CITY I LOVE, Poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Illustrated by Marcellus Hall

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2009.  City I Love.  (Ill. M. Hall).  New York, NY: Abrams  ISBN 9780810983274

OVERVIEW AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This enjoyable collection of city-themed poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by  Marcellus Hall is sure to delight young and old. Hopkins celebrates the major cities of the world while Hall adds perspective and movement with his watercolor illustrations.  The poems do not explicitly name each featured city, but instead clues are provided in the carefully crafted phrases and illustrations that capture iconic scenes from each city.  Most of the selections are short and easy to read, making the poetry accessible to many types of readers.   

The pleasing rhymes and rhythms will engage the ear of the reader. Repetition is used in several poems for emphasis.  The format of the text on the page reinforces the movement, energy and excitement in several poems.  Stair-stepped text, single rows of vertical text and intentional use of white space are some of the ways that Hopkins signals points of emphasis.   

Using everyday experiences, Hopkins makes the poems come alive with many examples of figurative language.  Personification is used to bring the sounds and moods of the city life.  The New York City subways in “Sing A Song of Cities” seem to speak out to the passerby. 

       “Sing a song of cities.

        If you do,

        Cities will sing back to you.

        They’ll sing in subway roars and rumbles,

        People-laughs, machine-loud grumbles”

The use of simile in “Kite” has the reader practically dipping and bobbing with the kite as it blows in the wind.

  “New Kite

blue-white

flitters

twirls

tumbles

twitters

like a young bird in new morning’s

        wide-awake

        city

        sky”

Readers will enjoy looking for the tan dog, ready to travel with his backpack, and a colorful bluebird, apparently not wanting to miss a thing, that show up in each scene.  Their presence creates a sense of playfulness, challenging the reader to look carefully into each scene to locate them.  Dog and bird are both showcased front and center in many scenes, and then are more obscure and hidden in other scenes. 

Hall has created simple illustrations that support and extend the text.  The illustrations fill both single and double page spreads.  The simple line drawings and the use of muted colors create distinctive city scenes.  Many illustrations show movement and motion as evidenced in the floating gondola in Italy, a flying kite in Cairo and the streets of New Orleans filled with music. 

Various perspectives are used to provide different points of view.  An aerial view of NYC will leave the reader feeling like a bird.  Looking up at the towering Shanghai skyscrapers creates a sense of smallness in contrast to the high rises.  The Golden Gate Bridge seems to go on to the end of the earth and the subway in Mexico City gives the reader the sense of standing in a crowded car surrounded by locals. A map on the end pages of the book identifies the location of each city, helping the reader orient himself to each famous place. Well-crafted poetry and engaging illustrations create a unified theme of world travel.  This collection provides a quality experience with poetry for children of all ages.  

SPOTLIGHT ON A POEM

Tokyo, Japan is the focus for the poem titled “City Lights.” It is easy to feel the excitement of one of the world’s largest cities when reading Hopkins' poem.  The illustrations show off the flashing billboards and lights of the city. 

“Blazing lights

flicker

flash

glitter

twinkle

sparkle

bedazzle

beam

so

brilliantly

bright

         Reasons

         why

         city

         stays

         awake

         all

         night.”

IN THE CLASSROOM

Introduce this poem by reading it aloud several times and then show students video footage of the Ginza district in Tokyo, showing both the day and the night.  Allow students time to talk about their impressions of this bustling, billboarded and brightly lit part of Tokyo.  Encourage students to talk about places they have visited that were filled with lights, challenge them to describe their memories.  Challenge them to contrast light filled experiences with a time they were in a very dark place with little or no light at all.  As a class or with partners have the students create descriptive word lists about their own experiences.  Have students discuss the way that Hopkins uses vivid verbs, encourage them to think of their own vivid verbs to describe either a brightly lit experience or an unusually dark one.  Allow time for sharing at the end of the lesson.  

EXTENSIONS

Lee Bennett Hopkins is a prolific writer. Bring a collection of his titles to the classroom so the students can read many of his poems.  Students could be encouraged to collect their own favorite top ten Hopkins poems in a journal and to memorize one or more of them.  Allow students to create original illustrations for a favorite poem.  Use selected poems from City I Love as an excellent mentor text to use in teaching about poetry writing. The Lee Bennett Hopkins website is a great source of information about the poet and his books.  http://www.leebennetthopkins.com.