Dizzy in Your Eyes

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mora, Pat. 2010. DIZZY IN YOUR EYES: POEMS ABOUT LOVE. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780375843754.

PLOT SUMMARY
DIZZY IN YOUR EYES is a collection of 50 poems written about love through the eyes of a teenager. The poems are not just about love for a girlfriend or boyfriend; they are also about love for family, music and pets. Readers will enjoy the variety of structure in the poems including free verse, haikus and sonnets.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)
Pat Mora has written a book that includes free verse poems and 20 other different types of poems. Each form of poetry is explained in a couple sentences on the preceding page. The explanation includes the structure and sometimes the origin of that form and why she chose that form for each poem. Some readers might be drawn to this book after reading some of Pat Mora’s children’s books when they were younger.

The varying subjects of the poems will keep readers interested throughout the book. This book has been nominated for a Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list and I think it would be a good choice to recommend for students who are not avid readers. The poems are easy to follow and fairly simple to interpret.

There are few cultural markers found in this book. A handful of the poems have Spanish words intermingled in them. Some just have a word or two such as “cholla”, ‘Papi”, and “corazon.” Another poem is a conversation between someone who speaks English and someone who speaks Spanish. This poem in particular will speak to readers who are learning English and it also shows the difficulties of communicating with someone who speaks another language.

Although there are Spanish words throughout the book, most of the poems are not specific to the Hispanic culture but relate to teenagers in all cultures. Almost every teenager can relate to the themes of love, hope, heartbreak and doubt.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
Dizzy in Your Eyes has been nominated for the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2011 List.

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “A collection of poems written in various forms, each narrated in a different teen voice… Peppered with Spanish, the selections define the emotion in countless ways. The quiet lyricism of some lines will prompt many readers to roll them over and over on their tongues.”

BOOKLIST: “From family and school to dating and being dumped, the subjects in these 50 poems cover teens’ experiences of love in many voices and situations. Several entries incorporate Spanish words and idioms, as in “Ode to Teachers,” a moving tribute in English with a Spanish translation. A few poems hit a too-sweet tone with forced rhyme, but the best are wry, passionate, casual, and honest”

CONNECTIONS
-Have students pick a form of poetry from the book and write their own poem.
-Pick a poem for students to read and have them write a response to the poem.