Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It and Poetry Friday

Today Sherry at Semi-Colon is hosting Poetry Friday. 

Be sure to visit and check out the other Poetry Friday posts! 

Thank you, Sherry!

Title: Forgive Me, I Meant To Do It 
Author: Gail Carson Levine  
Illustrator: Matthew Cordell 
Publisher: Harper Collins 
Publication Date: March, 2012 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Poetry/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: 

This Is Just to Say

If you’re looking 

for a nice happy book

put this one down 

and run away 

quickly

Forgive me 

sweetness 

and good cheer 

                                                     are boring

Inspired by William Carlos Williams’s famous poem ”This Is Just to Say,” Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine delivers a wickedly funny collection of her own false apology poems, imagining how tricksters really feel about the mischief they make. Matthew Cordell’s clever and playful line art lightheartedly captures the spirit of the poetry. This is the perfect book for anyone who’s ever apologized . . . and not really meant it.  
What I Think: After nErDcamp, someone (I *think* it was Franki?) suggested we could have taken a whole session to talk about Jon Klassen's book I Want My Hat Back. I haven't gotten tired of talking about that book yet and actually shared both I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat with some of my new co-workers this week. I love hearing someone giggle as they read through it and debating whether they are Team Rabbit or Team Bear...or neither, afterwards. It was so perfect that I discovered this book, Forgive Me, I Meant To Do It by Gail Carson Levine. I laughed out loud throughout this book because of the great poems Gail puts together. Lots of the poems have connections to fairy tales which make them perfect to pair with traditional fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
     Gail also does a few great things in this book that make is to unique. Gail puts the introduction to the book a few poems into the collection. I loved that she did this. I was completely pulled in by the poems but then all of a sudden, she takes time to explain where the form for the poems originated. She explains that William Carlos Williams wrote the original poem that prompted her poems. She talks about how to imitate the form and how it's okay to play with it a little bit or to simply fit your poem into the structure that is set up. I love that she makes it sounds so easy to write the poem. Sometimes we need to hear that something has been done for us and that we can easily add our own creativity. What a great way to get kids into poetry. I have a feeling kids would also be able to come up with lots of instances when they or someone else did something they may not have been truly sorry for doing...and Gail makes sure to tell readers that if they are going to try writing their own "This Is Just to Say" poems that they truly should have some mean-ness to them. This book is a perfect mentor text for getting kids into poetry!
Read Together: Grades 3 - 12 
Read Alone: Grades 3 - 12 
Read With: I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein, traditional versions of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves or others 
Snatch of Text:  

This Is Just to Say

I swiped 

your lucky

baseball

cap

which

made you tragically

lose

the state playoff

Forgive me

the cap

keeps the sun

out of my eyes

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections  
Writing Strategies to Practice: Poetry, Personal Narrative 
Writing Prompts: Choose a character from a book who you don't believe was sincere about something he or she did and write your own "This Is Just to Say" poem. Use the form Gail Caron Levine uses to construct you poem. Write your own "This Is Just to Say" poem about a time in your life when you did something you didn't feel bad about.
Topics Covered: Honesty, Family, Humor, Sincerity  

I *heart* It:

Here's my own "This Is Just To Say" poem from the rabbit's perspective from I Want My Hat Back!

This Is Just to Say

By Jen Vincent

I have stolen

your hat

red

and pointy

which you 

have searched and searched for

cannot live without

love

Forgive me

but

it looks better

on me

Feel free to write your own if these give you some inspiration. And please share!