Book Reviews for Module 3 -- Nikki Grimes -- A DIME A DOZEN

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Grimes, Nikki. 1998. A DIME A DOZEN. Pictures by Angelo. NY: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0-8037-2227-3.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Grimes introduces her poetry collection A DIME A DOZEN with a short inspirational narrative entitled, “Where do writers come from?” She says that her mother discouraged her from becoming a writer, telling her that they are “a dime a dozen,” and the people in her neighborhood didn’t think writers came “from ‘round (t)here.” Despite the discouraging remarks, Grimes encourages kids to follow their hearts in choosing their life’s work.

The poems she includes in the book seem very auto-biographical, with “Stroll” echoing her introduction with the following lines:
But
I set my own pace
‘cause Spirit says
I’m heading places
that aren’t marked
on my mother’s
map.
Later in the collection, other poems also seem to follow her own life, from a little girl’s adoration of her mother and father, to sister rivalries, to appreciation of family. The only poem that did not seem to fit was “Foster Home.” It seemed an aberration in the otherwise natural flow of growth. Of course it is possible that Grimes spent time in a foster home, but there was no other reference in the collection that would lead the reader to believe so.

Each of Grimes’s poems has a unique style. Some are a mere four lines of free verse, and others are lengthier and surprisingly end with a quatrain of AABB rhyme. Still another consists of triplets with each third line rhyming. The unexpected rhymes catch the reader by surprise, as in the case of “Music Lesson.” The irregular meter and rhyme slip into and then out of ABCB rhyming quatrains to end with an AB couplet.

Throughout the collection, Grimes masterfully uses the exact poetic devices needed to convey with perfect clarity the tone for a particular poem. Her somewhat defiant, “I set my own pace” in “Stroll” contrasts perfectly with the longing she feels in “Mother’s Best Friend.” (How could this be the person who hides inside my mother’s skin? Maybe next time Ruby comes she will leave this laughing mom behind a little longer for me.) The short terse line of “Untitled” perfectly expresses the loss of any flowery feeling when a child tells of her parents’ divorce. Simply put, Nikki Grimes is a master.

Angelo’s pictures actually seem to be pencil or charcoal portraits of the subjects in the poems. They are realistic and quite detailed. Not every poem is illustrated, and one wonders if he worked from old photographs or from the author’s descriptions. The illustrations do add to the text.


REVIEW EXCERPTS
VOYA
Through twenty-eight slice-of-life poems, Grimes tells a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story that comes alive with stunning black-and-white drawings by Angelo.

School Library Journal
A quietly profound, heartfelt work.-


CONNECTIONS
*Use the collection or selected poems like “Untitled” to lead into a class reading of The Divorce Express by Paula Danziger
*Print selected poems from each section on a different sheet of paper and have children put them into chronological order based on the events in the poems.