This is Just to Say

Bibliography

Sidman, J., & Zagarenski, P. (2014). This is just to say: Poems of apology and forgiveness. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Plot Summary

When Mrs. Merz asks her sixth grade class to write poems of apology, they end up liking their poems so much that they decide to put them together into a book. Not only that, but they get the people to whom they apologized to write poems back.

In haiku, pantoums, two-part poems, snippets, and rhymes, Mrs. Merz's class writes of crushes, overbearing parents, loving and losing pets, and more. Some poets are deeply sorry; some not at all. Some are forgiven; some are not. In each pair of poems reveals a relationship, a connection – between sisters, brothers, father and son, teacher and student, and best friend.

Critical Analysis

This book has a mixture of poem structures, but the most obvious to children would be those of free verse. Simply because of the absence of rhyming words. However, the words and tone of each poem have a more lyrical feel to them. Many emotions come through in the poet’s words that will either portray true remorse, or the lack thereof. “Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so gloppy, too bad the powdered sugar spilled all over my shirt and gave me away,” in this case, the poet is not sincerely sorry for eating the doughnuts. Or in these lines, “So I raised my hand and made that comment about your dress” which shows how a typical student will sometimes say too much, not realizing how bad it sounds. Yet later in the poem saying, “I notice your not wearing that dress anymore. Green is not good on you, anyway” which just goes to show that she wasn’t really sorry for saying what she said.
The word choice in each poem takes the tone of different children thinking through their mistakes. And the illustrations included with each poem mimic the child-like images that come forth through the words in the poems.

Review Excerpt

Booklist (May 15, 2007 (Vol. 103, No. 18))
The quirky illustrations, created with a variety of media, collage, and computer graphics, give a lighthearted feel to the anthology. The fictional authors of the poems are featured in various activities relating to the subject of the poems and provide a very pleasant balance to the text. Children will find much to identify with in the situations presented in the apology poems, and they'll appreciate the resolutions given in the responses.
Kirkus Reviews (March 15, 2007)
Packed with the intensity of everyday pain and sorrow, kids and adults exchange the words that convey grief, delight, love and acceptance of themselves and others. (Poetry. 8-12)
Library Media Connection (November/December 2007)
Each school library could benefit from adding this wonderful book of poems to its collection. Recommended. 

Awards

•        Claudia Lewis Poetry Award
•         Cybils Poetry Award
•         Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book
•         School Library Journal 
•         Best Book of the Year
•         IRA Teacher's Choice Book
•         New York Public Library's "100 Titles for Reading and Sharing"
•         Book Links Lasting Connection Book

Connections

•        Have each student choose his or her own past incident to write about. It can be from years ago, or yesterday. The important thing is to write the poem so that the reader understands exactly why the writer did what he/she did. Include: sensory details from the incident, and feelings before and after.

•         Read “What Girls Want” (page 36) with your class. Flip back to “Not Really” (page 18) and discuss why Maria wrote what she did in response to Bobby’s poem. Write a few lines of a poem entitled “What Teachers Want” on the board, perhaps with students making suggestions. Brainstorm themes for other list poems with your students: What Boys Want, What Dogs Want, What Kids Want, What Baseball Players Want, etc. Have each student pick their own topic for a list poem, expressing their own thoughts and wishes.