Summary
Gabriella is a shy young girl who deals with being different and feelings of isolation after her parents divorce and her move to a new home and new school. She learned to use words to take her away from the difficulties of life and then became so enchanted in her dream world that it caused her to become even more introverted.
Words send her mind spiraling into vivid worlds of colors and sounds far away from the mundane realities of everyday life. She struggles to find someone to connect with, but finally finds another dreamer in a new friend at school, David. He is an artist and draws pictures of the worlds he imagines while Gabriella writes about hers in descriptive verse.
When her teacher discovers her imaginitive prose, he decides to give the class time to write about daydreams, which is a dream to Gabriella.
Impressions
Words are definitely at the forefront of this collection of poems. Their lyrical flow is undeniable and each word is ripe with meaning. Grimes has made this a very accessible entrance into more serious poetry for children. The variety of tone and cadence makes this collection interesting. She employs simile, metaphor, and alliteration as well as repeated words and phrases to link the collection.
Her ability to take the reader inside the mind of Gabriella is remarkable. Grimes lets you in on the innermost thoughts of this shy but thoughtful character. I breathed a sigh of relief right along with her when she was given the freedom to dream and to write about her amazing inner thoughts.
Professional Reviews
Daydreaming, Gabby is distracted from classwork by her flights of fancy, and her imaginative selfexpression results in missed work and poor grades. As her teacher, Mr. Spicer, and her mother press her to focus, Gabby briefly eschews her woolgathering until she finds an appropriate channel for her daydreams. The book contains pitch-perfect phrases and poetry as Gabby searches for ways to go about "bringing daydreams in / for a landing" (p. 45). Once Mr. Spicer permits his students to record their daydreams, Gabby channels her thoughts into writing, "hoping to find / more words with wings / to dream and write about / tomorrow" (p. 77). Filled with hope, inspiration, elegant writing, and a word-loving protagonist, this novel in verse celebrates creativity in today's classrooms. (BW)
Ward, 2015
Always an inveterate daydreamer, Gabby discovers the power of certain words to whisk her away from her present circumstances one night when her father and mother are arguing (“Some words/ sit still on the page/ holding a story steady./ Those words/ never get me into trouble./ But other words have wings/ that wake my [End Page 213] daydreams”). From that point on, a single word can send her off on an adventure far from where she should be, whether it’s setting the table or paying attention in math class. Her parents’ split saddens her, but her single-word-inspired daydreams keep her afloat until she finally decides to put them aside. She then focuses with a stern will, but a sensitive teacher, Mr. Spicer, recognizes her unhappiness and figures out a way to make her dreaming productive. Grimes’ blend of simple but perfectly honed free-verse, shape, and haiku poetry transform Gabby’s familiar late-elementary lament into a luminous tale of triumph that reminds teachers and parents as well as its target audience that daydreaming deserves pride of place in our workaday worlds. While it takes her teacher and her mother a while to recognize Gabby’s artistic temperament as a gift rather than a distraction, readers, who have been privy to her inspired visions all along, will have been convinced from the start, and they’ll be eager to try their own hands at turning words into multisensory poetic images. Though branding a book with a label of curricular usefulness can often signal lesser aesthetic quality, this is most definitely not the case here; Grimes offers the complete package of a touching but not overly sentimental narrative, lyrical but accessible poetry, and a compelling rationale for incorporating Mr. Spicer’s method into the school day.
Coats, 2013
Library Uses
After reading several of the poems that begin “Say ____” from the collection, children could draw a random word from a stack and try to imagine a daydream based on the word that they drew. Depending on their age, they could describe their daydream aloud or write about it, then share it with the group.
References
Coats, K. (2013). Words with wings. Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books, 67(4), 213-214.
Grimes, N. (2013). Words with wings. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.
Ward, B. (2015). Words with wings. Language Arts, 92(4), 294-295. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1660922781?accountid=7113
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