A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams

 

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams

By: Jen Bryant
Illustrated by: Melissa Sweet
Published by: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers 2008
Grade Levels: 3-6

Genre: Poetry, Picture Book, Poetry, Biography, Nonfiction

Caldecott Medal Honor Book

Theme/Skill: It deals with Physicians, Poetry, and William Carlos Williams.  If focuses on the timeline and life of Williams, and the creation of poems through objects and things he encounters. 

Synopsis:  This book goes through the life of William Carlos Williams.  Willie, is a boy who grew up with a love for writing.  As he grew up he knew he had to earn a living and get a job. He went to medical school and became a physician where he helped everyone in town.  However, while he was a physician he made sure to keep on writing wherever he went inspired by many things he encountered. 

About the Author: Jen Bryant

 

 Jen Bryant grew up in a family of music lovers including her parents and grandfather.  She has always had a love and passion for books, especially fairy tales and folk tales.  Jen attended Gettysburg College where she met her husband, Neil Bryant and later married in June 1982.  She taught French and German in a Virginia High School until she moved back to Pennsylvania.  She decided to stop teaching full time and began to write nonfiction books after her daughter Leigh was born.  She began to develop a love for poetry and would meet numerous times throughout the month with a poet to discuss reading and writing poems.  Jen has published over 25 books for audiences’ of all ages including Georgia’s Bones, Abe’s Fish, Call Me Marianne, and Music for the End of Time.  The publication of her book, A River of Words, also won the Caldecott Medal Honor in 2009.  Jen continues to write poems, articles, and book reviews for literary magazines

Source used:  http://www.jenbryant.com/about/ab_jen01.html

About the Illustrator:  Melissa Sweet

Melissa Sweet has illustrated over 80 children’s books throughout her lifetime.  She has written and illustrated three books, including Tupelo Rides the Rails and Carmine: A Little More Red.  She has won many awards including the Caldecott Medal Honor for the book, A River of Words, in 2010.  In order to capture William Carlos Williams poetry, she made collages out of old book covers.  Melissa currently lives and works in Rockport, Maine with her family. 

Source used:www.eerdmans.com/youngreaders

Pre-Reading Activities:  To start the class, the teacher will read or play a tape of a poem by William Carlos Williams.  Then ask students if anyone knows who wrote the poem.  Then say that it was William Carlos Williams.  Create a KWL chart of what the students Know about him, What they Want to Know, and What they Learned (after reading the book).  Fill in the first two columns with the students with the teacher being the scribe.  Use a koosh ball to have children throw around to students with their hands raised to answer or give their thoughts.  Then after you find out what the children want to know about William Carlos Williams, read the book aloud.  

Poems to read:
This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Post-Reading Activities: 

First go back to the KWL chart that the students completed as a whole group together.  Look again at what students wanted to know.  Use the same technique in the pre-reading activity by using the koosh ball to have students answer.  See if they found out any of this information and jot it down in the last column (What they Learned).  Then ask students as well if there are any other things that they learned from the book too.  You can go back through the pages of the book if it may help to jog their memory more.  Ask specifically How did William Carlos Williams create his poems?  What did he use to help create his poems?  When the KWL chart is complete, tell students that they will now create a poem like William Carlos Williams did.  They will go on a walk around the school, where children will collect anything that inspires them.  They can take leaves, bottles, napkins, magazines, books, pictures, wall hangings, etc. that they see on their walk that inspires them to write about.  Then when they come back to the classroom they will create a poem of 5-7 lines that describes their objects.  They can write this poem on anything: paper, napkins, create a collage, etc.  whatever most inspires them.  They will present this to the class with some guidelines to follow.  See below.

When presenting to the class remember to:
1.  Identify which object inspired the poem.
2.  Explain what you wrote your poem about and why.
3.  Read the poem and tell what you thought of from looking at the object.
4. Say if it was easy or hard for you to complete this task.

Links to further information:
Activities

All poems

About William Carlos Williams

Reflection: I think that this book delivered the life of William Carlos Williams in a wonderful way.  I love the message behind it by inspiring students who read it that poetry can come from anything.  I think that this book will be great to use in classrooms because it is easy to understand, shows childrens ways to come up with poems, and doesn't make poetry something they are obligated to do in school.  I love how the illustrations use his poems to form the pictures in the background and use collages of words to exemplify his work.  Not only does the book deliver a story about his life but also includes his poems in the front and back cover which teachers can read to students.  It also has a timeline of his life and of events that occurred during his time to give children a historical perspective.  I think overall the creation of this book was brilliant and gave me, someone who doesn't like to write a poetry, a new love and meaning for it.