Poetry: BookSpeak!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Salas, Laura Purdie & Bissaillon, Josee. 2011. BOOKSPEAK!: POEMS ABOUT BOOKS. NewYork: Clarion. ISBN 9780547223001

PLOT SUMMARY

In Bookspeak!: Poems About Books, Laura Purdie Salas provides the reader with a collections of poems about books. Not just books though, but parts of books, characters and types of books. This unique and quirky collection of poems reminds readers young and old why we are bewitched by books. Calling All Readers, requests that readers put down the controller, turn the TV off and hang out with him, which is exactly what you want to do as soon as your start reading this collection. Another poem in the collection, Skywriting, claims that the black words against the white page is like singing a story against a white sky. The End reminds readers that the end of a book is not really the end: “I am not so much
‘The End’ as I am an invitation back to the beginning.”

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Laura Purdie Salas gives books a unique and quirky voice in BOOKSPEAK. The collection begins by calling all readers to drop everything they are doing and have an adventure with a book. This is exactly what you want to do as you wind your way through the poems written in the book’s own voice. Many of the poems take on different styles and voices to match the theme of the poem. Skywriting, which is about the actual words on pages is written in various forms of fonts, styles and detail. Ink smudges and paper lines add to the experience of the poem. 

Characters also get a voice in the poem titled: A Character Pleads for His Life. The character pleads with you to open the cover of the book and let him tell you his story, “open the cover and liberate me.” He promises to help you become someone you have never been before which is what many readers want as they read a book. We also hear from the oft forgotten index. “Forget the pretty pages on the cover”, ignites his sharp and angry voice. A diary is another voice that is heard, “all thinkers need pages where dreams can take flight”.  Each part of the story telling experience is given a voice in this collection.

The collage-like illustrations almost fold back on the page as you dissect each poem’s specific story. The illustrations add dimensions to the words almost telling you their own story. Illustrations are bright and bold in some cases and dull and dreary in others further enhancing the tone and diction used. 

Booklovers of all ages will be particularly thrilled to speed through the pages of this wonderfully written collection of poems about books.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "Well-crafted and clever, covering a variety of aspects of books and reading...An appealing offering that will be especially popular with librarians."

BULLETIN: "There's definite read aloud and performance potential here."

BOOKLIST: “With its mix of poetic forms and wry twists on language-arts terms, this is a natural choice for sharing in classrooms and young writers’ workshops.”

CONNECTIONS

 *Awards for BOOKSPEAK!: POEMS ABOUT BOOKS

Minnesota Book Award

NCTE Notable

Bank Street Best Books

Librarians' Choice

Honor Book - Gelett Burgess Center for Creative Expression

White Ravens book

Nerdy Book Award

* This book would be perfect for a librarian, teacher or student to practice their storytelling ability.

* Other books by Laura Purdie Salas:

Salas, Laura Purdie. A ROCK CAN BE. ISBN 1467721107

Salas, Laura Purdie. IF YOU WERE THE MOON. ISBN 146778009X