Nelson, Marilyn. Philippe Lardy, ill., (2005). A Wreath for Emmett Till. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN:0618397523. 34 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: This is the first book I've read for this journal that I desperately feel the need to own. Nelson's written a heroic crown of sonnets to commemorate Emmett Till, a boy lynched while visiting family in Mississippi in the 1950's. That's right, a heroic crown. A crown of sonnets links poems by using the last line of one sonnet to be the first line of the next. A heroic crown makes a final 15th sonnet out of the first lines of each of the preceding 14 sonnets. Frankly, it's a pretty amazing form, and difficult to do well. Nelson does it well. Nelson's poems show how Emmett Till's life and death is still relevant. She relates this act to other acts of violence, meditating on the impact of violence, and rising to a crescendo of hope near the end of the book.

Philippe Lardy's illustrations add lovely touches to the book. None are overdone and work as a nice complement to the poems. In addition, both author and illustrator have included notes about creative decisions they made in writing this book.

There is also a clearer biography of Emmett Till's life at the end. Nelson also includes brief annotations of her sonnets so that readers can see other poems she referenced, other events in the world, or reasons why she depicted certain things as she did. With all this extra information included, it seems to me that this book could be a useful resource in many different arenas--poetry, history, social justice, interpretation, meditation...

Booktalk: I think there are two ways to talk about this book. One would be to introduce the form of the book, the sonnet and the heroic crown of sonnets. The other would be to introduce Emmett Till and discuss his life a little bit.