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Summary
Summary
In this Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book, Children's Literature Legacy Award-winner Nikki Grimes explores though her celebrated poetry how a supportive teacher can be the key to unlocking a dreamer's imaginative power through creative writing.
Gabby's world is filled with daydreams. However, what began as an escape from her parents' arguments has now taken over her life. But with the help of a new teacher, 'Gabby the dreamer' might just become 'Gabby the writer' and the words that once carried her away might allow her to soar. Written in vivid, accessible poems, this remarkable verse novel is a celebration of imagination, of friendship, of one girl's indomitable spirit, and of a teacher's ability to reach out and change a life.
Coretta Scott King Author Honor book
NCTE Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts
Kirkus Reviews Best Book
Author Notes
Nikki Grimes was born and raised in New York City. She began writing poetry at age six and is well-known for writing award-winning books primarily for children and young adults. Bronx Masquerade and Talkin' About Bessie both won Coretta Scott King Awards, and her poetry collections featuring Danitra Brown are very popular. Grimes received the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in 2006.
She has written articles for magazines including Essence and Today's Christian Woman, as well as hosted radio programs in New York and Sweden. She has lectured and read her poetry at schools in Russia, China, Sweden, and Tanzania. Grimes is also a prolific artist, creating works of fiber art, beaded jewelry, peyote beading, handmade cards, and photography.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Through 70+ poems, Grimes introduces readers to Gabriella, a city girl who's prone to daydreaming, frustrating her mother and alienating Gabby from her classmates. Several poems bring readers directly into Gabby's daydreams, as she explains how a single word can set her mind whirling: "Say `concert,'/ and I'm somewhere/ in the past,/ sprawled out on the grass/ in Central Park,/ my head cozy/ in Mom's lap,/ her head cozy/ on Dad's shoulder." Grimes packs substantial emotional heft into her poems, especially the way that Gabby's parents' separation weighs on her. Eventually, the right teacher and the right friend provide the support and encouragement Gaby needs, and even her mother's attitude softens. Although Grimes hits the "importance of dreaming" theme a bit hard, her poems lovingly convey the rich inner life (and turmoil) of a girl in the process of finding her voice. Ages 8-12. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
After Gabby's dad moved out, she "didn't cry. Instead, / I filled the quiet / with daydreams." She has trouble paying attention at school until a new teacher recognizes her love of words and allows Gabby time to write poetry. Told in free verse, this is a very accessible story about an appealing child who transforms from introverted daydreamer to writer. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Gabby, named for the angel Gabriel, is a daydreamer, and words fire her imagination, creating new worlds for her to inhabit. After her parents separate and Gabby must go to a different school, her daydreams become increasingly vivid, intruding on the realities of the classroom and schoolwork. To Gabby's occasional puzzlement, her mother worries (Mom names me for a / creature with wings, then wonders / what makes my thoughts fly), but her wonderful new teacher is more patient, wisely helping her capture her daydreams on paper and inspiring a new dream to become an author: Dad is a dreamer / and Mom is a maker. / I've been thinking, / maybe / I can be / both. Grimes, recipient of the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, has written a novel in verse that is an enthusiastic celebration of the power of words and imagination and a dramatic demonstration that daydreamers are, as Gabby hopes, cool. Always accessible, Grimes' language is vivid, rhythmic, and figurative: Gabby says her dreams are fancy dancing in my mind, for example, and thoughts of a circus are a trampoline to the big top. Plain or fancy, Grimes' words speak to the daydreamer in every reader.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Gabriella is a dreamer, more like the father she visits than the mother she lives with every day. Since her parents separated, Gabby and her mother have moved, and she has enrolled in a new school. Always the class daydreamer, she's prepared for the teasing that she knows will come. Mention the word "butterfly," and her thoughts may soar out the classroom window on the imagined wings of a beautiful creature. Other words create thoughts that are more pensive. Sometimes it's easier to retreat into her imagination than to face her circumstances. Gabby's expectations for her new school are low, but her teacher and a quiet boy in the back of the room offer some hope in her new surroundings. With encouragement, perhaps a pen and paper can anchor the "words with wings" that set Gabby's mind adrift. Mutiyat Ade-Salu is perfectly cast for this story in verse, told in the first person in the present tense story. Her voice is youthful and likable, and as Gabriella's thoughts soar, plummet, and wander, so too does the voice of Ade-Salu. A perfect book for poets, dreamers, and reluctant readers.-Lisa -Taylor, Ocean County Library, NJ (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In this delightfully spare narrative in verse, Coretta Scott King Awardwinning Grimes examines a marriage's end from the perspective of a child. Set mostly in the wake of her father's departure, only-child Gabby reveals with moving clarity in these short first-person poems the hardship she faces relocating with her mother and negotiating the further loss of a good friend while trying to adjust to a new school. Gabby has always been something of a dreamer, but when she begins study in her new class, she finds her thoughts straying even more. She admits: "Some words / sit still on the page / holding a story steady. / / But other words have wings / that wake my daydreams. / They / tickle my imagination, / and carry my thoughts away." To illustrate Gabby's inner wanderings, Grimes' narrative breaks from the present into episodic bursts of vivid poetic reminiscence. Luckily, Gabby's new teacher recognizes this inability to focus to be a coping mechanism and devises a daily activity designed to harness daydreaming's creativity with a remarkably positive result for both Gabby and the entire class. Throughout this finely wrought narrative, Grimes' free verse is tight, with perfect breaks of line and effortless shifts from reality to dream states and back. An inspirational exploration of caring among parent, teacher and child--one of Grimes' best. (Poetry. 8-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
