Poetry by Kids: Salting the Ocean

Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets
Selected by Naomi Shihab Nye
Illustrated by Ashley Bryan

Nye, Naomi Shihab, and Ashley Bryan. Salting the Ocean. New York, NY: HarperCollins World, 2001. 9780688161934

Plot Summary

One hundred poems written by young people touch on many subjects including the self and the inner world, where we live, anybody's family, and the wide imagination. Written in a variety of styles and lengths, each poem gives a glance into the inner workings of the young person's mind as they lay their thoughts down for all to enjoy and interpret in their own way. Spanning across twenty-five years, the poems were written by students from first grade to twelfth that grew up to be dentists, dancers, teachers, students and construction workers.

Analysis

Naomi Shihab Nye's selection of these one hundred poems is intriguing and thought-provoking. Not all of the poems have a clear flow or thought process and yet they all resonate with readers. She includes an author's note at the end of this book explaining how she collected the poems from a twenty-five year span of her involvement with children. There is a poem for everyone within this collection. The amateur nature of these poems is what gives them each their charm. They feel unpolished and yet perfect the way they are. There is innocence in the words and the in the way the words are splayed across the pages with the line breaks and white space. Some of the poems are hopeful, some have a feeling of despair. They serve as a window into the mind of each of the writers, giving readers a chance to understand the poets more intimately. Some of the poems are short, and some are long. One poem, from Rachel Moore, is even simply an excerpt from a longer poem.

Ashley Bryan's artwork is used to introduce the sections of this poetry collection, which are The Self and the Inner World, Where We Live, Anybody's Family, and the Wide Imagination. The rest of this book is simply white pages with black words. The pictures help illustrate the contents of each section and give readers a sense of what the section is about. The sections are made up of an overarching theme, grouping together poems that have similar feelings or ideas. Reading the poems for one section out loud would be a good exercise is exploring the differences in experience and how those differences can shape poetry.

Excerpt

    Sandra is like

    a flower.

    No one knows she

    dances with the wind and

    remembers

    about when she was just coming out

    of the ground.

-Sandra Perez

Connections

When reading the different sections out loud, give students some paper and pencils, and after selecting just a few poems to read from that section, let them sketch what they see in their mind as you are reading to them. Some of the poems in this book feature friends and family and lost pets. Having the students sketch what they see can be a good exercise is writing poetry about your own experiences. Sketching the poems as they see them in their mind can help students to explore the way the poetry paints a picture. After each person is finished with their sketch, see how each picture differs from one student to the next.

Reviews

Roger Sutton wrote a review for Horn Book Magazine saying, "Though some of the poems do occasionally catch fire ("My mother is a shell / and you can always hear / the ocean"), it's usually not for more than a line or two: "Finger in a star" makes for a lovely first line, but inspiration quickly lags in the twenty more that follow. Throughout the collection it is clear that children can think about and play with words to rich effect, and there's certainly merit in encouraging them to do so; what is seldom apparent is what readers are expected to gain from these less-than-revelatory efforts."

Sutton, Roger. 2000. “Salting the Ocean (Book Review) (Undetermined).” Horn Book Magazine 76 (4): 472. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.twu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=510107376&site=ehost-live.

Linda Zoppa with the School Library Journal wrote, "A unique and well-written collection . . . Consisting mainly of free verse, the collection is divided into four sections, each of which has approximately 25 poems. Bryan's vibrant tempera-paint illustrations open each section . . . Readers will enjoy her humor and enthusiasm, as well as the joy she expresses upon discovering that her efforts 25 years ago had, indeed, been successful."

Zoppa, Linda. 2000. “Salting the Ocean (Book Review) (Undetermined).” School Library Journal 46 (7): 120. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.twu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=510106556&site=ehost-live.