Echoes

Echoes is a unique book of poems written by Lisbeth Thom and her granddaughter, Rachel Nelson. One summer Lisbeth wrote a poem and sent it to eleven-year old Rachel in Eden, Prairie, Minnesota. She asked Rachel to read her poem and respond with a poem of her own. Rachel wrote a poem on a similar subject and also sent back a new poem and asked Lisbeth, her grandmother in Savannah, Georgia, to respond to her poem and then send Rachel another poem. That is how, Echoes the book of poems, began. They bounced their poems back and forth across the country until they had fifty poems ready for publication. Since publication, teachers have used Echoes in classrooms as a teaching tool. They use the idea of taking one person's poem to inspire a second person to write a poem on a similar subject. The poems in Echoes are written on many different subjects. They are creative, thought-provoking, family oriented, fun, and funny. Many of the poems let the reader travel inside the author's mind. These poems can help students learn to enjoy reading and writing poetry. In Echoes, the generation gap between grandmother and granddaughter makes for an interesting contrast in viewpoint. The poems are excellent for reading to younger children.