Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost

by Natalie S. Bober, Rebecca Gibbon (Illustrator)

Overview

Papa Is a Poet: is a picture book about the famous American poet Robert Frost, imagined through the eyes of his daughter Lesley.

When Robert Frost was a child, his family thought he would grow up to be a baseball player. Instead, he became a poet. His life on a farm in New Hampshire inspired him to write "poetry that talked," and today he is famous for his vivid descriptions of the rural life he loved so much. There was a time, though, when Frost had to struggle to get his poetry published. Told from the point of view of Lesley, Robert Frost's oldest daughter, this is the story of how a lover of language found his voice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466845114
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	10/15/2013
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Natalie S. Bober is an award-winning biographer and historian who has written about Thomas Jefferson, Abigail Adams, and William Wordsworth, among others. She is the author of the middle-grade book A Restless Spirit: The Story of Robert Frost. She lives in Port Washington, New York.

Rebecca Gibbon is the illustrator of many picture books, including Elizabeth Leads the Way, an ALA Notable Book; and Celebritrees. She lives in England with her family.

Editorial Reviews

10/14/2013
"Robert Frost never saw New England as clearly as when he was living in old England, and out of these recollections came some of his best-loved poems," writes Bober in an author's note that concludes this account of the poet and his family. In that same spirit of recollection, the book unfolds through the perspective of his 15-year-old eldest daughter, Lesley, who shares her memories of growing up on her family's New Hampshire farm and, later, the family's time in England. Lesley describes bucolic days and nights spent reading, picnicking, writing, and memorizing poems (and constellations), while always emphasizing the importance her father placed on books and language ("He decided to milk his cow at midnight so he could stay awake and read Shakespeare and write poems in the hush of a sleeping household"). Working in mixed media, Gibbon (Celebritrees) contributes pale, folksy scenes of familiar togetherness (it's a rare spread that doesn't feature at least one Frost with his or her nose in a book). Frost's poems are smoothly interspersed throughout the story, as well as collected at the end of this contemplative tribute. Ages 4–8. Illustrator's agent: Riley Illustration. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Frost's poems are smoothly interspersed throughout the story, as well as collected at the end of this contemplative tribute.” —Publishers Weekly

“Photos, quotations, a short bibliography, and a dozen of Frost's poems are appended. Charming, detailed folk-art-style watercolor paintings add to the appeal of this readable introduction to a great American poet.” —School Library Journal

“A likable introduction to Frost as a father, farmer and poet who took the road "less traveled" from the engaging perspective of his oldest daughter.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Bober successfully portrays the four-time Pulitzer Prize winner as a very human schoolboy, husband, father, farmer, and teacher. She stresses Frost's determination and Yankee spirit, but also gives glimpses of his darker side—the anger, the depression, the suicidal bent. The clear and straightforward text is interwoven with poetry.” —School Library Journal on A Restless Spirit

“Excellent gouache and colored pencil illustrations, rendered in a lighthearted folk-art style, provide rich background for the brief text.” —School Library Journal on Rebecca Gibbon's illustrations in Elizabeth Leads the Way

“The sometimes informational tone is animated and energized by Gibbon's plentiful vignettes and paintings, rendered in a vibrant folk-art style.” —Publishers Weekly on Rebecca Gibbon's illustrations in Elizabeth Leads the Way

“Gibbon's acrylic-ink, colored-pencil, and watercolor artwork creates an inviting look throughout the book.” —Booklist on Rebecca Gibbon's illustrations in Celebritrees

From the Publisher

09/01/2013
Gr 3–5—Bober's picture-book biography is narrated by Frost's oldest daughter, Lesley, and based upon her childhood journal. It begins with the family's return home from two years in England, where they had lived so Frost could concentrate on writing poetry instead of farming. "Papa had the courage to trust his own feelings and know what he had to do. He made a reckless choice," says the teen, quoting the first verse of "The Road Not Taken." As she waits with her mother and siblings in New York's Grand Central Terminal for the train to New Hampshire, her father visits the publisher of a book of his poetry that his wife saw reviewed in the New Republic. Lesley recalls her childhood at Derry Farm, where her papa raised chickens and sold their eggs; took his family on all-day Sunday picnics; and, with his wife, homeschooled the children. Reading and memorizing poetry were highly stressed in the Frost household, as was the purchase of books. ("Papa thought that any book worth reading twice was worth owning.") Bober has captured the poet's personality, his love for family, and the inner strength that allowed him to follow his dreams. Indeed, he returns to the station with a contract for two books-the beginning of his successful writing career. An author's note offers further biographical information. Photos, quotations, a short bibliography, and a dozen of Frost's poems are appended. Charming, detailed folk-art-style watercolor paintings add to the appeal of this readable introduction to a great American poet.—Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH

School Library Journal

2013-08-15
Robert Frost's eldest daughter's fictional reminiscence of her father's influential early years as a poet on their New Hampshire farm. After their 1915 trans-Atlantic crossing following two years in England, 15-year-old Lesley Frost and her family arrive in New York City, where her father discovers his first book of poems has just been published. Waiting for the train home to New Hampshire, Lesley remembers her childhood on their poultry farm, where days "were ordinary but meaningful." Speaking in the first person, she recalls the "cupboard was often bare, yet life was filled to the brim" and lovingly describes daily events her father later immortalized in his poems, including how he taught them to read, reread and write down their thoughts and feelings. Bober successfully creates this fictional account from Lesley's childhood journal and her own A Restless Spirit: The Story of Robert Frost (1981), incorporating lines from Frost's poems to show how his life on the New Hampshire farm shaped him as a poet. Sprightly acrylic ink, colored pencil and watercolor illustrations embody their idyllic country life. A likable introduction to Frost as a father, farmer and poet who took the road "less traveled" from the engaging perspective of his oldest daughter. (author's note, photos, Frost quotations, text of selected Frost poems, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews