Heart To Heart New Poems Inspired By Twentieth-Century American Art edited by Jan Greenberg

1.  Bibliography

Greenberg, Jan.  (2001).  HEART TO HEART NEW POEMS INSPIRED BY TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN ART.  New York:  Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated.    ISBN 9780810943865

2.  Plot Summary
Images from an unique art collection is used to inspire poems about the pieces.  The poems have been written by forty-three American poets.   The variety of pieces used in the book are the most important artwork from the twentieth century.    The poets show the reader a new way to look at each piece.  The poems range from being sad, funny, happy, and inspiring.  "How would you paint a poem?" (55)  The combination of art and poems give the reader a new perspective.

3.  Critical Analysis
The editor took photographs of many important art pieces from the 20th century.  Each art piece is shown in a full page reproduction in full color.  The pictures are breathtaking.  The reader can clearly see all the detail and colors used in each piece of art.  The images are the perfect size they do not distract the reader from the poem.  "Coupling large-type poems with full-page reproductions 47 out of 48 in full color editor Jan Greenberg puts ekphrasor and ekphrasee in happy proximity" (Publisher Weekly).   A person's eyes are drawn to the images which they can look at.  Once they have looked at the pictures they are drawn to the words to see what they poet says about the picture.  "It all started when a new teacher held up this picture and asked, "What's going on here?" (23)

The text in the format of a poem gives the reader new ideas about the picture.  The poems are written from four types of motifs, stories, impressions, expressions, and voices.    The different verses the poets used are; free verses, sonnet, patterns, and repeated lines or parts of speech.  Each poem has its own rhythm, rhyme, and sound depending what the poet was inspired to use to make the image come to life.  "And what would the lady be studying there but a book of matches?" (68).  Some poets used imagery and emotions to capture a specific feeling and mental picture to share with the reader.  "The coffee urns are beaming over his shoulder like stainless steel angels" (68).  Other poets used language to create similes, metaphors, and to put their words in a specific pattern that would be meaningful to the reader. The poets that contributed to this book each used their own techniques to share their feelings about the artwork.

The editor of the book organized the items into four different sections by the motifs used in the poems.  "The poems are grouped according to how the writer responded to the art: some tell a story about the whole painting; some speak from the perspective of an object within the artwork; some transform the visual elements into poetic metaphors; some talk about the artists and their techniques" (BookList).  There is a table of contents to find out where each section of the book is located and also includes, biographical notes on poets, biographical notes on artists, photograph-poetry credits, and an index.  Their are reference aids for all the artwork and poets if more information is desired.  The book is well organized to find specific of information by the reader.  The poems and illustrations are balanced on the pages.  On one side of a page will be a poem or a image of artwork or they will be combined on one page.  All of the text and images can be easily seen.   This book is recommended to 5th grade and up.  This book has current and classic appeal to its audience.  Some of the images are classic and others are very modern.  The book will appeal to all types of art lovers. 

4.  Review Excerpts
Michael L. Printz Honor Book
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL:  "The art glows, the words reflect the images and create more light-"Florine, we would live inside your colors! Red joy,/golden rushes of hope-" Naomi Shihab Nye writes about Florine Stettheimer's The Cathedrals of Broadway. If a picture book is defined as a marriage of word and art, then Heart to Heart is not only a wonderful poetry collection, but also a picture book of the highest quality."
BOOKLIST:  "Younger children, for example, will love Deborah Pope's "On Lichtenstein's 'Bananas and Grapefruit,'" which melts quickly down the page to a delicious ending: "gulppulp / sweet part / eat / art." Teens (and adults) will enjoy the inquisitive depth of such selections as Ronald Wallace's "Mobile/Stabile." Concluding with biographical notes on each poet and artist, this rich resource is an obvious choice for teachers, and the exciting interplay between art and the written word will encourage many readers to return again and again to the book."
ALA Children's Notable Book 2002
School Library Journal Best Book 2001


5.  Connections
Other books using words and pictures to convey information to the reader:  
Janeczko, Paul and Henri Siberman.  STONE BENCH IN AN EMPTY PARK.  ISBN 980531302590
Stolley, Richard B.  LIFE:  OUR CENTURY IN PICTURES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.  ISBN 9780318615895