Brown Girl Dreaming
This is an absolute magnificent piece of writing. But I had doubts when I started it; written in free verse, not necessarily my favorite type of reading. I absolutely hate poetry. It frustrates me because I feel like I can never understand the meaning that the author wants us to see through their words.
I only see the concrete, basic meaning–which never makes sense to me in the first place. Reading poetry I feel dumb. I feel like everyone else gets it and I don’t.
But with that in mind, don’t let your hatred for poetry stop you, this book can (and should) be read by everyone. This is a history lesson, told through the eyes of a young girl, what she experienced, what she thought, and how it shaped her life.
Free verse was the perfect way to tell this story. All the poems are short and beautifully written. It was such an easy read and I didn’t want it to end. It’s hard to find any fault with Brown Girl Dreaming. Read it, you will love it.
While poetry is not my favorite, I do think that it is important. I think that I would like it more if my teachers would have touched on it more. I went through almost all of elementary, middle, and high school reading only a couple poems–only because it was the “poetry unit.” Poetry shouldn’t be its own unit, I think that it should be incorporated into every subject and can be very helpful. Using content knowledge from other subject areas to create our own poetry is the best route to making it apart of our permanent record.
I think one of the easiest poetry types to create are Haikus–in elementary schools it may be the best one to start out with. I created a lesson/powerpoint in a previous class of how to introduce haikus and incorporate it into a classroom:
CENTO: Lines created from Brown Girl Dreaming and other book titles from our classroom
I believe in one day
and someday
and this perfect moment called
now
If you catch a dandelion puff
you can make a wish
Is there any way that two people
from far away places
can ever really understand each other’s daydreams?
Stop daydreaming, my mother says
We have a right to walk and sit
and dream whenever we want
One Reply to “Brown Girl Dreaming”
Sorry I didn’t comment sooner! I forgot my password and Kim just reset it today. Anyways, I’m glad you enjoyed your book I wish I read this one instead of Monster. I totally agree with you on the whole poetry sucking thing because it does. Poetry is so confusing I need more content than just a few lines to grasp a true sense of a story. I like to know all the tiny little details and poetry rarely gives you that. With that being said, I love your poem its great! It makes so much more sense than mine. :)