About book Forgive Me, I Meant To Do It: False Apology Poems (2012)
Have you ever done something that was a little dishonest, but you felt compelled to do it, and then had to apologize for doing it, but could not find an acceptable reason why you did it in the first place. Well, Gail Carson Levine has done it for you. Inspired by William Carlos Williams’ poem “This is just to say”, she has found excuses for all sorts of characters; including the grandma from Little Red Riding Hood who knew the wolf would eat her granddaughter; to the girl who pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall or the bully who locked your little brother in the school locker. Her poems are full of irony and sarcasm, she even quips about her relationship with her editor, placing the introduction in the middle of the book just to be awkward and then “stirred the splinters [of a pencil] into her tea!” Her poems are justly illustrated by Matthew Cordell, in a whimsical cartoonish style, using pen and ink. His images are simplistic and reflect the satire of the situation in each poem; he even flips the book on its side to represent the tall bed in the princess and the pea. Although an interesting read, overall, I did not get a great feel from this book of poetry, it took me a few reads to see the irony in the first poem and only found a few poems truly humorous, “I did not mean to put you off reading this book, forgive me, it’s just not my cup of tea!”Awards:Selected for the NYPL's Children's Books 2012: PoetryCapitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens 2012 Non-apology poems. For example:Just so you know-I went to Arby's todayfor lunch and paid cashyou had washed your laundrybut failed to empty your pockets(again)Forgive me-I used your tip moneyto buy lunch insteadof saving it for a future washing machine filter.(Mine doesn't quite follow the exact format, but you get the idea. I say I'm sorry, but I'm not at all.) Levine touches on several familiar fairy tales, as well as some personal and yet universal situations. Amusing and quick to read. If it wasn't mildly negative in overall tone and purpose, I'd have my family spend a little time writing some of these. But -forgive me- we are nasty enough without help or prompting.
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Elementary school students will like this.
—Heavenicole
