By Reeve Lindbergh
Lindbergh, Reeve. My hippie grandmother. Candlewick Press: Cambridge. 2003.
Begin by talking about your grandmother- what you liked to do with her, things she did with you when you were growing up etc.Have students raise their hands to say things about their grandmother(s)Explain that you will read a picture book that is like a poem about a different kind of grandma.
By Reeve Lindbergh
I have a hippie grandmother.
I'm really glad she's mine.
She hasn't cut her hair at all,
Since nineteen sixty-nine.
I live in town on Pleasant Street,
With Mom and Dad and Russ.
But Grandma lives behind the hill,
And drives a purple bus.
She has a cat called Woodstock.
A fish named Tiny Tim,
And a boyfriend with a big mustache.
(Her boyfriend's name is Jim.)
She has plants on every windowsill.
Green vines grow in the shower.
There are posters in her bedroom,
They say LOVE and FLOWER POWER!
I help her in the garden.
We hoe the peas and beans.
We eat cracked-wheat-and-honey bread,
In bare feet and ripped jeans.
We're at the Farmer's Market,
By noon each Saturday.
We sell some bread and vegetables,
And some we give away.
Sometimes I go with Grandma,
To picket City Hall.
If nobody comes by, she says,
"Guess we can't win'em all!"
At night she gets her banjo out,
And Jim gets his guitar.
We sing the song "Amazing Grace",
And wish upon a star.
The moon shines in the window.
The cat purrs at my feet.
I curl up warm and fall asleep,
On a psychedelic sheet.
My mother is a lawyer.
My dad works on TV.
My grandma says someday I'll find,
The perfect job for me.
She says I could be President,
Or go to outer space.
Or find the cure for cancer,
And save the human race.
I tell her there's one other thing,
I really want to do:
"Become a Hippie Grandmother,
So I'll be JUST LIKE YOU!"
Look back through the book- showing students each picture of the book.
Discuss the book- ask students if they know what "hippie" means and if they have any "hippies" in their families.
Talk about the semantics of the book. Discuss why it could easily be turned into a poem.
(the rythmning etc.)
Have several picture books for students to browse through.
Have students select one book and have them write the words of the book onto a piece of paper- dividing the sentences into poem form.
Let the students add their own illustrations to the "picture book poem".
