MODULE 4—POETRY BREAK—BIOGRAPHICAL POEM

MODULE 4—POETRY BREAK—BIOGRAPHICAL POEM

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 1999. LIVES—POEMS ABOUT FAMOUS AMERICANS. Illustrated by Leslie Staub. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 006027767X



NOTE: All but one of these sixteen poems is written by poets other than Hopkins. These poems have been selected by Hopkins to be included in this anthology.

INTRODUCTION
Discuss with the students why Dr. Martin Luther King was so important in America’s history. This poem would be especially appropriate on January 15, his birth date.





MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
X. J. Kennedy

Solemn bells in steeples sing:

Doctor
Martin
Luther
King.


He lived his life
He dreamed his dream:
The worst-off people
To redeem,

He dreamed a world
Where people stood
Not separate, but
In brotherhood.

Now ten-ton bells together swing:

Remember
Martin
Luther
King.


EXTENSIONS

Discuss and perhaps even have the children locate information on other important African-American people in United States history.

Other books that would help expand the topic on America’s history and important people in history are:

Katz, Bobbi. 2000. WE THE PEOPLE: POEMS. Illustrated by Nina Crews.
New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0688165311

Meltzer, Milton, Ed. 2003. HOUR OF FREEDOM: AMERICAN HISTORY IN POETRY. Illustrated by Marc Nadel.
Honesdale, Pennsylvania: Boyds Mills Press. ISBN 1590780213

Lewis, J. Patrick and Jim Cooke. HEROES AND SHE-ROES: POEMS OF AMAZING AND EVERYDAY HEROES. 2005.
New York: Random House. ISBN 0803729251

Hopkins, Lee Bennett, Complier. HAND IN HAND: AN AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH POETRY. Illustrated by Peter M. Fiore. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 067173315X