"Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About the Greek Myths" by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josee Masse

Singer, Marilyn. Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About the Greek Myths. Illustrated by Josee Masse. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2016. Print.

Image from:
Dial Books for Young Readers

It's National Poetry Month.  So I was thrilled to see Marilyn Singer's new collection of poetry, Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About the Greek Myths, on the desk of the children's section of the library.  In fact, I did my best Phoebe Buffay impression and mentally yelled, 'POETRY!!!' when I saw it.  (Thanks, Dr. Vardell!)  I raced to check it out before anyone else could.

Singer created a form of poetry called "reverso."  It's the same poem, but written backward.   Singer basically writes one poem, then flips it upside down.  It drastically changes the tone, which allows Singer to show two sides of a story.  For example, the last poem in the book, "Gods and Mortals," goes a little something like this:

         These myths
         make sense of
         the world.
         We --
         tellers and listeners alike --
         enter these portals to
         gods and mortals.
         They can never again be closed,
         once our imaginations are opened.

        Once our imaginations are opened,
        they can never again be closed.
        Gods and mortals
        enter these portals to
        tellers and listeners alike.
        We,
        the world,
        make sense of
        these myths (Singer 24).

It's quite amazing to see how something as simple as changing a punctuation mark can subtly change the entire tone of the poem.  I can't even begin to imagine the amount of work Singer put into these poems.  Superficially, they look simple.  Then you read them.  Each word, each line, is crafted with exquisite care to ensure that the poem makes sense both directions.  It really does make you consider just how much work it takes to write just one of these poems.

Singer doesn't go for a consistent rhyme scheme in her poems, but when she does choose to utilize one, it draws attention to a specific set of lines.  In "Pandora and the Box" the few lines that do rhyme give the lines an extra bit of weight.  The first/last three lines, "Oh, how humans are weak! / 'Don't peek,' /  when a god speaks" come crashing down like a thunderclap from Zeus himself due the rhyming final words in each line (Singer 3).  She also rhymes the lines that point to Zeus' role in Pandora's story, but yet he escapes unscathed, while poor Pandora lives in infamy.  In "King Midas and His Daughter," Singer chooses to write, "so needy / so greedy" as a way to shine the spotlight on what was both Midas' triumph and downfall, as well as his daughter's longing for a loving touch, when he inadvertently turned her into gold (7).

Singer also structures her poems so that a line is made up of a single word.  In "Pandora and the Box" the word "alone" appears by itself, just after/before the line, "holding on to hope." (Singer 3).  In the first iteration of the poem, having "alone" come hard on the heels of "hope" illustrates the concept that the only thing left in the box was hope.  In the second version of the poem, "alone" precedes the phrase "holding on to hope," giving a powerful image of Pandora standing all by herself in the face of contempt, but still hanging on to hope.  Again, the structure demonstrates just how Singer is able to switch tones just by changing the order of the lines.  It's a concept illustrated well in "Icarus and Daedalus" where the switch from elation (Icarus) to sorrow (Daedalus) leaps off the page.  In "Narcissus and Echo" Singer's use of single word lines evokes an echo reverberating off the pages.

Singer doesn't employ flights of figurative language fancy in Echo Echo and generally stays away from metaphor and simile.  She does use her language well, choosing adjectives with care.  It creates wry turns of phrase in "Perseus and Medusa" when she muses that anyone would be "scared stiff. / Petrified indeed" to face Medusa (Singer 9).  The mirroring of phrasing between the idea of being petrified with fear and being actually petrified into stone makes a reader who catches such things smile. The classification on the verso title page might say juvenile poetry, but there's plenty of layers for adult readers to appreciate.

Josee Masse's illustrations are simply gorgeous.  Done with acrylic paints, the saturated blues and greens can take you away from a dreary grey day to a sun-drenched Grecian shore.  Often the drawings show both sides of the story, to great effect.  I really enjoyed the illustration that accompanied "Demeter and Persephone."  Masse divides the page into four panels, the top half representing earth, while the bottom half --  naturally -- represents the Underworld.  The top left shows Demeter with Persephone, while the top right shows Demeter during winter.  The bottom left shows Hades, bereft of the company of Persephone, and in the bottom right, his obvious joy at having his wife with him.  Masse also draws Persephone with careful attention to detail.  She's obviously happy to see her mother, but she doesn't seem to be overjoyed about it.  Conversely, Persephone seems positively miserable with Hades.  It's a complicated illustration.  Masse also draws Persephone as the source of light and warmth in both the earth and the Underworld.  The illustration for "Narcissus and Echo" features not only Narcissus, but the flower named for him, but also a ghostly outline of the girl who loved him, Echo, that fades into ripples of sound that expand through the entire drawing.

There's no table of contents because this is a pretty short book.  There are also no page numbers, which would have been helpful.  Singer does include a brief summary of the myth that inspired the poem at the bottom of the page that contains the poems.  She also suggests a few of the usual mythology sources: Mythology by Edith Hamilton and Bullfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable.  Those would be great sources if you want to read the myths Singer used for inspiration.  Rick Riodan, of Percy Jackson fame, has also published a book in which Percy Jackson offers his take on the Greek myths from Aphrodite to Zeus, which would be a better option for kids who have been lead to Greek myths through Rick Riordan's books.

I would highly recommend this book, not just for the poetry, although the poetry is really well done.  The book as a whole is terrific.  It's a great way to further examine the Greek myths or use to introduce them in a classroom setting.

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Works Cited

Singer, Marilyn. Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About the Greek Myths. Illustrated by Josee Masse. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2016. Print.

"The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane" by C. M. Millen, Illustrated by Andrea Wisnewski (LS 5663)

Millen, C. M. 2010. The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane. Illustrated by Andrea Wisnewski. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

ISBN: 978-1-58089-179-0

Cover image from
www.charlesbridge.com

The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane by C. M. Millen is a gentle romp through a medieval Irish monastery, where the titular Brother Theophane feels constrained by the monotonous routine of copying books, when he longs to find a glimmer of joy in his work, whether it's in the antics of the birds that he feeds on the windowsill of the scriptorium or the beauty of sunlight flickering through the leaves of the trees.  Theophane rather reminded me of Maria frolicking through an Austrian mountainside.  This impression is only reinforced by Andrea Wisnewski's beautifully rendered papercut print and watercolor illustrations that give Theophane an impish twinkle in his eye and an unabashedly joyous smile at even something as simple as burstingly ripe blackberries.  The poetry and illustrations combine to form a cohesive work, and it's no surprise to find that The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane won the 2011 Lee Bennett Hopkins Award.

Theophane is a young monk in the monastery of Mourne.  Unlike the other monks, who march in a stately line, Theophane often skips his way through the day, pilfering bits of his breakfast bread to give to the birds, taking a moment of his day to pause and gaze out the window.  Theophane isn't quite suited to sitting still, copying works of literature, science, and theology, so the senior monk attempts to find a place in the monastery where Theophane's exuberance will be a help and not a hindrance.  Sent to make the ink the brothers will use to make their copies, Theophane experiments with the colors he sees in nature: the juice of ripe berries, roots, flowers, and leaves.  Theophane spends a night carefully crafting works of art around the written words in the brothers' manuscripts, creating an illuminated manuscript.

While this is a technically a poetry picture book, every so often, Millen punctuates the events of the poetry with a few lines of poetry in the voice of Theophane, adapted from the poems found in the margins and scribbled on scraps of parchment written by the Irish monks.  In an author's note Millen (2010) states that those bits and pieces of poetry, written by the monks, were curated and translated by Thomas Kinsella into The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse (30).  One could easily separate the poetry from the drawings, and study it on its own.  The snippets of poetry written by actual monks is a nice touch.  They take the idea of two-dimensional historical figures, and with Millen's (and Theophane's) help, turn them into people with which a reader might identify.  Every schoolchild, from Kindergarten to grade 12 knows how it feels to gaze out of a classroom window at the sunny scene outside.  Older (adult) readers will appreciate Theophane's sentiments upon leaving their labors to to enjoy a spring afternoon: "As he opened the door / a breeze kissed his brow / and removed every trace / of Theophane's frown" (Millen 2010, 15).  Millen easily transitions from the narrative into Theophane's poems by using Theophane's actions and thoughts to "inspire" them.  Despite the subject matter and setting, Millen (2010) keeps the religious aspects to a minimum, with a single poem praising God for the abundance of colors in nature (22).

Millen writes the poem with a rhythm that mimics a young child skipping across a field, swinging their lunchbox.  It's actually a quite good reflection of Theophane's personality.  The rhythm is just on this side of descending into a sing-song rhythm, and is readily apparent from the very first lines:

In the mountains of Mourne,
up twisted old bends,
past blackberry brambles
and ancient wood glens,
there stood a tall tower --
a circle of stone (Millen 2010, 1).

Millen uses a rhyme scheme, but it's quite sporadic in that that second and fourth lines rhyme, but the first and third don't.  It breaks up the rhyming in such a way so that it prevents the rhythm of the poem from going into that sing-songy style.  Millen's word choice is strong enough that she doesn't need to use rhyme to establish the rhythm.

One of Millen's most effective phrases is the repetition of "simple brown _____" when describing the life of the monks.  She first invokes it on the very first page, talking about monks wearing "simple brown robes,  / filling simple brown books, / eating simple brown bread, / and saying their prayers / by their simple brown beds" (Millen 2010, 1).  Just two words inform the reader of the static consistency of the routine of the monastery.  Millen doesn't use a great deal of figurative language, but every so often she uses a bit of personification,  such as when she describes the breeze kissing Theophane's brow.  The strength of Millen's language lies in the adjectives and verbs she chooses to describe Theophane, his actions, and the environment.  She juxtaposes Theophane's outward appearance with his internal burst of emotion when the senior brother sends him out of the scriptorium: "Theophane solemnly / slid from his chair, / laid down his pen, / and skipped down the stairs" (Millen 2010, 11).  Theophane's joy is short-lived, because Millen (2010) instantly sends him down into a room

at the pit of the tower,
down where the ink
was made over a fire, 

.................................... 

Sweating and sleepy,
thirsty and tired,
Theophane toiled
all night at the pyre. (13)

The alliteration in "sweating and sleepy" and "thirsty and tired" make those two lines stand out from the others, illustrating just how different the room where Theophane makes ink is from the scriptorium.  The poetry does an excellent job of depicting Theophane's personality.  Anyone who falls flat on their face when they've tripped, but laughs with pleasure sounds like an optimistic sort of person.

Wisnewski's artwork is reminiscent of woodcuts, with their thick, heavy outlines.  The colors she used are vivid, but slightly muted, keeping in the gentle overall tone of the book.  The drawings are wonderfully detailed, so that the reader can see the striations on the surface of leaves and flower petals.  Wisnewski also illuminates the text of the poem, surround each page of text with Celtic knotwork motifs, flowers, vines, or blackberry brambles.  She nicely contrasts the browns and greys of the monastery with the varied greens, purples, reds, and yellows of the outdoors.  Wisnewski  draws the monks so they do resemble one another.  Theophane, however, is drawn as a much younger man with a playful smile that leaps off the page.

In the Author's Note at the end of the book, Millen briefly recounts the role of Irish monasteries in preserving ancient Greek, Roman, and Arabic scholastic and literary works.  She describes some of the methods the monks used to make colored inks, and also mentions the Book of Kells, one of more famous examples of an illustrated manuscript.  Millen provides a short list of additional books and websites that discuss the history of illustrated manuscripts and how to make your own ink from plants.  The book does lack page numbers, but it's not a major deterrent to a reader at all, considering it's essentially single poem.

This is such a lovely book.  It might not appeal to younger readers, but students studying the Middle Ages might enjoy it as part of an enrichment activity.  Art history and art students might also like it, especially as an introduction to a unit of medieval art and illuminated manuscripts.  The book's theme that everyone has their place in the world shines through without being heavy-handed or ham-fisted.  Theophane is a nonconformist through and through, but he chooses to be proactive about trying to find where he fits into the world of the monastery and still retain his sense of joy in the world, rather than trying to force the monastery to mold itself to him.

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Spotlight on...

He sliced and he slivered,
he grated and chopped,
preparing the plants
to be boiled in pots. 

"Weld blooms bring orange,
cabbage leaves, green.
The more madder I get,
the redder it seems. 

"The buckthorn turns golden,
while woad leaves turn blue,
and bilberries spill
very bright violet hues. 

"And from the wee crocus
such a strong yellow shade."
Theophane smiled
at the rainbow he'd made.  (Millen 2010, 21)

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I would use this book to introduce a unit about illuminated manuscripts in an advanced art class.  Students would either write their own original poems (subjects up to the students) or bring in a favorite poem.  They would then illuminate it, based on what they've learned about illuminated manuscripts.  Students can choose to either type their poem into a Word document and choose a calligraphic font or learn how to write in calligraphy and physically hand-write the poem.  Students can use ready-made inks or paints to illuminate the poems.  If they're so inclined, they can try their hand at making ink using organic substances (flowers, berries, plants), like Theophane.  They can use the resources listed at the end of the book to start their research.

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Works Cited

Millen, C. M. 2010. The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane. Illustrated by Andrea Wisnewski. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

'All the World's a Stage' edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Guy Billout (LS 5663)

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, ed. 2013. All the World's a Stage. Illustrated by Guy Billout. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions.

ISBN: 987-1-56846-218-9

Photo of cover by L. Propes

All the World's a Stage is a compilation of twenty-one short poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins that relate in some way to one of the seven ages of man, as described in the famous "All the World's a Stage" speech from William Shakespeare's play As You Like It.  The book is divided into seven parts, each linked to one of the ages of man detailed in the speech: "the infant... the whining school-boy... the lover... a soldier..." middle age, the beginnings of old age, and finally one who is elderly and infirm.  Three poems, each by a different poet, illustrate or expand upon each age.  The poems are sparsely accompanied with whimsical drawings by Guy Billout, with about two drawings per age.  The poets represented on the pages range from well known nineteenth-century poets like Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Walt Whitman to more modern poets like J. Patrick Lewis and Janet S. Wong.  Bennett includes other less-well known (at least to me) poets like Madeleine Comora and Joan Bransfield Graham.

Bennett and Billout introduce each age with a two-page illustration that depicts the age in question with a quote from the "All the World's a Stage" monologue.  The illustrations feature the "one man in his time" -- a baby crawling across the floor, investigating the space, a soldier sitting under a tree, with his head resting on his drawn-up knees, clearly exhausted, and an old man with a cane in the exact same room as the baby in the first drawing, representing the cyclical nature of life as laid out in Shakespeare's monologue.  Some of the drawings with the poems themselves are specific to the theme of one of the poems, and others do more to capture the mood of age.

Photo of Billout drawing by L. Propes

The majority of the poems won't necessarily appeal to a young audience, despite the picture book format of the book.  Some of the poems will appeal to younger audiences, but a librarian or teacher needs to choose carefully.  "You and Me" by Rebecca Kai Dotlich touches on a common experience with children when their parents bring home a new baby brother or sister.  "Now" by Prince Redcloud will appeal to all students, with its brief, but poignant, lamentation that summer is ending and school will begin soon, especially at the beginning of the school year.  Most of the poems will, with a thoughtful introduction, appeal to some middle grade students and many high school students.  Some of the themes, especially as the "man in his time" ages, might be too mature for some middle grades, and yet, some middle grade students might understand it perfectly.  Again, it is incumbent on the teacher and/or librarian to carefully consider their audience and choose the poems to share accordingly.

Photo of Billout drawing by L. Propes

The poems touch on a variety of subjects: the thrill of a first touch by a crush, a father's elation at finally leaving a combat zone to see his new baby daughter, the loneliness of an old woman during the holidays, and ageing in general.  The poems are all excellent expansions of the themes of the "All the World's a Stage" monologue and rarely wallow in sentiment, unless the mood behind poem calls for it.  Overall, the poems also present a wide range of moods -- somber, exasperated, loving, contemplative.  The poems are generally fairly short, but they offer students a chance to expand their figurative language skills.  The poem "Years" by Cynthia Cotten, in particular allows teachers to provide easily digestible examples of figurative language, such as comparing the memories of an elderly person to fluttering butterflies.  "Take a Lump of Clay" by Kuan Tao-Sheng compares a married couple to statues that have been broken to pieces, the shards mixed together, and combined into statues once more, this time made up of bits of each other.  Some of the poems have a more meditative quality than others, but other poems, like "Winter Rabbit" by Madeleine Comora which portrays a child's first experience with death, have an emotional impact that is quiet on the surface, but gives a reader the opportunity to explore the emotional depths underneath.  Some of the poems make good use of rhythm to emphasize certain lines or highlight a specific mood, which is seen best in "Eighty-Eight" by Lee Bennett Hopkins.  Hopkins skillfully uses pauses to illustrate the bleakness of the old woman's situation as she celebrates a lonely Christmas.  The pauses in "Now" coupled with short sentences and a staccato rhythm reflect the inevitable sadness of the end of summer and the beginning of school.

The book contains several access features for ease of use.  It has a table of contents and three indices where a reader can look up poets by author, title, or first line.

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Spotlight On...


"Memory Trees" by Kate Coombs

It started when she was a girl
and the neighbour boy died in France.
My great-aunt planted a tree
In memory of her friend, Lance.

Photo of Billout drawing by L. Propes

"Every time I turn around,"
she says, "there's another war.
Grace just lost her grandson,
and I know there'll be more."

My great-aunt has an orchard.
To me all the trees look the same.
But she touches every trunk we pass
and tells me each one's name.

(2013, 20)
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All three of the poems in the section titled "Act Four: War" are actually perfect for use with Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day, but "Memory Trees" is the best one out of the three.  I would introduce the poem by asking students how we remember soldiers who have died, and hopefully the students will make the connections to Veteran's Day/Remembrance Day ceremonies and tangible reminders of soldiers and others that have lost their lives in times of conflict (the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., the cenotaph in Victory Square in downtown Vancouver, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, for example).

I would next read the poem once and give the students a few minutes to think about it, then read it a few more times.  I would give the students a few minutes to reflect on the poem, perhaps jotting down a few thoughts in a journal.

As an activity, I would ask the students to think about how they remember people in their lives who have died or live far away.  It can be a family member or a close friend.  The students would then write a poem (format of their choice) that reflects it.  The poem needs to clearly reflect how and what the students do to remember someone special to them.  An example of this could include a poem about baking a grandmother's signature pie recipe or the event behind a photo with a best friend who lives far away.  If the class wanted, they could use a Web 2.0 tool like Storybird to compile their poems into a book.

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Coombs, Kate. 2013. "Memory Trees." All the World's a Stage. Edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins. Illustrated by Guy Billout, 20. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions.