Joyful Noise, Poems for Two Voices, by Paul Fleischman - Poetry

Before taking this Children's Literature class, I had never heard of Paul Fleischman or any of his works. However, as of now, he is quickly becoming one of my favorite author's. In his previous works that I have read, "Seedfolks", "Bull Run", "Sidewalk Circus", and "Westlandia", I have seen an author who looks at life from so many points of views and seems determined to allow all different voices to be heard. His book of poetry "Joyful Noise, Poems for Two Voices" is no different. This Newbery Award winner takes the views of insects looking on the world and going about everyday life. The poems, purposefully written to be read by two people, working simultaneously together, would be an excellent addition to an elementary classroom. This could very easily fit into a science lesson on animal adaptions and habitats. The words and stanzas are very readable and can be easily understood by a child (even by children as young as second graders), whether it is read as a whole class, a choral reading, or by partners. The only poem that I would be hesitant about would be the "Honeybees" poem, because it has the word HELL in it. I would not take this book out of my class, but I would be cautious in telling the students that there is a word that is not acceptable to say at school in it. I do feel that this poem is an excellent example of the diversity within a bee hive (the Worker bee verses the Queen bee), but I wouldn't want them to be reading this poem and say the word aloud. While we are an open society and many try to fight censorship, I don't want to advocate my students to use profanity in my classroom or at school. An eight-year-old saying Hell in a poem isn't necessary.

Children are naturally interested in insects and science, and this is an excellent collection of poems by one author who has obviously sat and considered the world from an insect's point of view. I have sat and watched children collect bugs around the yard at school so that they could take it back to the classroom and "keep it for a pet". I am sure that students who consider a spider to be a great classroom pet would find enjoyment from this subject matter of insects.

I don't think that we humans stop to wonder what life is really like for insects, no more than we stop to wonder what life is like for other people in our community. The poem "Honeybees" reminded me of this. One bee thought that life inside a beehive was grand, because she only lead a luxurious life, while the other bee worked all the time and got little praise for his/her efforts. I think that the human life is like this. In our socioeconomic world, some people naturally do get more attention and treated like "Queen Bees" (if you will), while others are constantly working and trying to survive, while treated like nobodies! When I analyze my own life, I have to say that I usually feel like a Queen Bee, but on days when I have Parent-Teacher Conferences, Report Cards due, children to teach, a gym to try to get to, a family to tend for, and classwork to catch up on, I feel like a Worker Bee. Still, I know that so often in life people, like single mothers, are working possibly two jobs (if not more) and still trying to spend time with their children, don't get the credit they deserve.

The poem "Water Striders" made me smile, because I saw them as little children, saying how easy it is to walk on water and not understanding why their "students" always sink beneath the surface on their first attempt. So many times I have heard my third graders say that something, a task or new learning skill, is easy, not realizing that what is easy to one may not be easy to another.

I had to remind myself half-way through the book that the author was Paul Fleischman and not Cynthia Rylant. I have grown so use to reading these two author's works together, that I realize that they have alot of similarities. They both point out the ironies of life, as Fleischman did in this book with the different points of views of the characters. They also write about nature and all it's many glorious (and not so glorious) facets. Some people may not be excited to read a book from an insect's point of view, but Fleischman did, and it worked wonderfully.

The illustrations are beautifully done, using what I would think is just pencil drawings. They are simple and just right, fitting into the theme of it being about simple creatures, insects. The two symmetrical insects on the front-matter and back-matter are an interesting twist to the fact that two voices are meant to read this book together.