Performance Poetry

Greenfield, Eloise. 2006. The Friendly Four. Ill. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. New York: Harper Collins Children’s Books. ISBN: 978-0-06-000760-7.

Book Review:

Award-winning children’s author, Eloise Greenfield (Coretta Scott King Award and NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry, to name a few), adds a poetry book designed for choral reading to her body of work in The Friendly Four, illustrated with creativity, movement and color by Jan Spivey Gilchrist.

Four children -Drum, Doreen, Louis and Rae – gravitate together for one summer of play, imagination and friendship, easing their loneliness and finding joy in their fellowship.  Drum says, “Didn’t I call this summer a bummer?” And his three new friends reply “Not anymore, not anymore.”  Using a combination of verse poetry and rhyming schemes, Greenfield gives unique voices to each of her characters.  The book is written with different colored type to differentiate the voices of each child, and to make it easier to read chorally. 

As each of the children meet, they bring more creativity and imagination to their play, and as a group, engage in telling tall tales, playing board games, fun at the playground and even constructing a town named “Goodsummer” to play in with a bank, a movie theatre, a school, a pet shop and a library.  When the town is completed they have a parade: “We turned the music way up loud/to show you that we’re happy and proud/of all the work we did to build our town./Now watch as we march around…”

Not a TV or video game is found in Gilchrist’s realistic watercolors which bring additional life to the characters in the book and provide visual interest in the action portrayed by the author’s words.  The book and illustrations remind the older reader of bygone days when summer meant playing outside all day long. 

Sharing the Poetry:

This book would provide a great poetry break near the end of the school year to remind the students or story time visitors of the coming months of fun.  It is also a good introduction to verse poetry for younger children.  Choosing four children to read, or dividing the room into four groups would both work well.  The children in the book are early elementary age, and the dialogue reflects that, so teachers/librarians need to keep that in mind when they choose this title.

Selected Poem:

Near the end of summer, Rae has to leave on a plane to go back home.  In the last poem in the book, “Goodbye to Goodsummer,” the remaining three friends reflect on their time together:

Goodbye to Goodsummer

Drum:                             The summer started out with one,

Dorene:                          and now there are four, and even though

                                      one of us is far away,

Drum, Dorene, Louis:    we’re still together.

                                      We’ll find some fall, winter

                                      and spring things to laugh about,

Louis:                             and our town will wait for us.

Drum, Dorene, Louis:    So, goodbye for now, Goodsummer.

                                      We’ll see you next year.

References

Books in Print. n.d. The Friendly Four. http://ezproxy.twu.edu:3959/DetailedView.aspx?hreciid=|16314793|10204039&mc=USA# (accessed April 21, 2014).

Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database. n.d. The Friendly Four. http://ezproxy.twu.edu:4529/index.php/jbookdetail/jqbookdetail?page=1&pos=1&isbn=9780060007591 (accessed April 21, 2014).