Book Review of "Dizzy in your eyes: Poems about love" by Pat Mora

 1. Bibliography

Mora P. 2010. Dizzy in your eyes: poems about love. Knopf Books for Young Readers.

ISBN: 9780375945656

2. Plot Summary

In this verse novel we see the different versions of love that exist in the world. In each

poem you find a different way that love is represented, in a good way and sometimes in

heartbreak. The reader will find that not all love stories are happy and there are a lot of

different meanings to the word love. We see different people represented and have hints

of Spanish wording. Mora shows us that there are many ways to love and be seen by the

person you love.

3. Critical Analysis

There are many characters in this book because each poem features different people and

situations. The book is set up where each poem is about a different person, but they are

all about love. Maybe the love is between two teenagers or maybe it is between the love

that sisters have for each other. There are no stereotypes in this book because no person

is really described. The situations are all different and you can only tell genders in some

of the poems. This book is the different ways love is portrayed in people’s lives. There

is no consistent time in the book either, it is all just descriptions of different scenarios.

The setting could be in early years or current times, but love has been represented by

everyone for as long as humans existed so the poems could take place in any time frame.

There are Spanish phrases, and one poem is written entirely in Spanish, showing the

culture of the author. Since the book is written with different types of poems we don’t

see many cultural references besides the few Spanish phrases in the book. We see

differences in how people view love and the different ways love is represented. We can

see different perspectives and how different people deal with certain situations. This

book shows challenges when it comes to love but also some solutions. You can see how

different people look forward to spending time with each other or how love makes some

people a better person. Anyone who reads this book can relate to at least one of these

poems because there is something that has happened in their life that is represented in this

book, from a breakup to having feelings for your best friend. The poems are written in

easy-to-read formats and even offer a description of the format that was used for some of

the poems.

4. Review Excerpt(s)

"Peppered with Spanish, the selections define the emotion in countless ways...Teachers in

need of a fresh new avenue for teaching poetic form...and teens in search of a broader

definition of love will find it here." --School Library Journal

"Mora writes in free verse, as well as a wide variety of classic poetic forms--including

haiku, clerihew, sonnet, cinquain, and blank verse--and...the tight structures intensify the

strong feelings in the poems." –Booklist

5. Connections

*I would challenge the students to write their own love poem using one of the formats

that Pat Mora used in her book.

*I would have the students choose one poem from the book and write about who they

think it would be about and why they think this.

*Other books:

-The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

-Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca