Richie's Picks: LOCOMOTION by Jacqueline Woodson

POETRY POEM
You don't just get to write a poem once
You gotta write it over and over and over
until it feels real good to you
And sometimes it does
and sometimes it doesn't
That's what's really great
and really stupid
about poetry.
One lunchtime presentation at NCTE that I won't soon forget was listening to Jacqueline Woodson read extensively from her latest book, LOCOMOTION:

MAMA
Some days, like today
and yesterday and probably
tomorrow--all my missing gets jumbled up inside of me.

You know honeysuckle talc powder?
Mama used to smell like that. She told me
honeysuckle's really a flower but all I know
is the powder that smells like Mama.
Sometimes when the missing gets real bad
I go to the drugstore and before the guard starts
following me around like I'm gonna steal something
I go to the cosmetics lady and ask her if she has it.
When she says yeah, I say
Can I smell it to see if it's the right one?
Even though the cosmetics ladies roll their eyes at me
they let me smell it.
And for those few seconds, Mama's alive
again.
And I'm remembering
all kinds of good things about her like
the way she laughed at my jokes
even when they were dumb
and the way she sometimes just grabbed me
and hugged me before
I had a chance to get away.
And the way her voice always sounded good
and bad at the same time when she was singing
in the shower.
And her red pocketbook that always had some
tangerine Life Savers inside it for me and Lili

No, I say to the cosmetics lady. It's not the right one.
And then I leave fast.
Before somebody asks to check my pockets
which are always empty 'cause I don't steal.

Now, I'm somebody who likes to have a book in my hands, rather than on tape, but Jacki Woodson's reading enveloped me in Lonnie's story; LOCOMOTION was the first book I grabbed when I got home yesterday.

"Everybody's doing a brand new dance now
Come on baby, do the Locomotion
I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance now
Come on baby, do the locomotion
My little baby sister can do it with ease
It's easier than learning your abc's
So, come on. come on, do the locomotion with me"
--Gerry Goffin & Carole King

LOCOMOTION is a verse novel in which Woodson tells the story of Lonnie Collins Motion (Get it?) who is eleven. He was lucky to survive his premature birth, and then saw his world devastated at seven when his parents were killed in a fire. Next, he is separated from his beloved little sister, Lili. All by himself, Lonnie suffered through the group home ordeal until coming to live with Miss Edna. With the help of his new foster mom, his inspiring teacher, Ms. Marcus, and the poetry through which he reveals his story, Lonnie begins healing from the trauma he's been enduring. There are good friends at school (one who's even a girl), a new big brother, and a regular schedule of visiting with Lili. Life's not all Disneyland, but Lonnie's a survivor who has made the most of his small share of good luck.

PIGEON
People all the time talking about how much they hate pigeons 'cause pigeons fly by and crap on their heads and then somebody always says That's good luck! That's good luck! so you don't feel all stupid going through your pockets tryna find a tissue to wipe it off and you never find one 'cause you don't be carrying tissues like an old lady so you gotta walk up to some old lady with that pigeon crap on your head and ask her for a tissue and she just goes Don't worry, that's good luck like everybody else and it makes you hate those sky roaches 'cause they're everywhere in the city so you better duck if they fly over your head or else... ( )

Lonnie, a foster child, writes poems that explore death, school, family, and feeling different. This would be an excellent book for middle school readers and writers. Locomotion is a perfect resource for children in the foster care system or who have hard lives at home. School counselors or social workers could use Lonnie's struggles as a starting place for discussion. ( )

Woodson, J. (2003). Locomotion. New York: SPEAK.

Locomotion consists of the poems written by eleven-year-old Lonnie, who is living in a foster home, separated from his sister. Through his poems, Lonnie works to rediscover his voice, his home and his family.

Also central to Lonnie’s story is his relationship with his teacher, Ms. Marcus. Since she is a white teacher working in a predominantly black urban school, a teacher could introduce a discussion of race, stereotypes, whiteness and issues of power.

Other issues present include subtle discussions of the Iraq War as well as initial exploration of faith in God.

Activities to do with the book:

Since Lonnie’s poems reference the work of Langston Hughes and Richard Wright, this National Book Award finalist lends itself to discussions of poets and writing. Lonnie often makes comments about the structures of his poems and would be a great entry point for a teacher to discuss poetic forms.

One of Lonnie’s classmates has Sickle Cell Anemia, so the book could be used to trigger a discussion of genetics. Also, while announcing that Sickle Cell Anemia affects African American, Woodson points out that a white teacher is saying this to a predominantly black class, so this could also lead to an early discussion of race and power relations within the classroom environment and beyond.

Favorite Quotes

“…the ideas in my
head go out like a candle and all you see left is this little
string of smoke that disappears real quick
before I even have a change to find out
what it’s trying to say” (p. 1).

“Outside it’s starting to rain and the way the rain comes
down—tap, tapping against the window—gets me to
thinking. Ms. Marcus don’t understand some things
even though she’s my favorite teacher in the world.
Things like my brown, brown arm” (p. 12-13).

“Up here the sky goes on and on like something
you could fall right up into.

And keep falling.
Fall so fast
and so far
and for so long you don’t
have to worry about where you’re gonna live next,

where you gonna be

if somebody all of a sudden
changes their mind about living with you” (p. 25).

FOR MORE OF MY REVIEWS, VISIT sjkessel.blogspot.com

It isn't too often that a book makes you want to do something - just do something. Something big. Something important. There aren't too many books like that. But "Locomotion" is one.

Told through the poems of a young black boy in foster care, "Locomotion" makes you want to do something. The book fills you with anguish and desire - a desire to fix the system. To - alright, maybe you can't fix the system, but to help out one child. To do something for kids like Lonnie, who have no control. Who depend on the decisions of others.

It's anguish to even have to think about making them, but after reading "Locomotion," you want to be the one making those decisions if they really have to be made. Maybe you won't get all of those decisions right... but you care enough to make them. And there's kids like Lonnie who depend on them.

That's what "Locomotion" does. ( )

This book is wrtten as a school-journal of poetry. The poems tell the life of an 11 year old, inner city, African American boy dealing with the death of his two parents and seeing separated from his little sister. Again, we see a heroic teacher dealing with a class of inner city kids.

WARNING: Parents were killed in a fire--nothing graphic is described, but the emotions and visions of a young boy are described.

For a similar book, read Love That Dog by Creech. The two books, Locomotion and Love That Dog, are similar in that they are both about boys similar in age, deal with tragedy/death, show the love of poetry, progressively tell their story. ( )