Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Naomi Shihab Nye is one of our most important living poets, and this collection did not disappoint. The notes at the beginning of the book were very helpful for context for the very distinct, but interwoven sections. As a poet myself, I deeply loved and appreciated the final poem in the collection "Slim Thoughts". I was also glad to see the poems "So Much Happiness" and "Kindness", two of my favorites by the author.

I love Naomi Shihab Nye's work when I love it. Do you know what I mean? She is one of those brilliant writers whose work, when it touches me, slices me to the core. On the other hand, some of the poems leave me feeling distant. I just can't find a way in. Maybe it's because I'm not knowledgeable enough in history and politics. I love her poems that take on these topics (and many others) and make them personal and universal at the same time. But some of them feel locked away, like I don't have the secret key I need to read and really FEEL them. I'm always grateful to read one of her books, because I know there will be gems for me to find. I highlighted many lines and whole poems to come back and revisit.

Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Naomi Shihab Nye's words flow beautifully and are an essential part of my poetry unit each year. These poems offer insights into the lives of Arab-Americans and her word choices paint pictures that provide opportunities for deep discussions with my 7th graders. A must have for any middle-school classroom looking to break away from the standard white, male "classics" we grew up studying.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

A Poet’s Career in One Book

Before looking at this collection of her works spanning her career (including a few new ones), I had not heard of this poet before. Her take on the world is a fascinating one, as she has lived the life of an immigrant American. The book is broadly divided into three sections that have poems that relate to childhood, her father and the immigrant experience, and the interesting people she has met along the way. Some are prose poems while others are shorter forms. Some give insight into the minutest aspect of life while others look at the universal that can be understood through one person’s perspective or bring up broader themes. Even though the author is the Young People’s Poet Laureate, some poems might be a little too raw for some children. However, I did find this book of poems from the entirety of one poet’s career an insightful read.

Naomi Shihab Nye’s newest collection Everything Comes Next is a solid if somewhat mixed collection of poems. Nye is America’s Young People’s Poet Laureate, and in some ways these poems, or some of them at least, are fitting for young people: language and syntax are relatively straightforward and simple, narrative poems often tell a pretty clear tale, the poems range from the very short (a few lines) to relatively short (2-3 pages at most). And many arrive from a young person’s viewpoint. On the other hand, some references are clearly beyond the years (such as to the Dick and Jane primers) and while the inherent longing for home or the basic goodness of people will certainly come across to young readers in Nye’s poems regrading Palestinians/Israelis, the underlying geopolitical nature of it will be lost on them.

Those above references give you an idea of the range of Nye’s poetry here, from a primary school classroom (multiple times) to the globe entire. Her topics can be as deeply serious as that Mideast conflict, as deeply sorrowful over the passing of her father, but also at times lightly humorous or with a focus on the more mundane or day-to-day. And sometimes the mundane leads to a more profound consideration, as when a child’s painting of a donkey, criticized as being mis-proportioned and so crumpled up and tossed away becomes a poet’s resistance to such arbitrary strictures on art.

As always with a collection, the reader’s mileage will vary poem to poem, often with different readers responding more or less positively to different poems. While I appreciated Nye’s clarity here, I did at times wish for more: richer language, more exploitation of sound and rhyme (not to say there isn’t any of this; there is). And some poems felt to me more prose-like than I prefer in my poetry (note prose-poems but more like line-broken narratives). Which is why I referred to this as a “solid” collection rather than employing stronger praise.

That said, there are certainly striking lines, metaphors, and images that will linger with the reader well after closing the book. “Clothes on a line saying You will love long enough to wear me, a motion of faith.” The refusal to sugarcoat a bullet as “stray,”: “There is no stray bullet, sirs, not bullet like a worried cat crouching under a bush . . . you can’t tell us otherwise by naming it mildly.” Her father finally gaining the fig tree of his homeland. The exhortation for us all to do as a glimpsed stranger does, “stepping gently . . . because his son is asleep on his shoulders . . . We’re not going to be able to live in this world if we’re not willing to do what he’s doing with one another.”

What I most enjoy about Nye's poetry is that it is accessible to all readers. This is an excellent anthology of favorite and new works. A wonderful addition to any public, school, or home library.

Everything Comes Next by Naomi Shihab Nye is an excellent collection of poems for middle-grades readers. The variety of poems - from topics, to length, to style - is nice. Classroom teachers can easily mine this collection for mentor texts. The notes about selected was a welcomed bonus.

I first read “A Valentine for Ernest Mann” two decades ago in college and became a fan of Ms. Nye immediately. I think this collection of poems would be a wonderful addition to any family library -- so many terrific conversation-starters for tween and teen readers.

Note: as someone who grew up in San Antonio, the poem about the McNay Art Museum had me rolling with laughter. :)

I love using poetry in my instruction. This collection has a bunch of great pieces (of varying lengths-- a short poem is so clutch for the classroom and a deep dive into the work!). The range of pieces in this alone provides a lot of options for how to integrate them into your room. I liked the ones that spoke towards self worth, kindness (or lack-thereof) and school experiences. Because it is a collection, some worked for me more than others but that is expected.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Here's to more poetry in the (virtual or not) classroom!

Naomi Shihab Nye approaches the world with a sense of wonder, integrity, and open-handed acceptance. No wonder, then, that this collection of poetry for children speaks so delightfully and respectfully to the concerns and ideas children have. In "How to Paint a Donkey," for example, the narrator recounts an experience of being told the painting of a donkey isn't right. The narrator crumples the paper and throws it away, to the approval of the unnamed critic. But the poem ends, "Maybe this is what I unfold/ in the dark/ for the rest of my life/ That donkey/ was just the right size"

In other poems, Nye draws on her Palestinian-American identity to speak to challenges of immigrants and, specifically, rifts between Arabs and Jews. She takes on hard subjects but offers hope that people can and do take care of each other in the face of war, loss, and sadness.

These beautiful poems use simple language to convey care and compassion for children and their grown-ups. "Everything Comes Next" belongs in every elementary and middle school.
#NetGalley, #EverythingComes#Next

What I enjoyed the most from these poems is reading about the Jewish/Arab heritage, culture and point of view. One's horizons can always be expanded.

Such a beautiful collection of poetry! I can't wait to get the actual book and hold it in my hands. I am assuming it will have illustrations along with the poems, which would make it a beautiful collection. Nye's words just flow and have smooth rhythms. I just really enjoyed this collection. It was hard to pick any favorites. I really loved the one called "Because of Libraries We Can Say These Things", being a librarian and "Museum" was surely entertaining!
In the section 'The Holy Land That Isn't' there were some deep looks into ethnicity and I felt drawn into the way she spoke about cultures.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! I am adding this to my must buy book list.

Everything Comes Next is a wonderful collection of poems by Naomi Shihab Nye. The poems are advanced in style, theme, and imagery, so this book is best for those in middle school or older. It would be a nice book to add to a language arts classroom library to use as an example when students are attempting to find their own poetic voices. My favorite poems of the collection is “Always Bring a Pencil” and “Before You Can”.

Advance copy provided courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The poems are insightful, each with their own depth of feelings. Many refer to real people and events and I kept thinking that it would be helpful to have notes about these topics to give context for readers. When I got to the end of the book, I found these notes existed but one had to know where to look for them. There's definitely merit in keeping the original integrity of the poems by not adding distracting notations, but this context would be especially valuable for young readers (who are less likely to know to look for them). Still, this is a great collection full of poems for all types of readers.