This is an awesome book! Each page is about a different influential person in history. The title of the poem is what they’re known by then underneath it has their full name and the year and place where an event happened that made them famous. Then under that is the poem and under the poem is a short explanation on why the were famous. Very informative but also fun to read. I loved the pictures also. ( )

I liked this book for many reasons. The first person point of view from figures such as teachers, firefighters, Gahndi, Rosa Parks, and many more really put the reader into their shoes and allows you to see their point of view. I also believed the poetry of Patrick Lewis was well written and was concise and powerful. The big idea of the book is to help others as the figures in this book do, It's a powerful message that I believe will resonate with anyone that reads this book of poems. ( )

Even though this book has to do with biographies, it will also pair really well with a lesson about poetry. Poetry can be about anything and I would use this book to demonstrate that in a 8th grade classroom. An extension of this lesson would be to have students research someone they think is an underrated hero and write a poem about them. Another use for this book would be when doing a lesson on making connections. Students would read these poems about people doing extrordinary things and then research someone who is not in the book and write a poem about their contributions to the world.

"Heroes and She-rose" by J. Patrick Lewis is a collection of poems about amazing and everyday heroes. Each page is dedicated to a different hero. With 18 different heroes from Helen Keller, Martin Luther King and Rosie the Riveter, the reader learns about many different people and what important actions they made to make them heroes. The author uses rhythm and rhyme to help the poems flow. Lewis also uses many allusions throughout his poems by using many descriptive words to give meaning to the subject without actually mentioning the subject at all. I enjoyed this book of poems and could see myself using it to introduce poetry or an important person to a class. ( )

This is a collection of short poems perfect for the middle school level. They all cover the theme of being a hero and standing up for what is right; all of these people (and an animal) are famous or little known to our kids for amazing and inspiring efforts.

These poems would make a great supplement to units on the following topics:

Hellen Keller
Lewis & Clark
Tiananmen Square or peace activism/peaceful rebellion
Sled dogs (Togo the "wonder dog")
Albeiro Vargas/poverty/caring for the elderly/Columbia
Gandhi
World Trade Center attacks (9-11) or firefighters in general
Sister Jeannetee Normandin, a nun who founded an organization for women with AIDS.
Roberto Clemente
Lady Godiva (tax protesting)
Civil Rights, MLK Jr., Mahalia Jackson, Rosa Parks
Cesar Chavez, striking, migrant workers
Rosie the Riveter, WWII, women's rights
Ida Wells-Barnett (activism through journalism), NAACP, lynching
Joan of Arc
Immigrants (Ellis Island)
Child labor (modern-day slavery--would be an excellent piece to read during a unit on our nation's slave history)


Each poem includes a very brief nonfiction explanation of what this hero accomplished. Poem background = only 1 page for each topic.

Highly recommended! ( )