Performance Poetry

The Friendly Four

By: Eloise Greenfield

Illustrations By: Jan Spivey Gilchrist

Greenfield, Eloise. 2006. The Friendly Four. Ill. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN: 0060007591

The Friendly Four is a collection of poems designed to be read as performance poetry. The book is about four children who become friends and play together during summer vacation. Their names are Dorene, Drum, Rae, and Louis. The book is divided into four parts or chapters. The book starts off in chapter one with only one of the children, and each chapter adds a new child until there are four children in chapter four. Each child has their own speaking lines, and a lot of the lines are written so that all four children can say them together. This layout of poetry makes it available for students to learn to read out loud as performance poetry.

The poems throughout the entire book carry the theme of friendship and imagination. The children get art supplies and construct a whole make believe town. "At the Bank" is a poem about the children going to the make believe bank and checking to see how much money is in their bank account to find they have one million dollars. Some of the poems contain words that rhyme such as "Drummond," while others have a beat because the poems are divided into different reading parts.

Friendship is something that all kids deal with so the topic is very appealing to young readers. All the poems stir up emotions and memories of childhood friendships among older readers. The book is written as performance poetry, and this element gives children the opportunity to see a different type of poetry and a different way of how it can be performed.

Jan Spivey Gilchrist has painted wonderful illustrations that are very colorful. There is an illustration on every page that goes with every poem. The illustrations are very appropriate for the book.

The Friendly Four is a poem picture book that offers many poetic concepts to children to help them understand that poetry is more than one person reading out loud. The book also reinforces friendship and shows children ways summer vacation can be spent playing outside with friends and using their imaginations.

We Did It!

Rae: We painted for days and days,

Louis: Monday through Friday,

and Monday through Friday again

Louis and Rae: (not counting the day Drum knocked over a can of paint, and we had to clean it up).

Dorene: But now, it's finished,

so let's lift our tired arms and say,

All: "Hooray! We did it! We built our own town!"

Drum: We've got:

All: One bank, one library, one church, two toy stores, one bookstore, one school, and so forth, and so forth.

Rae: To get here, just drive

south, east, west, and north.

Drum: You can't miss it. Look for

the sign that says:

All: Welcome to the Town of Goodsummer

Population 4

Activity: This is a great poem to use while teaching performance poetry. Divide students into groups of four and give each each student a part in the poem. They could be either Rae, Louis, Dorene, or Drum. Distribute poems to students and allow them to practice presenting their poem to the class. Next, pass out big pieces of white butcher paper or poster board and have each group draw and color their own picture of the town. Finally, allow groups to present poems along with their own illustration.