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Marilyn Nelson

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Wreath for Emmett Till: A Printz Award Winner Kindle Edition

by Marilyn Nelson (Author), Philippe Lardy (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 179 ratings

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A Coretta Scott King and Printz honor book now in paperback. A Wreath for Emmett Till is "A moving elegy," says The Bulletin.

In 1955 people all over the United States knew that Emmett Louis Till was a fourteen-year-old African American boy lynched for supposedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. The brutality of his murder, the open-casket funeral held by his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, and the acquittal of the men tried for the crime drew wide media attention. In a profound and chilling poem, award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson reminds us of the boy whose fate helped spark the civil rights movement.

Reading age

12 years and up
Print length

48 pages
Language

English
Grade level

7 - 9
Publisher

Clarion Books
Publication date

February 25, 2020
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Enhanced typesetting

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ISBN-13

978-0547076362
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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–This memorial to the lynched teen is in the Homeric tradition of poet-as-historian. It is a heroic crown of sonnets in Petrarchan rhyme scheme and, as such, is quite formal not only in form but in language. There are 15 poems in the cycle, the last line of one being the first line of the next, and each of the first lines makes up the entirety of the 15th. This chosen formality brings distance and reflection to readers, but also calls attention to the horrifically ugly events. The language is highly figurative in one sonnet, cruelly graphic in the next. The illustrations echo the representative nature of the poetry, using images from nature and taking advantage of the emotional quality of color. There is an introduction by the author, a page about Emmett Till, and literary and poetical footnotes to the sonnets. The artist also gives detailed reasoning behind his choices. This underpinning information makes this a full experience, eminently teachable from several aspects, including historical and literary.–Cris Riedel, Ellis B. Hyde Elementary School, Dansville, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 9-12. "I was nine years old when Emmett Till was lynched in 1955. His name and history have been a part of most of my life," writes the creator of award-winning Carver (2001) in the introduction to this offering--a searing poetry collection about Till's brutal, racially motivated murder. The poems form a heroic crown of sonnets--a sequence in which the last line of one poem becomes the first line of the next. "The strict form became a kind of insulation, a way of protecting myself from the intense pain of the subject matter," writes Nelson. The rigid form distills the words' overwhelming emotion into potent, heart-stopping lines that speak from changing perspectives, including that of a tree. Closing notes offer context to the sophisticated allusions to literature and history, but the raw power of many lines needs no translation. Nelson speaks of human history's deep contradictions: "My country, 'tis both / thy nightmare history and thy grand dream." But there's also the hope that comes from facing the past and moving forward: "In my house, there is still something called grace, / which melts ice shards of hate and makes hearts whole." When matched with Lardy's gripping, spare, symbolic paintings of tree trunks, blood-red roots, and wreaths of thorns, these poems are a powerful achievement that teens and adults will want to discuss together. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“These poems are a powerful achievement that teens and adults will want to discuss together.” Booklist, ALA, Starred Review

"Only Marilyn Nelson can take one of the most hideous events of the 20th century and make of it something glorious: An intricate cycle of 15 sonnets--an Heroic Crown, in which the last sonnet is made up of the previous 14. . . . It's a towering achievement, one whose power and anger and love will make breath catch in the throat and bring tears to the eyes." Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"This memorial to the lynched teen is in the Homeric tradition of poet-as-historian. . . . This chosen formality brings distance and reflection to readers, but also calls attentionto the horrifically ugly events." School Library Journal, Starred

"A moving elegy indeed. . . . Nelson's penetrating elequence ensures that the lyricism marries and draws strength from the structure rather than simply serving it, and the dramatic directness of the address would make these poems powerful indeed for recitation of readers' theater." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Emmett Till's murder by white racists in 1955 was so brutal that his mother let his tortured body testify to the ugly facts in an open-casket funeral. . . .
The elegant formality of the text, with its subtle power of tone and diction, is accentuated by Lardy's stylized, symbolically abstracted illustrations." Horn Book

"[S]ophisticated poetic form." Book Links January 2008 Book Links, ALA

About the Author

Philippe Tardy is an award winning illustrator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and the Boston Globe.

Marilyn Nelson is the author of Carver: A Life in Poems and Fields of Praise. She has won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Flora Stieglitz Straus Award, a Newbery Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor. Marilyn lives in Storrs, Connecticut, where she is a professor of English at the University of Connecticut.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00CR6VBZI
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarion Books; Reprint edition (February 25, 2020)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 25, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 12050 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 48 pages

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4.6 179 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

179 global ratings

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Minor, B

Exquisitely, tenderly wrought and incredibly important

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2020

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A beautiful literary tribute to a boy who deserved to live the life that was cut short by one of the most horrific acts of violent racism imaginable. This book, however, presents the kind of beauty that can only come from a combination of sensitivity and talent. Author and illustrator, working together to tell an unbearable story, honor Emmett Till's memory with the unlikely pairing of wrenching truth and exquisite beauty.

In author Marilyn Nelson's foreword, one feels the tenderness with which her work was wrought. She concludes her explanation of form (the book is written as a sonnet) and intent by saying, "I wrote this poem with my heart in my mouth and tears in my eyes, breathless with anticipation and surprise." As such, the work has a life of its own as she and illustrator Philippe Lardy let live what was taken.

This is a soulful, wrenching, illuminating, important read. Deserves to be in the "required reading" category of high school curriculums. A stunning historical and literary achievement. Rest in peace, Emmett.

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N. S.

Richie's Picks: A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2005

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I cannot recall if back in 1968 my eighth-grade American history teacher Mrs. Auryansen taught us about the death of Emmett Till. But one of the things I loved most about that year of studying with an enthusiastic teacher who often made American history come alive for me was the series of quarterly independent projects we had to plan and complete. Each marking period we would have to do an American history-related visual piece as well as a written piece and an oral piece.

"BY the flow of the inland river,

Whence the fleets of iron have fled,

Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,

Asleep are the ranks of the dead:

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment-day;

Under the one, the Blue,

Under the other, the Gray."

Whence the fleets of iron have fled,

Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,

Asleep are the ranks of the dead:

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment-day;

Under the one, the Blue,

Under the other, the Gray."

That's the first of the seven verses of "The Blue and The Gray" by Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907). I memorized and proudly recited those seven verses to my American history class, and that memory has stuck with me.

Having just celebrated my personal half-century mark, I'm all for turning around and returning to eighth-grade. And if I could do so, this is what I would memorize this time around for one of my oral pieces:

"Pierced by the screams of a shortened childhood,

my heartwood has been scarred for fifty years

by what I heard, with hundreds of green ears.

That jackal laughter. Two hundred years I stood

listening to small struggles to find food,

to the songs of creature life, which disappears

and comes again, to the music of the spheres.

Two hundred years of deaths I understood.

Then slaughter axed one quiet summer night,

shivering the deep silence of the stars.

A running boy, five men in close pursuit.

One dark, five pale faces in the moonlight.

Noise, silence, back-slaps. One match, five cigars.

Emmett Till's name still catches in the throat."

That is one of the fifteen sonnets that comprises A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL by Marilyn Nelson. After reading the book to myself and then reading it aloud to Shari, my thoughts kept wandering off yesterday to brainstorming how I might somehow set up an event down in the City on Sunday, August 28th--fifty years to the day since Emmett was kidnapped--in which someone who would both have known the Civil Rights movement and whose presence could attract a major audience (a Danny Glover or a Bill Russell or someone else of that stature) would read this powerful series of poems aloud to a crowd to commemorate the anniversary of the brutal death of Emmett Till, a death which horrified the world and made clear what had gone on for so long.

I can imagine having a choir and soloist perform at such an event, but definitely not a bunch of droning speakers whose verbosity might take away from the carefully chosen words of Marilyn Nelson's heroic crown of sonnets about Emmett Till. As Marilyn explains in her preface (HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS POEM):

"A crown of sonnets is a sequence of interlinked sonnets in which the last line of one becomes the first line, sometimes slightly altered, of the next. A heroic crown of sonnets is a sequence of fifteen interlocking sonnets, in which the last one is made up of the first lines of the preceeding fourteen."

Thus, it's like a literary crossword puzzle. Get one word wrong and it simply doesn't fit together. Get all the words exactly right and you've got something worthy of public performances by famous personalities and recitations by today's and tomorrow's American history students.

Marilyn Nelson got it right.

21 people found this helpful

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ASP

Skillful and impressive writing

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2022

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Nelson is a master of formal poetry and it shows in the crafting of this sonnet sequence and with such a fitting subject matter.

One person found this helpful

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Sheila Ryan Hara

A beautifully heartbreaking poem that must be read aloud!

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2016

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This bracing work of art, complete with illustrations depicting just enough of the story to know that it was true, will haunt me always. Written in iambic pentameter, a form familiar to students of Shakespeare, with allusions to crimes both historical and current, it teaches without preaching, making it an excellent resource and starting point for a discussion on civil rights.

One person found this helpful

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Adventure Reader

A great memorial for an innocent victim

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2013

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The poem is beautiful and profound, and the artwork goes along with its own story to tell. The book is an excellent addition to any collection of literature that covers America's past with racial segregation. The book may be categorized as "Children's" or "young adult" literature, but adults (like me) will find it very impressive and informative (especially since the author and artist included notes in the back of the book).

One person found this helpful

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blank

Brilliantly constructed. No, it is not an easy read.

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2011

This book is not of the whimsical, happy-go-lucky poetry most Americans (especially public school students) have become accustomed to. I believe 1 of the reviewers misses the point. In particular when she states that Emmett's murder is "loosely" tied to the 9/11 event by the author. Well, some of us Americans, do in fact, equate the many acts of violence perpetrated against Blacks, from slavery to Jim Crow and on, as some of the first acts of terrorism committed on American soil, so I beg to differ. Being an American of African descent, I do understand the connection. The sonnets are presented as a journey deep into the atrocities and the realities often hidden by the U.S. educational agenda-- is this perhaps the reason why some seem a bit threatened by their content? It is a critical history but also a presentation of hope for us all. As other reviewers have, I recommend it to be used in school curriculum (public, private etc.) and dissected - word by word if necessary. The truth of American history, the good with the bad, must be peeled back, layer by layer and examined WITH A CRITICAL EYE, if we are truly ever going to learn to live and work together with respect, honor and appreciation of our differences.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Wonderful to read out loud

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2019

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Carefully crafted and moving poem about an American tragedy and terrible crime, the murder of Emmett Till. The sonnet sequence was lovingly wrought. The illustrations added depth to the experience of reading this elegy. I highly recommend.

One person found this helpful

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violetcherry

A masterpiece

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2019

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If you want to study the form of sonnets and, more specifically, the sonnet wreath/crown, this is a great choice. The subject matter is so important and the work itself masterfully uses the form. Beautiful!

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

plum professor

remarkable and important

Reviewed in Canada on December 22, 2018

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A corona sonnet sequence for young readers, a tour de force poetically, and an important reminder about a pivotal event in the American Civil Rights movement.

zara

I love this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 24, 2015

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I love this book, it will be handy for my chapter on double acrostic crowns of sonnets in my dissertation. It took a bit longer to come than books usually do on amazon but not too much longer. Beautiful illustrations and meaningful poems.

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