The only similarities come with the apology and response poem, where the pictures match up this leaves the reader with a feeling of continuity. To go along with the different voices of the poems, the pictures are also greatly varied from page to page and poem to poem. The mixed-media illustrations done by Pamela Zagarenski complement the book well.

The response section also is filled with unique personalities and responses, such as the poem “To The Girl who Rubs My Nose” written by Daron via the statue or the obviously unforgiving sister in “Roses are Red” by Carrie. As a teacher, I find it very believable as if it really is coming from a classroom of children because in a real classroom there are so many different personalities and emotions. These voices and various reasons for the apologies help to create the poem writer’s identity.

The poems range from simple apologies over childish squabbles to more thoughtful, figurative language laden poems and even poems seemingly fueled by anger. The poems in Sidman’s collection are written in haiku, pantoums, two-part poems, rhymes, and just small snippets which helps to prominently capture the individual voices that Sidman is attempting to display. They like their poems so much they decide to make a book out of it, including William Carlos Williams’ poem that started it all, their apology poems, and the responses to their apology poems. Mertz who read the poem “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams to her class. In the introduction, she describes a sixth grade teacher named Mrs. Joyce Sidman’s book is written through the eyes of many different, unique voices. This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman

This Is Just to Say by Joyce Sidman