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This Same Sky
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Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1992. THIS SAME SKY. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-02-768440-7.

THIS SAME SKY is a selection of poems gathered from around the world by Naomi Shihab Nye. In the introduction she states that her goal was to bring some of the amazing poetry available for young people around the world to the children of the United States. In this, Nye has surely succeeded. In this collection, new doors are opened for an American audience and new connections are made. Differences in style and content make the poems unique, but each seems to speak out to the reader. While I was reading, I found that speaking the selections aloud added another wonderful dimension to the collection.

From the haunting "White Bracelets,"(Canada) in which scars are remembered, to the whimsical "On My Birthday,"(Bangladesh) in which an entire city is eaten like so much birthday cake, a whole range of emotions and situations are represented. "Coils the Robot" (Costa Rica) is sent to school to learn, but "Coils the robot only understands poetry." "His square tiny tummy glows in the sun and rings like a bell when he dances and sings." Something about this poem makes readers feel warm inside their own bodies. They may think of Costa Rica and think that the poetry will be about nature and the rainforest, but those readers will be wrong.

It is said that children need to find representations of themselves in literature. I have never really felt underrepresented, but after reading a couple of pages, I flipped right to the index to find the Polish authors. I know nothing of Poland, but I still felt like it would be a connection. The one I particularly enjoyed was written by Tadeusz Rozewicz. "Transformations" is the tale of a father and son playing make believe. I felt something when I read it, and I was glad it was a Polish writer. I can tell you that I will seek out more writings by Polish authors because of THIS SAME SKY.

Whether or not readers believe that they need to make a personal connection to a certain country's works, they will most certainly be touched by the poems in this collection. There is truly something for everyone.

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