Bibliographic Information: Selected by Paul B. Janeczko, “The Place My Words Are Looking For”, Published by Bradbury Press, ©1990, 150 pages
Genre: Poetry
Summary: The book includes poems from 39 poets. The poets explain why they wrote the poems. It includes a lot of personal situations. Janeczko included the thoughts of the authors of the poems to better help people understand the poems.
Tags: Children, Helping
My Response: I liked the fact that this book included thoughts from the poets. It makes it easier to understand the poems. It also helps to write poems with an understanding of what they think about when they write.

I like this collection, because it puts the readers (my 7th and 8th grade students included) mind at ease as far as attempting to write poetry themselves . Many of the poems are whimsical and short, and I share them with my students as they are working on their own poetry projects. Consider the following example by Margaret Hillerten titled "Puzzled."
I took a sip of lemon pop
And then a sip of lime,
A little orange soda, too,
A swallow at a time.
Some grape came next and cherry red,
And then I almost cried.
How could my stomach feel so bad
With rainbows down inside?
Then there's the one by Karla Kuskin. She writes about a radish because too many people write about the moon.
The last line reads "A radish rises in the waiting sky."
This is a fun collection for all ages. ( )

I like this collection, because it puts the readers mind at ease as far as attempting to write poetry oneself. Many of the poems are whimsical and short. Consider the following example by Margaret Hillerten titled "Puzzled".
I took a sip of lemon pop
And then a sip of lime,
A little orange soda, too,
A swallow at a time.
Some grape came next and cherry red,
And then I almost cried.
How could my stomach feel so bad
With rainbows down inside?
Then there's the one by Karla Kuskin. She writes about a radish because too many people write about the moon. The last line reads "A radish rises in the waiting sky."
This is a fun collection for all ages. ( )

“The Place My Words Are Looking For: What Poets Say About and Through Their Work” selected by Paul B. Janeczko is a 145 pages of poetry. The poems all deal with actual life events/activities like skateboarding, collecting baseball cards, decorating for a wedding, Valentine’s Day, etc…
I will have to say that I did not like some of the poems in the book. I am a big fan of poetry but it has to grab my attention and some of them did not. I did however; enjoy the majority of them. I do think that these poems are for the older children, more into the 4th grade and up.
I really think that children should be exposed to poetry every day. This poetry book can be used for extensions by reading one to two poems each day at the beginning of the day and then at the end of the day having the students write down a few sentences saying what the meaning is behind the poem. ( )