She's All That: Poems about Girls

I have to admit that despite the fact that I already had an armful of poetry anthologies and was on my way to the check-out desk, I snatched this poetry book off the library shelf because it has a bright yellow cover with pink, sparkly letters, and a matching pink ribbon bookmark. I was a bit skeptical that it would be a good read for the exact same reasons that I chose it - the daisy-covered, sparkly-pink-lettered cover. Much to my surprise, however, this anthology was very well done.

The poems in this book, which include such noted poets as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, Judith Viorst, and James Berry, were selected by Belinda Hollyer, a former teacher and librarian and current author. The book is divided into 9 sections, each containing poems related to the theme of that section: Always Me, Mirror Mirror, Full-o Zest, Best Friends, Sing Daughter Sing, Sweets for my Sweet, Causing a Stir, I Remember You, and Growing Up. 

I am not usually a poetry reader, but I read this poetry anthology from cover to cover. I loved the variety of types of poetry - there were free verse poems, couplets, narrative poems, lyric poems, poems for two voices, and more. I also appreciated that the overall message of the book was that girls should be true to themselves. All of the poems encouraged girls do what they like best, be it play the cymbals, juggle, run track, dance ballet, play basketball, or just do nothing! The poems were also multi-cultural, as there were poems about Indian girls, Vietnamese girls, and African-American girls, among others, and these poems also carried the message of being comfortable with yourself.

At the same time as the poems addressed such topics as being a good friend, growing up, and falling in love, they also unabashedly dealt with challenging topics head on. There were poems about prejudice, chauvinism, accepting others for who they are, death of loved ones, factory work, and racism. Because of these more challenging topics, I would recommend this book to older elementary or early middle school students. Younger students may not understand or appreciate some of the references made by these poems to earlier eras in American history or may not be mature enough for some of the topics. I do think that this anthology would be fantastic for a teacher to read aloud one at a time to his/her older class or to recommend to girls who may be struggling with some of the challenges that these poems address.