Lewis, J. Patrick. (2005). Heroes and She-Roes. Ill. by Jim Cooke. New York, NY: The Penguin Group. ISBN: 0803729251
B. Plot Summary:
In his book Heroes and She-roes, J. Patrick Lewis writes about well-known heroes and she-roes such as Rosa Parks and Gandhi. He also writes about much less known heroes such as Iqbal Masih, a child laborer from Pakistan who escaped after five years of servitude. Under each poem, Lewis includes a short paragraph with facts about each hero, which gives additional information to contribute to the reader's background knowledge.
Lewis begins Heroes and She-roes with an introductory poem which highlights the great qualities of heroes. He then ends the book with the same concept of describing the heroic attitudes of these figures. The range in his poems gives students ideas of how different poems can look and sound. Lewis includes acrostic poems, rhyming poems, short four line poems, narrative and free verse poems in his collection of heroes. Each poem features different poetic techniques
C. Critical Analysis:
Heroes and She-roes presents a collection of poems to honor well-known and some less known heroes around the world. The reader will read about Martin Luther King Jr. as well as unknown heroes such as the journalist Ida Wells-Barnett. When I picked this book up, I was thinking it would feature all the traditional heroes that we see in our Social Studies books at school. I was pleasantly surprised to read about heroes that I´ve never heard of before. This book combines both poetry and nonfiction. It features poems and an informational paragraph underneath each poem. The best feature of this book is Lewis´ author´s note on the last page. He writes about one of his heroes, his childhood school janitor who always spread his happy attitude with everyone at school.
I like how Lewis provided an introductory and closing poem. It provides a nice transition into his collection of poems. Heroes and She-roes invokes a sense of pride in the reader. Since Lewis writes in different poetry forms in this book, the reader can see a variety of poetry techniques, such as rhyming words, free verse and couplets as he uses in the Joan of Arc poem. Although he features different techniques, the reader doesn't feel a strong connection to these poems as they don't really flow like poetry usually does. This includes the poems that rhyme as well. Even when Lewis uses rhyming words, the poems don´t have much of a rhythm, such as the poem The Firefighter.
Even though this is a poetry book written for children, a young reader probably would not be able to connect with these poems. This is due to the mature language that would be difficult for young readers to understand (¨the factory owner chained him to a carpet loom¨, ¨and burned the soldier at the stake, an innocent for heaven´s sake¨. One of the poems also tells about Lady Godiva, who paced naked on a horse to lower taxes in England and features an illustration of her partially nude. This book is more suitable for older students.
The illustrations by Jim Cooke are smooth and provide a range of emotions. He pairs each illustration perfectly with each hero in the book. Helen Keller appears serious in the illustration. Albeiro Vargas seems joyful as he cares for the sick and elderly in his Colombian community. The schoolteacher looks confident as she stands in front of her classroom.
D. Review Excerpts:
**School Library Journal states "This is an important title that will inspire young people and perhaps encourage them to look more deeply into the lives of others as well as their own."
**Kirkus Reviews states, "The 21 poems about heroic men and women unfortunately do not sing and sometimes do not even hum sweetly. These very short verses—16 lines at their longest—are each followed by a short paragraph giving some more information about their subject. "
E. Connections:
Heroes and Sheroes would be a great addition to a Social Studies unit on heroes. Students can create their own poetry collection about heroes around the world or in a specific state. This book can be compared to Dark Emperor by Joyce Sidman in that it features poems and informational paragraphs on each page.
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