This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness

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Sidman, Joyce. 2007. This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. Ill. by Pamela Zagarenski. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN-13 9780618616800

In this two-part collection of poems, Sidman has presented a collection of apology poems and responses. The first collection of poems are apologies from a group of students written to someone in their life that they feel they should apologize to.  The second collection of poems are responses back to the student from the person they apologized to. The poems are in order in each section to match the apology with response. This collection of poems include rhymes, haiku, snippets, and more.

Some of the poems are funny, some sad, and others just entertaining to read. In Secret Message  by DaRon, he writes "Well, big brother, here's my secret message: I'm sorry I'm such a "weird kid." I'm sorry I embarrass you." DaRon places the poem in his brother's car under the seat in hopes that he will find it. LaMar, DaRon's brother, finds the poem. In his response, LaMar writes: "But I been thinking about you, little bro, since you put that note in my car. You got your own stuff-stuff I don't have." Both children and adults will find this unique collection of poems enjoyable. 

Most who read this collection of poems are not aware that "the class" is entirely fictional. Sidman wrote each poem as the student and the recipient, creating fictional names and situations. This collection is written so well that the reader, given they know the truth,  may forget the poems are completely fictional. 


If you enjoy this title by Joyce Sidman, you may also enjoy: Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Colors, Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, and Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature. 


This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness was the Children's Book Committee Award Winner 2010, the Cybils Award Winner 2007, and was a Texas Bluebonnet Nominee 2009.  

Publishers Weekly (03/05/2007):
Sidman ("Song of the Waterboatman and Other Pond Poems") explains, via an introduction from one of the book's sixth-grade characters, that the poems contained in this often humorous and touching anthology were inspired by the title poem of apology, which was penned by William Carlos Williams. The student in Mrs. Merz's class who introduces the book explains that some of the students received answers to their "sorry" poems.”

School Library Journal (05/01/2007):
Gr 4-7-“Mrs. Merz assigns her sixth-grade students to write poems of apology, and what emerges is a surprising array of emotions, poetic forms, and subjects from dead pets and biting hamsters to angry siblings and betrayal of trust. “



Further Activities for This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness:
http://www.americascores.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/This-Is-Just-to-Say-Apology.pdf

http://edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_38_112.html

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/just-say

http://writingfix.com/poetry_prompts/poems_of_apology1.htm