Books at Bedtime: Poetry Friday – Tap Dancing on the Roof
I have to admit, I had never heard of sijo, a traditional Korean verse form, until we received a review copy of Linda Sue Park’s gorgeous little book Tap Dancing on the Roof. What a wonderful partnership the poems and Istvan Banyai’s adorably quirky illustrations make!
A sijo is typically divided into three lines of fourteen to sixteen syllables each – though apparently in English they are sometimes divided up into six lines. Unlike their sister genre, the haiku, they can be about anything and they usually have a twist/ joke at the end. It is amazing how much can be conveyed in those few, succinct sound bites! With poems like these, there’s no excuse for missing out on that bedtime story. A beginning, a middle and an end are conjured up in less than a minute.
I would love to quote some of these sijo here at length but obviously that is not possible for copyright reasons. I will content myself with this tantalising beginning of the last gem in the book entitled “Wish”:
For someone to read a poem
again, and again, and then,
Now you must all rush out and buy/ pester your libraries to get hold of a copy so you can find out the rest of it – and read the others – both for yourselves and with the young people in your lives.
I know I’m slightly behind the times on this – several blogs have already waved the flag, including A Year of Reading, PACL Kids and Three Silly Chicks – I do like their conclusion that
It’s the book equivalent of a hot fudge sundae with a cherry on top.
Hmm. I’m sure there’s a sijo in there somewhere! Anyway, it’s definitely one of those books worth making a noise about – with or without the dancing shoes.
We are including Tap Dancing on the Roof in our choices for the PaperTigers Reading Challenge (have you made your mind up yet?). I can’t wait to see if my boys will start writing some sijo of their own. And if you do, please do add them on here so we can all read them.
Mentor Texts, Read Alouds and More is the gathering place for this week’s Poetry Friday… see you there!
January 25th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I am familiar with the form sijo.
“Now you must all rush out and buy/ pester your libraries to get hold of a copy so you can find out the rest of it – and read the others – both for yourselves and with the young people in your lives.”
The excerpt is not enough to entice me but simply frustrate me. And given budgets, how many books can or will libraries buy based on a request from a patron who knows next to nothing about the book? (Yes, I have requested books be bought and they were).
I have read so many different views on what exactly is copyright infringment. Yes, I have seen the various links on copyright, but I’m talking about writers who want to be read. In an age where we readily can access so much material online and we have the opportunity to share so much, I am conflicted. What is the balance between bringing reader and writer together and protecting copyright? More often than not it is because someone shared a poem, not half a book, that I was introduced to poets and publications I would not have found otherwise.
I don’t mean to hijack your post but since I’ve been on the blogosphere, I’d really like to know from writers which they value more.
January 26th, 2008 at 7:00 am
“What is the balance between bringing reader and writer together and protecting copyright?”
Well, I’m thinking that since copyright is the law after all, what Paper Tigers has done in this review (and what most Kidlitosphere blogs most often do) is kept the balance between enticing readers (and informing with other links — thank you PT!), and honoring copyright law.
January 27th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Mary Lee, thank you for your comment – offering up a review is, as you say, a question of keeping the balance between informing and not overstepping the law. Of course, I would love to have proffered the whole poem here, but I simply can’t do that.
Susan, I sympathise with your frustration but because sijo consists of such short verses, I can do no more than quote very short extracts without infringing copyright law: and copyright is after all put in place in order to protect writers etc, whose livelihoods depend on the legitimate sale of their work. I would agree, of course, that writers want their work to be read and that is why I specifically mention libraries as a source for books. They are where books are available to all and in my experience anyway, librarians are keen to meet individuals’ requests if it is in their power to do so, whether through inter-library loans or acquisitions: especially when it comes to children’s books.
May 4th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
[...] a very ordinary, every day event or taking off on a flight of whimsy and metaphor. I’ve already blogged about Tap Dancing on the Roof so I won’t say any more here, but pass on [...]
June 18th, 2008 at 2:27 am
I’ll try to look for the book
June 18th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Yes, do – it’s a delight!