Through Our Eyes Poems and Pictures about Growing Up

Through Our Eyes Poems and Pictures about Growing Up is a book of selected poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and photographs taken by Jeffrey Dunn. I really enjoyed reading this poetry picture book because it shows a lot of insight into what children think and what happens with them growing up. The poems are about children's thoughts, hopes, observations, and dreams. They show different backgrounds children have while growing up. I really enjoyed reading the different poems because it made me think of things I thought or that I went through growing up that were either different or similar to things discussed in the poems. I also really enjoyed the illustrations because they were photographs of children that helped bring out meaning in each of the poems.

One poem I really enjoyed reading is "The New Kid on the Block" by Jack Prelutsky:

There's a new kid on the block,
and boy, that kid is tough,
that new kid punches hard,
that new kid plays real rough,
that new kid's big and strong,
with muscles everywhere,
that new kid tweaked my arm,
that new kid pulled my hair.
That new kid likes to fight,
and picks on all the guys,
that new kid scares me some,
(that new kid's twice my size),
that new kid stomped my toes,
that new kid swiped my ball,
that new kid's really bad,
I don't care for her at all.

I thought this poem was very descriptive and that student that wrote it did a great job. It made me think of when I was growing up and a new kid would come to school, or even when I had to be the new kid and how I felt towards the new kid or towards others when I was the new kid. I think this book would be great to share in a classroom when discussing different types of writing, a poetry unit, and even just as a read aloud!