J. Patrick Lewis, U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, and Jane Yolen, epic children’s writer of everything,?must write about four books per day–all of them awesome. I recently received two of Pat’s books, and last Sunday, I made a mug of orange mandarin tea and snuggled in for?a good read: Take Two! A Celebration of Twins (Candlewick, 2012), by Pat Lewis and Jane Yolen. Individually, they’ve written some of my absolutely favorite poetry collections, and they collaborated on last year’s Self-Portrait with Seven Fingers: The Life of Marc Chagall in Verse, a fascinating collection that was a Cybils finalist in the Poetry category.
- Take Two! A Celebration of Twins
This sizable collection is divided into four sections: Twins in the Waiting Womb, Twinfants, How To Be One, and Famous Twins. Every section had great poems, but my favorite section was How To Be One.?It was snowing?Post-It notes in those pages as I tried to decide which poem to share. There were plenty of poems celebrating twinniness, but also some about the struggles of it. Those were some of the ones that really spoke to me (even though I’m not a twin). Here’s one I love.
More Than One
Most times two is more than one:
More giggles, laughs,
and MUCH more fun.
But mathematics
Can prove wrong,
And two can make a day seem long
With turns to take and compromises
And never any real surprises.Sometimes, sometimes–I think I’d like
My twin to take a long, long hike
Or ride away upon her bike
And leave me by myself a day,
Until that feeling goes away.(by Jane Yolen, all rights reserved
from Take Two!, by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen)
The book doesn’t identify which poet wrote which poem (unlike their previous collaboration), which I don’t like. In Self-Portrait, it was fun to compare and contrast their contributions. But this also felt like a more seamless collaboration. I?wondered if they each wrote separate poems or if there was more joint creation going on…
Addendum: I just wasn’t observant enough. Both Pat and Jane kindly let me know that the authorship of each poem is specified on the dedication page! Yay! I look forward to going back and parsing out who did what. The above poem is by Jane. I’m going to share a second poem, one by Pat, next week. I wanted to share two poems initially, but I thought if they both were by the same poet, I’d feel bad. Now I know the other favorite I wanted to share is by Pat, so I’m just gonna do two Poetry Fridays in a row of this book!
Finally, in addition to a ton of poems filled with love, disgust, impatience, silliness, and poignancy,?the collection includes some twin trivia, including some downright terrifying facts. Did you know that the record for the longest time between a pair of twins being born was 95 days? Or that the heaviest twins at birth were 27 pounds, 12 ounces and 13 pounds, 12 ounces? Do you think they were actually triplets and that first kid ate one of his siblings in utero? Ack!
Twin or not, you’ll see yourself in this collection.
Dori at Dori Reads has the Poetry Friday Roundup today! And she also has an interview with me for her Poetry Friday post:>) Thanks, Dori!
We have several sets of twins at school so I’ll have to tell our librarian about this book. What a great idea for all those twins in the world, and for their parents! Looks both cute and wise!
Cute and wise–great description of this book!
We have several sets of twins at school so I’ll have to tell our librarian about this book. What a great idea for all those twins in the world, and for their parents! Looks both cute and wise!
Cute and wise–great description of this book!
GAH! Fantastic! I have twin boys about to turn two, so must have this! They are learning both English and Italian, so language is a bit delayed, but even in their pre-verbal state they manage to make it clear that, once in a while, the other twin should take a hike indeed. But then I’ll hear them giggling together, and all is right with the world. 🙂
I think everybody is a little fascinated by twins, so this collection will have broad appeal. But of course for twins themselves and their families (or schools), it’s absolutely must-have. Maybe I’m just really anti-social (I’m definitely an introvert), but I think twinniness would be really exhausting. I never thought about that much before reading this collection. Not that this book is serious–it’s mostly full of joy and silliness and quirkiness. Enjoy!
GAH! Fantastic! I have twin boys about to turn two, so must have this! They are learning both English and Italian, so language is a bit delayed, but even in their pre-verbal state they manage to make it clear that, once in a while, the other twin should take a hike indeed. But then I’ll hear them giggling together, and all is right with the world. 🙂
I think everybody is a little fascinated by twins, so this collection will have broad appeal. But of course for twins themselves and their families (or schools), it’s absolutely must-have. Maybe I’m just really anti-social (I’m definitely an introvert), but I think twinniness would be really exhausting. I never thought about that much before reading this collection. Not that this book is serious–it’s mostly full of joy and silliness and quirkiness. Enjoy!
Actually, on the copyright/dedication page it tells who wrote which poem! Thanks for loving the book, Laura.
Jane
Geez. Talk about not looking carefully enough. In Self-Portrait, each poem had a byline, and when I didn’t see that, I didn’t hunt further. Thanks for letting me know!
Don’t feel bad. You weren’t the only one! Now I know how to find out who wrote which one, too!
GREAT book! Can’t wait to give it to a girl in my class who is an identical twin!!
Yay! Embarrassment loves company:>)
Actually, on the copyright/dedication page it tells who wrote which poem! Thanks for loving the book, Laura.
Jane
Geez. Talk about not looking carefully enough. In Self-Portrait, each poem had a byline, and when I didn’t see that, I didn’t hunt further. Thanks for letting me know!
Don’t feel bad. You weren’t the only one! Now I know how to find out who wrote which one, too!
GREAT book! Can’t wait to give it to a girl in my class who is an identical twin!!
Yay! Embarrassment loves company:>)
Hi Laura, I think this is the second or third time that I have read a great review of this book over the past several weeks. I am deeply intrigued. And congratulations on A Leaf Can Be – truly much loved around the blogosphere! I will let you know soon if I find your book here in our library. 🙂
THanks, Myra. I’m glad this is getting some love–Jane and Pat are phenomenal.
Oh, I hope your library gets LEAF! I thought I was going to have to fill out a request form for my own library system to purchase it, but I see they now have some copies. Yay! Thanks for the congrats:>)
Hi Laura, I think this is the second or third time that I have read a great review of this book over the past several weeks. I am deeply intrigued. And congratulations on A Leaf Can Be – truly much loved around the blogosphere! I will let you know soon if I find your book here in our library. 🙂
THanks, Myra. I’m glad this is getting some love–Jane and Pat are phenomenal.
Oh, I hope your library gets LEAF! I thought I was going to have to fill out a request form for my own library system to purchase it, but I see they now have some copies. Yay! Thanks for the congrats:>)
Oh, I wish I had known about this book two weeks ago. I was in a meeting with a bunch of co-workers and came to learn that many of them were twins, had twins, siblings had twins, etc. I’ll still send them all info about this book.
Thanks for sharing, Laura!
And thanks for writing, Jane and Pat!
-Ed
That’s why I really liked the poems about the downside of being a twin. There’s something so magical about being a twin that I think we mythologize it in a way that makes it unacceptable to NOT want to be a twin. It’s great that this collection showcases the good and bad of it:>) See ya in March Madness–I was at my nephew’s (5th grade) basketball semi-finals game yesterday. Made me excited for the poetry version–which should be both fun and terrifying.
Oh, I wish I had known about this book two weeks ago. I was in a meeting with a bunch of co-workers and came to learn that many of them were twins, had twins, siblings had twins, etc. I’ll still send them all info about this book.
Thanks for sharing, Laura!
And thanks for writing, Jane and Pat!
-Ed
That’s why I really liked the poems about the downside of being a twin. There’s something so magical about being a twin that I think we mythologize it in a way that makes it unacceptable to NOT want to be a twin. It’s great that this collection showcases the good and bad of it:>) See ya in March Madness–I was at my nephew’s (5th grade) basketball semi-finals game yesterday. Made me excited for the poetry version–which should be both fun and terrifying.
This collections look adorable! I love the cover!
Hope you find and like the entire book:>)
This collections look adorable! I love the cover!
Hope you find and like the entire book:>)
I just sent this recommendation along to a friend with twins! ‘Can’t beat the collaboration! Thank you, once again, Laura! a.
Excellent! Our plan for poetry to take over the world makes one more step:>)
I just sent this recommendation along to a friend with twins! ‘Can’t beat the collaboration! Thank you, once again, Laura! a.
Excellent! Our plan for poetry to take over the world makes one more step:>)
Love this poem and the book. Thanks for the great interview, too.
Thank YOU, Dori!
Love this poem and the book. Thanks for the great interview, too.
Thank YOU, Dori!