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Cast away : poems for our time
2020
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The 2019-2020 Young People’s Poet Laureate shares insightful and provocative poems that explore the things that are treated disposably in today’s world, from water bottles and plastic straws to hurtful words and refugees. 35,000 first printing. Simultaneous eBook. - (Baker & Taylor)

"Poet Naomi Shihab Nye shines a spotlight on the things we cast away, from plastic water bottles to refugees"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

“Nye at her engaging, insightful best.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Acclaimed poet and Young People’s Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye shines a spotlight on the things we cast away, from plastic water bottles to those less fortunate, in this collection of more than eighty original and never-before-published poems. A deeply moving, sometimes funny, and always provocative poetry collection for all ages.

 “How much have you thrown away in your lifetime already? Do you ever think about it? Where does this plethora of leavings come from? How long does it take you, even one little you, to fill the can by your desk?” ?Naomi Shihab Nye

National Book Award Finalist, Young People’s Poet Laureate, and devoted trash-picker-upper Naomi Shihab Nye explores these questions and more in this original collection of poetry that features more than eighty new poems. “I couldn’t save the world, but I could pick up trash,” she says in her introduction to this stunning volume.

With poems about food wrappers, lost mittens, plastic straws, refugee children, trashy talk, the environment, connection, community, responsibility to the planet, politics, immigration, time, junk mail, trash collectors, garbage trucks, all that we carry and all that we discard, this is a rich, engaging, moving, and sometimes humorous collection for readers ages twelve to adult.

Includes ideas for writing, recycling, and reclaiming, and an index.

- (HARPERCOLL)

'Nye at her engaging, insightful best.' 'Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Acclaimed poet and Young People's Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye shines a spotlight on the things we cast away, from plastic water bottles to those less fortunate, in this collection of more than eighty original and never-before-published poems. A deeply moving, sometimes funny, and always provocative poetry collection for all ages.

 'How much have you thrown away in your lifetime already? Do you ever think about it? Where does this plethora of leavings come from? How long does it take you, even one little you, to fill the can by your desk?' ?Naomi Shihab Nye

National Book Award Finalist, Young People's Poet Laureate, and devoted trash-picker-upper Naomi Shihab Nye explores these questions and more in this original collection of poetry that features more than eighty new poems. "I couldn't save the world, but I could pick up trash," she says in her introduction to this stunning volume.

With poems about food wrappers, lost mittens, plastic straws, refugee children, trashy talk, the environment, connection, community, responsibility to the planet, politics, immigration, time, junk mail, trash collectors, garbage trucks, all that we carry and all that we discard, this is a rich, engaging, moving, and sometimes humorous collection for readers ages twelve to adult.

Includes ideas for writing, recycling, and reclaiming, and an index.

- (HARPERCOLL)

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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* What is trash? Do we expand the definition to include people we consider less than ourselves? How many of us "cast away" with little thought of consequences? In these poignant poems, Young People's Poet Laureate Nye challenges readers, no matter their age, to consider their definition of trash and their responses to it. She has become a staunch advocate for cleaning up the world, beginning with the spaces immediately around us. In some respects, her never-before published poems are reminiscent of Shel Silverstein's "Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" (Where the Sidewalk Ends, 1974); but she challenges readers to become activists and to gain deeper awareness of their surroundings. With titles like "Folded Cardboard in the Street," "Owner of 136 Snakes Surrenders Them, Texas", "Trash Walk", and "Not My Problem", Nye crafts powerful object lessons with every poem. She reminds readers to look at poverty in new ways; to consider the food they toss; and to reflect upon the plastic that has created an island in the Pacific Ocean. The collection features humorous, witty, serious, and even some politically charged poems, all of which will leave readers with a consciousness of the precarious environment. Her poetic polemic on trash is truly a treasure for readers. Grades 3-6. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Table of Contents

Honolulu v
Taking Out the Trash, by Kamilah Aisha Moon xi
Introduction 1(12)
ROUTE 1 Sweepings
Little Red Purse, London
13(1)
Two
14(1)
Trash Talk
15(1)
Sorrow of the Paper Mill
16(2)
World of the future, we thirsted
18(2)
"Don't Mess With Texas" (highway sign)
20(2)
Random Trash Thoughts
22(1)
Look at Me, Look at Me
23(1)
End of August
24(1)
Leavings
25(4)
Hill Country
29(1)
Trash Is a Ticket to Nowhere
30(1)
Georgia O'Keefe on Location
31(2)
Find Your Path
33(1)
Pine Cones
34(1)
Snow Covers All the Trash
35(1)
Trash Talk 929
36(1)
Who Do You Think You Are?
37(1)
Separated
38(2)
Trash Talk 212
40(1)
Found
41(1)
Anger
42(5)
ROUTE 2 Titters & Tatters
Little Boy and Green Trash Truck
47(1)
Tinfoil Merges with Street
48(1)
Dear August A. Busch
49(2)
At the Bus Stop
51(1)
Maui
52(1)
Red Ribbon on the Walk
53(2)
Failure
55(1)
Tiny Bites Life
56(1)
College Town
57(1)
Read All about It!
58(2)
Owner of 136 Snakes Surrenders Them, Texas
60(1)
Folded Cardboard in the Street
61(1)
Stumble Leaf
62(1)
Welcome to Hong Kong
63(3)
Three Wet Report Cards on Camden Street
66(2)
McD/on/ald's
68(3)
Guadalupe Street Trash
71(4)
ROUTE 3 Odds & Ends
Current Events
75(1)
The President We Did Not Vote For
76(2)
Looking at Any Map
78(2)
Crushed Cup
80(1)
Not a Bagel, But
81(1)
Barbara
82(1)
Mysteries of Humankind
83(1)
We Make Our Own Trash
84(1)
Famous People
85(4)
Trash Talk 326
89(1)
They Are Thinking about Giving Tickets
90(1)
Tony's Trash
91(2)
Use's Trash
93(2)
Junk Mail
95(1)
Prince Charles Please
96(1)
Trash Talk 1
97(4)
ROUTE 4 Willy-nilly
Things I Found Today
101(2)
Attention
103(2)
Strange Things Keep Happening: Houston
105(1)
New Year
106(1)
Bits
107(4)
Taxpayer Money
111(1)
Trash Talk 7,299
112(1)
Trash Walk 1,021
113(1)
Three Blank Index Cards
114(1)
What Makes People the Way They Are?
115(1)
You Are Here
116(1)
Happy Day
117(1)
Back Streets of Ledbury, Herefordshire, England
118(3)
Why Are We So Messy?
121(6)
ROUTE 5 Residue
Trash Talk 948
127(2)
Movies
129(2)
Vero Beach Revival
131(1)
No See That
132(2)
Trash Mottoes
134(2)
Trash Walk 1331
136(1)
Stephen Foster
137(1)
Central School
138(2)
Nothing
140(1)
Connor James, Age 3
141(1)
Not My Problem
142(1)
The Potato
143(2)
Penny
145(1)
Lately the Moon
146(3)
Ideas for Writing, Recycling, Reclaiming
149(4)
Index of First Lines 153(6)
Acknowledgments 159

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