Review: What the heart knows: Chants, charms, and blessings

Sidman, J. WHAT THE HEART KNOWS: CHANTS, CHARMS, AND BLESSINGS. 2013. New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780544106161. 

Sidman, J. WHAT THE HEART KNOWS: CHANTS, CHARMS, AND BLESSINGS. 2013. Ill. By Pamela Zagarenski. New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780544106161. 

This brand new book of poems by Newbery Honor winner Joyce Sidman is magical. I was able to hear Sidman read from this book at the Texas Library Association Conference on April 11th. I was able to meet her and get this book signed! This book was published in 2013, and is a truly joyful book of poetry with beautiful, unique illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski. 

Sidman wrote a wonderful author’s note to the readers, featured at the beginning of the book. This note helps readers to understand why she chose to write the various poems in this collection. The book is divided into the following four sections: chants and charms, spells and invocations, laments and remembrances, and praise songs and blessings. The beautiful illustrations by Zagarenski add life to the poems. The illustrations were made using mixed media painting on wood, and computer illustration.

In all, there are twenty-nine poems which vary in style, form and rhyme scheme. Sidman’s poems a myriad of different feelings, whether that is happiness, despair, mourning, thanks, praise or remembrance. Sidman is a well-known and well-loved author and poet, and these poems will delight any reader. I was able to share this book with some seventh grade students and they loved reading the poems aloud to each other. 

Two of the poems are in the ubit sunt style, while one poem is a triolet. These poems function on a precise form and rhyme scheme, so it would be fun to have readers create their own triolets and ubit sunt poems. According to The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, the triolet is a French verse form of eight lines, with the first two lines of the poem repeated as the last two lines (p. 489). Also, the fourth line is the same as the first line. This unique form presents a great opportunity for young readers to try creating their own triolets, in the school or public library setting. 

The ubi sunt verse form comes from the Latin words meaning “where are”, and is often used to lament the loss of people, things or ideas of the past (Murfin and Ray, 2003, p. 491).  This style would also be fun to have readers create their own ubi sunt poems, after reading Sidman’s “Lament for Teddy”:

Where is that softest of bedfellows,

whose battered nose hung askew?

Whose slack head lolled

but whose eyes sang through the dark

to buttress my dreams?

Whose tongue lapped the lint

of many beds?

Whose scent swallowed all nightmares?

Whose balding ears drank in

secrets and wonderings,

passion and venom equally

without a shiver?

Whose fur unfurred,

whose plush unplushed,

whose thread of claws

spindled and popped,

all in service to this queen?

Where is the one

whose mute love followed me

all the days of my life?

The one I boxed up and packed away?

The one I thought I didn’t need?

The one I felt

      I had outgrown?

(Sidman, 35)

This poem is powerful! A parent, teacher or librarian working with middle-school age readers could introduce this poem by explaining what an ubi sunt actually is. The adult could ask readers to think of songs or other media (TV shows, movies, games, etc.) that they think qualify as an ubi sunt.

This poem lends itself to using the refrain style of sharing poetry aloud. The adult can read the poem once aloud and then have the children read it silently to themselves. After that, the children could read the poem aloud with a partner, and then the whole group could join in and read aloud the words and phrases: where, whose, and the one. After the reading aloud, the readers could work with a partner or a team to create an ubi sunt together, perhaps about multiple people, ideas or objects.

Bibliography
Murfin, Ross, and Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. 2003.

What the heart knows. GIF. Retrieved from http://www.hmhco.com/shop/books/What-the-Heart-Knows/9780544106161#