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I Am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending
Celebrated poet Lee Bennett Hopkins shares a diverse collection of poems that ask (with the help of Newbery medalist Lois Lowry, former US Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis, and others), "Who do you want to be?"
Kids can imagine pretending and dressing up in this playful poetry collection, flexing their creative muscles and bucking stereotypes. (Who says that girls can't be knights and boys can't be mermaids?) Fifteen poets write about who they might like to be, musing what life would be like as a wizard, a firefighter, a video-game inventor, and more.
"There is nothing better than being yourself. You are unique and special in every way. Once in a while it might be fun to think about becoming someone (or something!) else. Who would you like to be? Imagine that you're someone else!" --Lee Bennett Hopkins
Kids can imagine pretending and dressing up in this playful poetry collection, flexing their creative muscles and bucking stereotypes. (Who says that girls can't be knights and boys can't be mermaids?) Fifteen poets write about who they might like to be, musing what life would be like as a wizard, a firefighter, a video-game inventor, and more.
"There is nothing better than being yourself. You are unique and special in every way. Once in a while it might be fun to think about becoming someone (or something!) else. Who would you like to be? Imagine that you're someone else!" --Lee Bennett Hopkins
- GenresPoetryPicture Books
32 pages, Hardcover
Published July 2, 2019
1 person is currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Lee Bennett Hopkins
209 books52 followersLee Bennett Hopkins was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017. He holds a Guinness Book of Records citation for compiling the most anthologies for children. He has also received the Christopher Award, the Regina Medal, and the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award. He lives in Florida.
For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...
For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 3, 2019
First. Lee Bennett Hopkins.
Now, if you have followed me for some time, we can stop right there. Mr. Hankins is adding the latest children's poetry anthology from the most prolific curator of children's poetry in this contemporary era in appreciation for verse written and designed for young readers.
And you would be right. I have been waiting for I AM SOMEONE ELSE: POEMS ABOUT PRETENDING for a long time. And now it is here. And it will speak to the quiet role-playing that so many of did when we were children.
As a child, one of my favorite cartoons was from Warner Bros. A character, "Ralphie" got himself into trouble for travelling away from the moment into the world of his dreams where he was cast as hero of his own narrative. In Lee Bennett Hopkins's new collection, we see children entering into more of a hope, dream, and goal-oriented state as they imagine who they could be in the moment and in the future.
First, some features that belong not to the poet or the poets in meeting, but to the artist, Chris Hsu. There are a lot of things to see and to process in the early part of the book. Many times the title page is glossed over in the interest of entering into the collection, but I want to take pause here to present some things Hsu has tucked into the title spread: a classroom not where students are already seated, but coming into community. It is the beginning of a day and of possibility with morning sun peering into the room from the left. It is clearly nine o'clock in Hsu's learning community, a better time to begin the school day according to a raft of research. A brown boy carries a pink backpack and a bulletin board in the back of the room has a hand print in the same number as those present in the room which suggests that these are the children we will follow through their day in the presentation of the poems. The hand prints are presented in ROYGBIV but moving upwards (I wonder how many reviewers will pick up on this small detail that seems to allude to other works like this years Hand's Up?).
An extension activity for the title page alone might be to have children identify the imaginations and goals of each of the figures/children depicted on the title page as we encounter them in the pages of the collection. Who imagined what? Who did what? Who hopes or wants for something specific to them?
And this was just the title spread.
In an introduction to the reader, Lee Bennett Hopkins (Dear One) leads from the heart to tell the reader, "There is nothing better than being yourself! You are unique and special in every way." I want to take a moment here to suggest that we often see the special and unique, and most human, traits in our media posthumously. Jim Henson. Bob Keeshan. Fred Rogers. Let's not miss what LBH has brought to us over the course of over four decades by way of loving care of children's poetry and how it presented to its intended readers. What an affirmation. Might I remind the reader here that we have not entered into the collection of poems at this point in the review?
After his introduction, Dear One takes on a quiet role of the guide into the three sections under which the poems will fall in the collection. Under the headings of Wish! (Be a Storybook Character), Support! (Be a Person Who Helps), and Invent! (Be a Person Who's a Maker) come the invitations to consider how each comes into fruition through a series of questions followed by the encouraged charge to imagine!, to serve!, and to create!
Balance is brought to the collection with the presentation of five poems under each category. For the Writing Studio, these poems could be presented in mini lesson style with a feature poem for each day of the week which invite possibility for this collection of poems to become an anchor text for up to three weeks of exploration of hopes, dreams, and goals for the classroom community and its members.
Each of the three categories has poets who will be familiar to those who read children's poetry. I present this observation because one of the gifts of Lee Bennett Hopkins's anthologies is the ability to "ladder" (Professor Teri Lesesne) out to the poets and their own work in children's poetry. On the first opening of the first category is an example of this. Here we see J. Patrick Lewis's "Wild Child" paired with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's "For a Little While." Both poems here celebrate a girl's ability to be a wizard of magic and to be a queen in the moment all the while recognizing the innate "girl power" that exists within both "pretenders." Both Lewis and VanDerwater have a number of titles that are classroom ready covering a variety of subjects. Showcased within a Lee Bennett Hopkins anthology is an opportunity for the classroom teacher to see what the poet does best: present poems for young readers.
Janet Clare Fagal's "A Mermaid's Tale" presents a surprise within the verse and vision within the opening. I don't want to offer spoilers here, but think Jessica Love award-winning titles here. The designers of the book do a very nice job of letting this poem and imagery live within their own spread of the collection and both shine in the presentation.
Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "A Pirate's Life for Me" gives us a hint at one of the classmate's names within the collection, Ollie. Dotlich is an Indiana treasure for children's poetry and her poem within the collection reads like a pirate's song with its breaks and stops and rhythmic presentation. That Ollie wears eye glasses here might call to mind for readers George Ella Lyon's THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN. Dotlich and Hsu work wonderfully-well together as the reader begins to see how the poet has created a personality where as Hsu begins to present his "play space" in faint beige and blue-gray outlines that present a sense of the imagination that is being built in by the child and the poem.
Between the Wish! and Support! categories, the designer of the collection has built in a transition for the room that moves from everyone bringing in an individual wish to a sense of belonging under a call to work. The children link hands in a kind of ring play as the elements around them change to representative badges and boxes and hydrants and stethoscopes and goggles. In the Writing Studio, a classroom teacher might share the image and ask what kinds of work might be done by the person who carries or uses ___________? In order to gauge where children might be by way of gender role limits and possibilities, an invitation might be to draw lines without judgment between the children and the symbols related to work.
Matt Forrest Esenwine lends "The One" to the collection with the common desire of young boys to be firemen. What the poet presents here is an affirmation to a new awareness and appreciation of the workforce as the reader discovers the mentor for the would-be firefighter. The synthesis of image and verse here works very nicely as the boy depicted has invented as much as he can of the dream with what is available in the room with Hsu filling in the facades and flames.
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes (please look up her Today's Little Ditty resources out there in web and book forms) offers "Bellies, Bones, and Paws" to encourage the budding veterinarian or one who might volunteer in the care of animals. What I really like about this poem from the Writing Studio standpoint is how the poet works the title into the poem, a model for young writers who might try the same approach. Hsu's weighing of a penny bank by our classmate is a playful touch that belongs to the child on the page while the artist fills in elements of an office space and a waiting room.
Heidi Bee Roemer takes on the imagined role as a police officer which presents our classmate as as one whose motivation lies here: "More than anything,/I want to make people's lives better/and neighborhoods safer." This from a comment made by the child's teacher who says, "sometimes police officers/make mistakes." This is the one time within the collection that we see/read the presence of a teacher and it is reserved for a time where a lesson in contemporary social issues has made its way into the play and into the planning. The line break at the end of this poem reveals the child's goal within the dream.
In the visual interlude between Serve! and Invent!, Hsu guides the children into another transition where the ring of serve has become a circular table of making (while she appears earlier within the collection, I want to give a nod to VanDerwater's WITH MY HANDS here so that you might go and look for it as an extension to the poems featured in this review). What I like about this depiction is that the children are in various states of "making" with different materials at the table. It does not appear that a project has been assigned and the illustration suggests the sharing of materials and ideas vs. working alone and in isolation. The inventing here at the table suggests the kind of making that might happen outside of the classroom as we see a construction worker's hat, a chef's hat, a hammer, a giraffe, and books (our friend, Dear One, suggests that there is a most special means of invention of which we can all be a part if we are invited and encouraged).
Prince Redcloud (a regular figure within LBH anthologies) presents the possibilities of making pastries and pies in the traditions of one's father while gender neutralizing what is means to be a "chef" and this is the standout feature of this poem for me as a girl wishes to be a chef like her father. That the room provides enough physical materials for this young child to play reminds me of the older, larger wooden play sets of the 60s and 70s that used to invite kitchen play (tell me these are still a thing because I used to love them as a child).
Ollie, our would be pirate, returns in LBH's "What a Poet Can Do" and we see our classmate working feverishly at a laptop to present new poems in the interest of showing his classmates themselves through the words he is typing. There is a small Hsu detail here not to be missed in a piece of paper by Ollie that has early attempts at listing and rhyming to vet out the words that might eventually come together to be a poem.
Michele Krueger's "Dancing Child" presents the reason for Hsu's giraffe in the interlude as a boy shows us how music makes his body move. Again, the designers of the book have been purposeful in the presentation of pretend having no gender specificity. Krueger's poetic description of dance is mentor text in how we might write about our hopes and dreams in the Writing Studio via description and listing.
Douglas Florian's "Video Game Hall of Fame" takes a classmate into the world of gaming as a real and ever-changing platform for invention in both authoring and and programming. And our classmate? A girl who has already begun to imagine through her virtual reality headset the very real possibilities for a working lifetime.
Play is the prologue to the people we might become and the work we might do as a citizen of a larger community outside of ourselves. Pretend as play and pretend as planning toward purpose are both presented in this new Lee Bennett Hopkins collection.
I have another of Dear One's titles in my own collection and I all the better for it as I have been with each release. I am proud of my distant poetic friend and source of enlightenment and encouragement. I am also proud of each person within the community of children's poetry for their piece within this new book.
Now, if you have followed me for some time, we can stop right there. Mr. Hankins is adding the latest children's poetry anthology from the most prolific curator of children's poetry in this contemporary era in appreciation for verse written and designed for young readers.
And you would be right. I have been waiting for I AM SOMEONE ELSE: POEMS ABOUT PRETENDING for a long time. And now it is here. And it will speak to the quiet role-playing that so many of did when we were children.
As a child, one of my favorite cartoons was from Warner Bros. A character, "Ralphie" got himself into trouble for travelling away from the moment into the world of his dreams where he was cast as hero of his own narrative. In Lee Bennett Hopkins's new collection, we see children entering into more of a hope, dream, and goal-oriented state as they imagine who they could be in the moment and in the future.
First, some features that belong not to the poet or the poets in meeting, but to the artist, Chris Hsu. There are a lot of things to see and to process in the early part of the book. Many times the title page is glossed over in the interest of entering into the collection, but I want to take pause here to present some things Hsu has tucked into the title spread: a classroom not where students are already seated, but coming into community. It is the beginning of a day and of possibility with morning sun peering into the room from the left. It is clearly nine o'clock in Hsu's learning community, a better time to begin the school day according to a raft of research. A brown boy carries a pink backpack and a bulletin board in the back of the room has a hand print in the same number as those present in the room which suggests that these are the children we will follow through their day in the presentation of the poems. The hand prints are presented in ROYGBIV but moving upwards (I wonder how many reviewers will pick up on this small detail that seems to allude to other works like this years Hand's Up?).
An extension activity for the title page alone might be to have children identify the imaginations and goals of each of the figures/children depicted on the title page as we encounter them in the pages of the collection. Who imagined what? Who did what? Who hopes or wants for something specific to them?
And this was just the title spread.
In an introduction to the reader, Lee Bennett Hopkins (Dear One) leads from the heart to tell the reader, "There is nothing better than being yourself! You are unique and special in every way." I want to take a moment here to suggest that we often see the special and unique, and most human, traits in our media posthumously. Jim Henson. Bob Keeshan. Fred Rogers. Let's not miss what LBH has brought to us over the course of over four decades by way of loving care of children's poetry and how it presented to its intended readers. What an affirmation. Might I remind the reader here that we have not entered into the collection of poems at this point in the review?
After his introduction, Dear One takes on a quiet role of the guide into the three sections under which the poems will fall in the collection. Under the headings of Wish! (Be a Storybook Character), Support! (Be a Person Who Helps), and Invent! (Be a Person Who's a Maker) come the invitations to consider how each comes into fruition through a series of questions followed by the encouraged charge to imagine!, to serve!, and to create!
Balance is brought to the collection with the presentation of five poems under each category. For the Writing Studio, these poems could be presented in mini lesson style with a feature poem for each day of the week which invite possibility for this collection of poems to become an anchor text for up to three weeks of exploration of hopes, dreams, and goals for the classroom community and its members.
Each of the three categories has poets who will be familiar to those who read children's poetry. I present this observation because one of the gifts of Lee Bennett Hopkins's anthologies is the ability to "ladder" (Professor Teri Lesesne) out to the poets and their own work in children's poetry. On the first opening of the first category is an example of this. Here we see J. Patrick Lewis's "Wild Child" paired with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's "For a Little While." Both poems here celebrate a girl's ability to be a wizard of magic and to be a queen in the moment all the while recognizing the innate "girl power" that exists within both "pretenders." Both Lewis and VanDerwater have a number of titles that are classroom ready covering a variety of subjects. Showcased within a Lee Bennett Hopkins anthology is an opportunity for the classroom teacher to see what the poet does best: present poems for young readers.
Janet Clare Fagal's "A Mermaid's Tale" presents a surprise within the verse and vision within the opening. I don't want to offer spoilers here, but think Jessica Love award-winning titles here. The designers of the book do a very nice job of letting this poem and imagery live within their own spread of the collection and both shine in the presentation.
Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "A Pirate's Life for Me" gives us a hint at one of the classmate's names within the collection, Ollie. Dotlich is an Indiana treasure for children's poetry and her poem within the collection reads like a pirate's song with its breaks and stops and rhythmic presentation. That Ollie wears eye glasses here might call to mind for readers George Ella Lyon's THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN. Dotlich and Hsu work wonderfully-well together as the reader begins to see how the poet has created a personality where as Hsu begins to present his "play space" in faint beige and blue-gray outlines that present a sense of the imagination that is being built in by the child and the poem.
Between the Wish! and Support! categories, the designer of the collection has built in a transition for the room that moves from everyone bringing in an individual wish to a sense of belonging under a call to work. The children link hands in a kind of ring play as the elements around them change to representative badges and boxes and hydrants and stethoscopes and goggles. In the Writing Studio, a classroom teacher might share the image and ask what kinds of work might be done by the person who carries or uses ___________? In order to gauge where children might be by way of gender role limits and possibilities, an invitation might be to draw lines without judgment between the children and the symbols related to work.
Matt Forrest Esenwine lends "The One" to the collection with the common desire of young boys to be firemen. What the poet presents here is an affirmation to a new awareness and appreciation of the workforce as the reader discovers the mentor for the would-be firefighter. The synthesis of image and verse here works very nicely as the boy depicted has invented as much as he can of the dream with what is available in the room with Hsu filling in the facades and flames.
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes (please look up her Today's Little Ditty resources out there in web and book forms) offers "Bellies, Bones, and Paws" to encourage the budding veterinarian or one who might volunteer in the care of animals. What I really like about this poem from the Writing Studio standpoint is how the poet works the title into the poem, a model for young writers who might try the same approach. Hsu's weighing of a penny bank by our classmate is a playful touch that belongs to the child on the page while the artist fills in elements of an office space and a waiting room.
Heidi Bee Roemer takes on the imagined role as a police officer which presents our classmate as as one whose motivation lies here: "More than anything,/I want to make people's lives better/and neighborhoods safer." This from a comment made by the child's teacher who says, "sometimes police officers/make mistakes." This is the one time within the collection that we see/read the presence of a teacher and it is reserved for a time where a lesson in contemporary social issues has made its way into the play and into the planning. The line break at the end of this poem reveals the child's goal within the dream.
In the visual interlude between Serve! and Invent!, Hsu guides the children into another transition where the ring of serve has become a circular table of making (while she appears earlier within the collection, I want to give a nod to VanDerwater's WITH MY HANDS here so that you might go and look for it as an extension to the poems featured in this review). What I like about this depiction is that the children are in various states of "making" with different materials at the table. It does not appear that a project has been assigned and the illustration suggests the sharing of materials and ideas vs. working alone and in isolation. The inventing here at the table suggests the kind of making that might happen outside of the classroom as we see a construction worker's hat, a chef's hat, a hammer, a giraffe, and books (our friend, Dear One, suggests that there is a most special means of invention of which we can all be a part if we are invited and encouraged).
Prince Redcloud (a regular figure within LBH anthologies) presents the possibilities of making pastries and pies in the traditions of one's father while gender neutralizing what is means to be a "chef" and this is the standout feature of this poem for me as a girl wishes to be a chef like her father. That the room provides enough physical materials for this young child to play reminds me of the older, larger wooden play sets of the 60s and 70s that used to invite kitchen play (tell me these are still a thing because I used to love them as a child).
Ollie, our would be pirate, returns in LBH's "What a Poet Can Do" and we see our classmate working feverishly at a laptop to present new poems in the interest of showing his classmates themselves through the words he is typing. There is a small Hsu detail here not to be missed in a piece of paper by Ollie that has early attempts at listing and rhyming to vet out the words that might eventually come together to be a poem.
Michele Krueger's "Dancing Child" presents the reason for Hsu's giraffe in the interlude as a boy shows us how music makes his body move. Again, the designers of the book have been purposeful in the presentation of pretend having no gender specificity. Krueger's poetic description of dance is mentor text in how we might write about our hopes and dreams in the Writing Studio via description and listing.
Douglas Florian's "Video Game Hall of Fame" takes a classmate into the world of gaming as a real and ever-changing platform for invention in both authoring and and programming. And our classmate? A girl who has already begun to imagine through her virtual reality headset the very real possibilities for a working lifetime.
Play is the prologue to the people we might become and the work we might do as a citizen of a larger community outside of ourselves. Pretend as play and pretend as planning toward purpose are both presented in this new Lee Bennett Hopkins collection.
I have another of Dear One's titles in my own collection and I all the better for it as I have been with each release. I am proud of my distant poetic friend and source of enlightenment and encouragement. I am also proud of each person within the community of children's poetry for their piece within this new book.
October 10, 2019
First sentence: There is nothing better than being yourself. You are unique and special in every way.
Premise/plot: This is a collection of poems that celebrates playing pretend or make believe. Many poems imagine what it would be like to be to be a grown up. Think...a police officer...a fire fighter... an architect...etc.
My thoughts: I wanted to love this one. I did. I loved playing pretend when I was little. I loved to pretend I was Laura Ingalls going west in a covered wagon. I loved to play going on vacation. I could go on, but I won’t. Instead of really being about pretend and make believe...it focuses instead on career options and choices.
I think careers are covered in many curriculums. This would be great for classroom use.
Premise/plot: This is a collection of poems that celebrates playing pretend or make believe. Many poems imagine what it would be like to be to be a grown up. Think...a police officer...a fire fighter... an architect...etc.
My thoughts: I wanted to love this one. I did. I loved playing pretend when I was little. I loved to pretend I was Laura Ingalls going west in a covered wagon. I loved to play going on vacation. I could go on, but I won’t. Instead of really being about pretend and make believe...it focuses instead on career options and choices.
I think careers are covered in many curriculums. This would be great for classroom use.
February 4, 2020
A collection of fifteen poems encouraging children to be themselves however dream and imagine themselves in various occupations. Occupations include doctors, nurses, firefighters, a homemaker, veterinarian, police officer, pilot, inventors, engineer, writer, dancer, or imaginative characters such as pirates, royalty, mermaids, or a wizard. A great introduction to poetry and careers. It would be excellent in the classroom.
Illustrations are a mixture of muted with vivid colors. The background is muted the vivid colors were reserved for use of the character and their tools of the trade.
Illustrations are a mixture of muted with vivid colors. The background is muted the vivid colors were reserved for use of the character and their tools of the trade.
July 8, 2019
I'm been looking forward to this newest poetry anthology from Lee Bennett Hopkins for a long time because some friends have poems in it, thus they've shared about it in the early stages. First of all, each poem brings a new flavor to the feast that pretending is for children, perhaps for adults, too? Haven't you older readers ever imagined something when reading a book or seeing a movie, a 'what if?' thought of being that hero or heroine, that winner of the competition, that scientist who found a cure? Children, of course, do that, too, and here in this book, six children are first introduced by illustrator Chris Hsu on the title page, ready to begin the day, to pretend all kinds of roles. Hopkins divides the book into three sections: Wish! Support! and Invent!
In Wish! children gather as a community on the carpet, to share their wishes, to be storybook characters. They might choose to be a "Wild Child" wizard as J. Patrick Lewis writes, a queen "For A Little While" as Amy Ludwig VanDerwater shows, or Janet Clare Fagal's mermaid in "A Mermaid's Tale" who could "feast on seaweed, sip sweet sun". Each time the poems appear, Hsu's illustration enhances the poetry transforming the children into their magical wishes.
Support! includes the pretending to "Be A Person Who Helps", showing the group circling with hand-holding, each prop needed on the carpet behind them. Like this one, these "invitations" to enter each part gives a chance for those reading this, alone or aloud to a group to talk about what might be next, who might be included. Matt Forrest Esenwine wants to be "The One", a firefighter, who "wears the suit" and surprises with "so one day I can be just like my mom." Added, too, is the sweet "Bellies, Bones, and Paws" poem by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, celebrating the pretending many children do, playing doctor to stuffies: "I'll give them treats and cuddles/to make them feel at ease." Breaking gender barriers can be found, too, in several poems, like Heidi Bee Roemer's "A Suit of Blue" when a young girl shows her wish to be a police officer: "I want to wear a suit of blue,/a badge and boots,/and bravely serve my community."
More wonder can be found in Invent! that highlights all kinds of innovation, including becoming a chef in Prince Redcloud's "One Day" where a young girl sees how her father "takes time/to make/everything special/everything right." Anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins shares a child declaring "I will weave words/to make you sigh,/laugh,/cry" in "What A Poet Can Do", then Douglas Florian shouts his wish in "Video Hall of Fame" through a replay of old games and his wish to "Invent a game of great design,/with features that are solely mine–".
Sharing nine poems gives only a taste of this special new book, one I "pretend" that is in every classroom, inspiring all to make their own personal wishes.
In Wish! children gather as a community on the carpet, to share their wishes, to be storybook characters. They might choose to be a "Wild Child" wizard as J. Patrick Lewis writes, a queen "For A Little While" as Amy Ludwig VanDerwater shows, or Janet Clare Fagal's mermaid in "A Mermaid's Tale" who could "feast on seaweed, sip sweet sun". Each time the poems appear, Hsu's illustration enhances the poetry transforming the children into their magical wishes.
Support! includes the pretending to "Be A Person Who Helps", showing the group circling with hand-holding, each prop needed on the carpet behind them. Like this one, these "invitations" to enter each part gives a chance for those reading this, alone or aloud to a group to talk about what might be next, who might be included. Matt Forrest Esenwine wants to be "The One", a firefighter, who "wears the suit" and surprises with "so one day I can be just like my mom." Added, too, is the sweet "Bellies, Bones, and Paws" poem by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, celebrating the pretending many children do, playing doctor to stuffies: "I'll give them treats and cuddles/to make them feel at ease." Breaking gender barriers can be found, too, in several poems, like Heidi Bee Roemer's "A Suit of Blue" when a young girl shows her wish to be a police officer: "I want to wear a suit of blue,/a badge and boots,/and bravely serve my community."
More wonder can be found in Invent! that highlights all kinds of innovation, including becoming a chef in Prince Redcloud's "One Day" where a young girl sees how her father "takes time/to make/everything special/everything right." Anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins shares a child declaring "I will weave words/to make you sigh,/laugh,/cry" in "What A Poet Can Do", then Douglas Florian shouts his wish in "Video Hall of Fame" through a replay of old games and his wish to "Invent a game of great design,/with features that are solely mine–".
Sharing nine poems gives only a taste of this special new book, one I "pretend" that is in every classroom, inspiring all to make their own personal wishes.
February 22, 2020
Playing pretend is universal among children and this illustrated anthology of poetry about imagining embraces that commonality. A brief introduction reminds the reader that “there is nothing better than being yourself” then goes on to explain that it is fun to think about being someone else at times. Poetry is divided into three categories, each of which features a unique heading poem. “Wish! Be a Storybook Character” features poems about fantasy role play such as wizards, pirates and even what it might be like to be a giant’s wife, courtesy of Lois Lowry. “Support! Be a Person who Helps” includes poems about career role play such as pilot, veterinarian and police officer. “Invent! Be a Person Who’s a Maker” is a collection of poems related to STEAM professions featuring a builder, poet and chef. Even video game designers get a poem in this section. Ethnically diverse illustrations with each poem depict children dressing up to match their imaginary scenario. Refreshingly, the illustrations also support imaginary play as an ungendered activity by depicting both boys and girls dressing up in various costumes such as a male nurse and a female video game designer.
Thoughts: This anthology is a great contemporary way to incorporate poetry into STEAM lessons in the elementary library. I would definitely add this title to update a poetry collection. A table of contents would make this title more functional but the lack of doesn’t distract from the overall reading experience.
Thoughts: This anthology is a great contemporary way to incorporate poetry into STEAM lessons in the elementary library. I would definitely add this title to update a poetry collection. A table of contents would make this title more functional but the lack of doesn’t distract from the overall reading experience.
December 6, 2021
I Am Someone Else: Poems about Pretending is a poetry book written by Lee Bennett Hopkins. It has not won any awards but it is an informative book. This book is intended for ages 3-6 which is preschool through first grade.
This book is a book of poems about various different poems written by poets who know what they want to be when they grow up or what they want to dress up as. The book is split into four different sections: imagine, wish, support, and invent Each section contains poems related to the topic like for example the support section is about being a person that liks to help including: firefighter, veternairan, police officer, nurse, and pilot. Those are just some of the 15 poms displayed in this book.
I gave this book five stars because not only does it teach children a lesson showing them that they are unique and special it also shows them they can be whoever they want to be. I know dress up is a huge thing especially in preschool and kindergarten. The illistrations are very creative and are able to give the children a visual of what each career looks like. The plot is great because it could help children get an idea of what they want to be when they grow up. This is a perfect book to show to students when teachng in a classroom.
This book is a book of poems about various different poems written by poets who know what they want to be when they grow up or what they want to dress up as. The book is split into four different sections: imagine, wish, support, and invent Each section contains poems related to the topic like for example the support section is about being a person that liks to help including: firefighter, veternairan, police officer, nurse, and pilot. Those are just some of the 15 poms displayed in this book.
I gave this book five stars because not only does it teach children a lesson showing them that they are unique and special it also shows them they can be whoever they want to be. I know dress up is a huge thing especially in preschool and kindergarten. The illistrations are very creative and are able to give the children a visual of what each career looks like. The plot is great because it could help children get an idea of what they want to be when they grow up. This is a perfect book to show to students when teachng in a classroom.
December 23, 2019
This collection of poems edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins is meant to inspire pretend play and features 15 poems by beloved writers organized into three categories: Wish! Be a Storybook Character, Support! Be a Person Who Helps, and Invent! Be a Person Who’s a Maker. Poems about queens, pirates, police officers, pilots, poets, dancers and more give children the opportunity to see themselves in a new way and will hopefully inspire play. Chris Hsu’s digital illustrations are energetic and inclusive while weaving the different voices of the poets together beautifully.
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February 19, 2020*Read for Poetry for Children and Young Adults class*
This is a very fun collection of poems about pretending to be someone or something else. The illustrations were colorful and vibrant. They definitely make the poems come to life. I think kids can definitely relate to the experiences of imagining to be someone else, whether it be for a career they think they might want to have in the future or an imaginary creature. I would definitely recommend this poetry collection for children.
This is a very fun collection of poems about pretending to be someone or something else. The illustrations were colorful and vibrant. They definitely make the poems come to life. I think kids can definitely relate to the experiences of imagining to be someone else, whether it be for a career they think they might want to have in the future or an imaginary creature. I would definitely recommend this poetry collection for children.
October 21, 2021
Genre: Poetry
Grade Level: K-2
This poetry collection was very fun and easy to read! I think this would be great for younger students who still enjoy imaginary friends and playing pretend because they could relate to it so well. The drawings were also very cute and simple. Overall, this collection was a nice, quick read that I found very enjoyable.
Grade Level: K-2
This poetry collection was very fun and easy to read! I think this would be great for younger students who still enjoy imaginary friends and playing pretend because they could relate to it so well. The drawings were also very cute and simple. Overall, this collection was a nice, quick read that I found very enjoyable.
Want to Read
June 26, 2019Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
September 4, 2019
It was a nice poetry book of pretending.
September 25, 2019
A charming anthology celebrating the joys and dreams of make believe.
December 11, 2019
Delightful and very playful.
December 13, 2019
As a librarian, former elementary school teacher, and big time poetry lover, I am always looking for another good children's poetry book. I'm excited to add this one to my library's collection.
February 3, 2020
From make believe to helping careers to makers, a variety of poems that celebrate both dreams and aspirations.
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June 25, 2020Fun collection of poems celebrating pretending featuring a multi-cultural cast of kids.
February 13, 2023
Cute book of collected poems about future careers and playing pretend. The poems are interesting, though sparsely illustrated.
February 14, 2023
Really a joy to read; perfect for nurturing a child's dreams
January 12, 2020
A charming anthology of poems expertly collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and delightfully illustrated by Chris Hsu. Hopkins introduces I Am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending with these affirming words:
There is nothing better than being yourself. You are unique and special in every way.
He then goes on to suggest that, even though you're perfect as you are, once in a while you might like to have fun imagining what it's like to be someone else. The 15 poems in this collection are divided into three sections to help guide young readers in their imaginings: "Wish! Be a Storybook Character," "Support! Be a Person Who Helps," and "Invent! Be a Person Who's a Maker." Readers are encouraged to try on what they might like to be—a dancer? a police officer? a video game designer?—as well as personas that are more fanciful, like holding court as a queen, becoming a "wild child" wizard, or discovering the deep as a mermaid explorer.
I feel so fortunate to be sharing pages in this collection with Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Janet Clare Fagal, Douglas Florian, Joan Bransfield Graham, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Michele Krueger, J. Patrick Lewis, Lois Lowry, Prince Redcloud, Heidi Bee Roemer, Darren Sardelli, Lawrence Schimel, and Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.
There is nothing better than being yourself. You are unique and special in every way.
He then goes on to suggest that, even though you're perfect as you are, once in a while you might like to have fun imagining what it's like to be someone else. The 15 poems in this collection are divided into three sections to help guide young readers in their imaginings: "Wish! Be a Storybook Character," "Support! Be a Person Who Helps," and "Invent! Be a Person Who's a Maker." Readers are encouraged to try on what they might like to be—a dancer? a police officer? a video game designer?—as well as personas that are more fanciful, like holding court as a queen, becoming a "wild child" wizard, or discovering the deep as a mermaid explorer.
I feel so fortunate to be sharing pages in this collection with Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Janet Clare Fagal, Douglas Florian, Joan Bransfield Graham, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Michele Krueger, J. Patrick Lewis, Lois Lowry, Prince Redcloud, Heidi Bee Roemer, Darren Sardelli, Lawrence Schimel, and Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.
July 12, 2019
This book may appear to be lengthy at first for a preschooler but as you really take the time to read through it, you realize that it's a great introduction for children who want to imagine who they might be! It is written through fifteen poems about various occupations such as firefighters, nurses, doctors and video game inventors along with more imaginative characters such as wizards and pirates. The illustrations are very cute with various shades of neutral colors for the background and vivid colors for the characters that stand out on the page.
While it's fun to imagine who you could be, the book from the start encourages kids to be themselves.
Reviewer 1
While it's fun to imagine who you could be, the book from the start encourages kids to be themselves.
Reviewer 1
November 20, 2019
I Am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Published 2019/ 32 pages
This book was alright. My favorite part was how creative the book was. It showed children to think big and be imaginative. In my future classroom, I could the book to discuss different possible careers and such.
Lee Bennett Hopkins
Published 2019/ 32 pages
This book was alright. My favorite part was how creative the book was. It showed children to think big and be imaginative. In my future classroom, I could the book to discuss different possible careers and such.
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