American Poetry, Poetry - General & Miscellaneous

Connecting Dots

Name: Connecting Dots
Author: David L. Harrison
ISBN: 9781590782606

by David L. Harrison

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Overview

Stringing together little snippets of life is like connecting the dots to make a whole person or to tell a complete story. Author David Harrison examines his life and jots down his memories--from the age of four until the present day--in poems. He shares with the reader his fears, his excitement, his worries about girls, and a little bit of everything in between. With a simple poetic format and stunning imagery. Harrison encourages the reader to meander through his own memories, choosing the dots that make him the person he is today.

David L. Harrison has written sixty books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including the Christopher Award-winning The Book of Giant Stories. He has received many honors, such as the Missouri State Reading Association's Celebrate Literacy Award.

Kelley Cunningham Cousineau is an illustrator, writer, and weekend painter. She lives with her husband and three wonderful sons in Maplewood, New Jersey.

About the Author, David L. Harrison

David L. Harrison is the author of more than 70 books that have sold over 15 million copies. Pirates, also illustrated by Dan Burr, was placed on the Texas Bluebonnet Award 2010-2011 Master List. Harrison is the recipient of many awards, including the Christopher Award and the Missouri Librarian Association Literacy Award for the body of his work. He lives in Springfield, Missouri.

Kelley is a writer and an illustrator who lives in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. She says she brings to literary art in her first book "the wisdom of experience" - the nightly ritual of getting her three young sons settled down to sleep each night

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Editorials

Children's Literature

This inspiring collection of poems takes us through many significant and even ordinary events, or "dots" as the author calls them, which all connect to form a representation of David L. Harrison's life. This reflection piece is meant to take young readers through the different stages of growing up and into adulthood while painting a portrait of the poet and what he endured. Divided into three sections, the book begins when Harrison is 4 and works its way up to age 65. The poems are honest, clever, and witty. For example, there is the line in "Anatomy Lesson," a poem about being 14, that reads: "Some guys' biceps stretch their shirtsleeves./My arms dangle like limp white rope." Perhaps the best feature of the book, however, is how it encourages us to consider the "dots" in our lives, those moments, some momentous and many trivial, that have shaped who we are and how poetry can help us paint our self-portraits. 2004, Boyds Mills Press, Ages 10 up.
—Sheree Van Vreede

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-Harrison presents snapshots of his past through a series of poems, which he describes as "dots"; when they are connected, they create a picture of his life. The 54 selections are divided into three sections, the first focusing on his early years, the second on his teen years, and the third on his experiences as an adult, including getting married and becoming a father. Harrison prefaces each offering by indicating his age when the incident or observation occurred and providing a brief explanation. It is clear from the introductions to each section and the statements accompanying the poems that his intent is to impart the wisdom and insight that he has acquired over the years to his readers. The poems are generally short and simple, and the ideas/themes are clearly articulated, yet the verses lack pizzazz and fall a little too quietly. The black-and-white sketches and photographs scattered throughout are competent but do not add much to the text. Although this work is an interesting endeavor, it will have a very limited audience.-Laura Reed, Kitchener Public Library, Ontario, Canada Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Harrison relates some of his most memorable moments through poetry, both free verse and rhyming. Arranged chronologically and annotated with personal comments, the poems, although taken from Harrison's own life, are meant to convey such common life experiences as moving and starting a new school, the loss of a friend, beginning interest in girls, marriage and fatherhood and they're also intended to make children wonder how they will feel about these experiences in the future. Despite the poet's simplicity and eager attempts at showing children what's ahead, a lovely poem like "Night Songs," about the slumber of a couple married for 43 years, will be lost on young readers. Unfortunately, other poems more suitable to the intended audience fall flat. Equally dull are the pencil sketches that appear throughout. For a stellar autobiography told through poetry, try Lee Bennett Hopkins's Been to Yesterdays (1995). (Poetry. 10-13)