally! ; )

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  8. Appreciations - I want to find this & devour it!

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    1. I'd love to hear your thoughts once you've read it. Thanks, Jan!

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  9. I just found the time to read this amazing bio filled to the brim with poetry (e.e.'s and the author's own choice of words). As someone who's shunned cummings, thinking him "too difficult/gimmicky" I could not have had a better introduction to him and his work. I've turned into a huge fan. Thanks so much Sheri!

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