Nye, Naomi Shihab. 2000. Salting the Ocean. Ill by: Ashley Bryan. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN: 9780688161934.
Salting the Ocean presents 100 poems written by unknown poets, — collected over Naomi Shihab Nye’s last 25 years working as a visiting writer with students in schools. Divided into four sections (The Self and the Inner World, Where We Live, Anybody’s Family and The Wide Imagination, Nye’s collection offers poems on a range of topics — like cabbage, a foot, clocks, seasons, trucks, marbles and families.
Ashley Bryan’s illustrations (offered at the beginning of each section) offer a welcome splash of color to break up the text. The book looks and feels like an anthology. While it offers a welcome example of children’s poetry writing, it is hard to get through. Many of the poems feel like dress up clothes, like they don’t quite fit the poet yet (which makes sense, as these poems are probably the first attempt at poetry for many of these poets). I would love to see the child’s voice come through a bit more.
I do think this book is a worthwhile collection for the library, offering both teachers and students encouragement and examples. One of the poems that I liked was “Where Do They Hide?”. It personifies poetry and also speaks to the adolescent struggle for identity.
Where Do They Hide?
My poems hide beneath sands
and under shady trees.
They sit upon river dams
and even laugh at me.
I laugh at them and say,
“You’ll never amount to anything.”
They say, “Oh, we will someday.”
A.R. McMillan
This poem could be used to begin a discussion about the value of children’s poetry. I would use it encourage and motivate children to read and write poetry. It could be read aloud to students before beginning a writers workshop session.
