1. Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

2. Summary of Locomotion
Lonnie C. Motion has had some tough breaks in his life. But this fall, Lonnie’s fifth grade class is learning to write poetry and suddenly, Lonnie is finding the words to tell the world about his family, the fire that took his parents away, his little sister, his world.
Where it takes place:
In the Bedford Stuyvesant and Park Slope sections of Brooklyn, NY
Where I wrote it:
In Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Why I wrote it:
Lonnie’s voice was in my head. The poems started coming and the rest…the rest is this book, I guess. (

4. List Poem
Blue kicks--Pumas
Blue-and-white Mets shirt
Mets hat
A watch my daddy gave me
Black pants but not dressy--they got side pockets
Ten cornrows with zigzag parts like Sprewell’s
A gold chain with a cross on it from Mama--under
my shirt
White socks clean One white undershirt clean
White underwear clean
A dollar seventy-five left pocket
Two black pens
A little notebook right pocket
All my teeth inside my mouth
One little bit crooked front one
Brown eyes
A little mole by my lip
Lotion on so I don’t look ashy
Three keys to Miss Edna’s house back pocket
Some words I wanted to remember
written on my right hand
Leftie
Lonnie
(Page 33)

5. All of A Sudden, The Poem
Today Angel said he was writing a book
of poems called All of a Sudden, The Sun
Ms. Marcus’s smile got so big
you could see her back teeth.
Angel got all show-offy then, saying
every poem is gonna be about
how sometimes the sun just comes out when you don’t
expect it to--like when
it’s raining and stuff. And Ms. Marcus
just kept smiling and shaking her head and saying
Wonderful, brilliant, excellent, good for you, Angel until
other kids caught on to all the smiling he was doing
about books they were gonna write like
All of a Sudden, The Moon and
All of a Sudden, The School and
All of a Sudden, The Pepsi Cola Can until
the titles got so stupid, Ms. Marcus stopped
smiling, told us poetry was over
for the day. Said it was time for math.
And I didn’t even care because
Angel’s idea wasn’t the best idea
I ever heard in the word even if
Ms. Marcus thought so.
She don’t know everything anyway.
Probably wouldn’t know a good poem if…
If…
If nothing.
Some days I hate poetry.
The way the good ideas be going
to somebody else.
(Page 53-54)

6. Extension 1. Why might a poet write a list poem?
2. Choose 2 items from her list and explain what each reveals about the narrator.
3. What is the author’s tone in “All of A Sudden, The Poem?” Give an example of how you know.
4. Describe a time you have felt like the narrator did in “All of a Sudden, The Poem.”
5. Write your own list poem using hers a a mentor.