GENRE 3: Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems by Kristine O'Connell George

Bibliography
George, Kristine O’Connell. 2002. Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems. Ill. by Debbie Tilley. New York: Clarion Books. ISBN 0618152504

Plot Summary
Told through the voice of a female narrator, the poems in this book detail the first year of a young girl’s middle school experience. The poems capture the confusion, excitement, and fear that come with first day jitters, locker confusion, PE, tests and homework, school dances, gossip, yearbook declarations, and romance. Each new situation brings honest insight from the narrator and new emotions to be explored. By the end of the first year, the narrator learns that middle school is an experience unto itself, and that the first year in middle school can be the most memorable and life altering.

Critical Analysis
Kristine O’Connell George captures the memorable moments of middle school with humor and poignant honesty. The sixty-five poems in the book delve into significant experiences in middle school and the emotional responses to those experiences. There is fear, confusion, and angst, but there is also happiness, triumph, and love. The poems follow a variety of formats that fit each situation. From a haiku to describe a perfect book recommended by the librarian to an acrostic that details the characteristics of a snob to a free verse that shows the excitement of finding a new friend.
The poems are often short and get to the heart of the matter quickly. With descriptive titles such as “Pop Quiz” and “Does He or Doesn’t He?” it is easy to see what new experience the narrator is about to embark on.

The book ends on a high notes and gives the reader the sense that the narrator has come far in her journey and has learned a lot during her first year of middle school. Teachers and students will find much to love in George’s book. Teachers can use this book in a variety of classroom activities, and students will definitely be able to relate to the emotions being experienced by the narrator.

Debbie Tilley’s cartoonish pen and ink drawings are perfect complements to the poems. Though there are only four illustrations in the book, those included wonderfully capture the essence of middle school. Revealed in the illustrations are the confusion of lockers on the first day, lunchroom gossip, the chaos of beginning band, and whispered secrets in class. Tilley conveys various emotions through the facial expressions in her drawings. The cartoonish quality of the illustrations, and spot on renderings of middle school, will make readers smile.

Review Excerpt(s)
Children’s Literature – “George captures well the details and emotions….”

Kirkus Reviews – “…a growing sense of self-confidence, a promise of good things to come calculated, and apt, to buoy up young grammar school graduates.”

School Library Journal – “Students will relate to this voice navigating ‘upstream,’ while they try to find their own place in the middle-school wilderness.”

Connections
- Students can take one of the poems in the book and write it from their perspective to reflect their own personal experience.
- Students can extend the narrative by creating a poem for what the narrator might experience on the first day of 7th grade.
- Students can trace mood and tone throughout the narrative and create a bar graph of the emotions experienced by the narrator.