16 Words: William Carlos Williams and "The Red Wheelbarrow"

by Lisa Rogers, Chuck Groenink (Illustrator)

Overview

This simple nonfiction picture book about the beloved American poet William Carlos Williams is also about how being mindful can result in the creation of a great poem like "The Red Wheelbarrow"—which is only sixteen words long.

"Look out the window. What do you see? If you are Dr. William Carlos Williams, you see a wheelbarrow. A drizzle of rain. Chickens scratching in the damp earth." The wheelbarrow belongs to Thaddeus Marshall, a street vendor, who every day goes to work selling vegetables on the streets of Rutherford, New Jersey. That simple action inspires poet and doctor Williams to pick up some of his own tools—a pen and paper—and write his most famous poem.

In this lovely picture book, young listeners will see how paying attention to the simplest everyday things can inspire the greatest art, as they learn about a great American poet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781524720162
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,119,909
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD850L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

LISA ROGERS is an elementary school librarian and a former newspaper reporter and editor. In 2016, she received the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award for an early version of 16 Words. She holds a master's degree in Library and Information Science and is a member of SCBWI. This is her first book for children. Visit her on the web at lisarogerswrites.com or on Twitter at @LisaLJRogers.

CHUCK GROENINK was born and raised in the Netherlands and graduated from the Artez Institute of Visual Arts in 2004. He has been working as an illustrator ever since. His books include Hank's Big Day by Evan Kuhlman, which received three starred reviews, and William's Winter Nap by Linda Ashman, called "just right" in a Booklist starred review. Visit him on the web at chuckgroenink.com or on Twitter at @ChuckGroenink.

Editorial Reviews

Rogers invites young readers to consider the tools that doctors, writers or farmers use, and the time and care needed to do a job well. The illustrations by Chuck Groenink are warm and cozy and nicely support this fine introduction to a celebrated American poet.

The New York Times Book Review - Nina Crews

★ 07/08/2019

“Look out a window. What do you see?” An invitation to notice sets the tone for this compelling story of how an iconic poem by William Carlos Williams (1883–1963) came to be, conjuring the specific people, places, things, and perspective that coalesced into his 16-word verse. We meet Dr. Williams, busy treating patients and delivering babies, and African-American Thaddeus Marshall, the neighbor who owns the wheelbarrow—“He depends on the wheelbarrow to carry the vegetables he sells to his neighbors.” The fact that Marshall is a gardener “who has been ill” deepens the poem’s context, as does Williams’s process as an artist who “fits in his writing around his doctoring.” Telling details in Groenink’s thoughtful illustrations amplify the importance of observation: Marshall pushes his wheelbarrow up the street as Williams, seen through a window, types; plums, a fire truck, and a cat nod to his other poems. Williams’s koanlike poem closes the story, its marvel of compacted meanings crystallizing everything that has come before. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

09/01/2019

Gr 2–6—Rogers delves into the larger story behind William Carlos Williams's famous poem "The Red Wheelbarrow," opening a window into the poet's life and inviting children to consider what lies beyond those simple 16 words. As a physician in Rutherford, NJ, in the 1920s, Williams is depicted as treating both black and white patients. One of those patients, Mr. Thaddeus Marshall, is the owner of a red wheelbarrow, which he uses to take vegetables from his garden to sell to neighbors. Marshall and the wheelbarrow are a part of the daily landscape until the patient becomes ill. In the story, Williams ponders the significance of the wheelbarrow sitting empty as rain falls on the garden. While the main narrative imagines how Williams may have come to write the poem, an author's note provides the factual basis and insight into Williams as a person. The author asks readers to consider what the poem means to them and provides a framework for studying any piece of poetry. Full-bleed digital illustrations are interspersed with smaller spot images. Decorative elements in the houses, buildings, wallpaper, and design elements such as family photos present a visual sense of the time period. VERDICT A unique picture book that shows how poetry can capture a feeling or an image with a few well-chosen words. Pair with Sharon Creech's Love That Dog to make a thought-provoking poetry connection.—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond

School Library Journal

★ 2019-06-23
The fictionalized backstory behind William Carlos Willams' most famous poem.

In her picture-book debut, Rogers teams up with Groenink to offer a glimpse of William Carlos Williams' intriguing life and to imagine what may have inspired his signature poem, "The Red Wheelbarrow": "so much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow / glazed with rain / water / beside the white / chickens." Written in 1923 in suburban northern New Jersey, this 16-word free-verse lyric helped establish the family physician/poet as a beacon of 20th-century American imagist poetry. Here Rogers saves this compact, kid-friendly poem as the finale to her clever, biographically rooted close reading, in which she explores what exactly depends upon that wheelbarrow: namely the livelihood of gardener Thaddeus Marshall, Williams' neighbor, and those fed by the vegetables the wheelbarrow helps him deliver—and Williams' yearning to create art. Rogers not only calls attention to the objects included in the poem, but pointedly notes what was omitted: "Those sixteen words…do not describe Mr. Marshall's life of work or caring or love. But somehow they say just that." Groenink's richly layered, chalky illustrations expressively realize in muted earth tones the all-important everyday elements of Williams' world. They reveal Marshall to be black—one of few people of color living alongside the mostly white population of Rutherford, New Jersey.

At once spare and lush: a gorgeous introduction to the power of poetry. (author's note, further reading) (Picture book/poetry. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews

"At once spare and lush: a gorgeous introduction to the power of poetry." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Williams’s koanlike poem closes the story, its marvel of compacted meanings crystallizing everything that has come before. " —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Great for reading aloud, this will also be a good choice for launching poetry units and inspiring neophyte poets.” —Booklist
  
“A unique picture book that shows how poetry can capture a feeling or an image with a few well-chosen words.” —School Library Journal

“Debut author Rogers suggests that there is power in noticing, as Williams did—finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.” —The Horn Book 

From the Publisher