A Maze Me: Poems for Girls

by Naomi Shihab Nye, Terre Maher (Illustrator)

A collection of seventy-two poems written especially for girls ages twelve and up by the much-honored and beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye. "A lovely, rich collection that promises to be a lasting companion for young writers."— School Library Journal (starred review) First love, friendship, school, family, community, having a crush, loving your mother and hating your mother, sense of self, body image, hopes and dreams . . . these seventy-two poems by Naomi Shihab Nye—written expressly for this collection—will speak to girls of all ages. An honest, insightful, inspirational, and amazing collection. "A wide age range will respond to these deeply felt poems about everyday experiences, which encourage readers to lean eagerly into their lives and delight in its passages."—ALA Booklist (starred review). An introduction by the author is included.

Genres: Poetry, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Childrens, Teen, Book Club, School

118 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

Naomi Shihab Nye was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother. During her high school years, she lived in Ramallah in Jordan, the Old City in Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas, where she later received her B.A. in English and world religions from Trinity University. She is a novelist, poet and songwriter.

She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2010.

Reviews

[K.J. Haakenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

After so many poems resonated with my heart, it feels wrong not to rate this 5 stars.

This collection is joyful and full of little wisdom, like a bird flitting from tree to tree, thought to thought - connecting lives and moments into a colorful and magical world in-between childhood and growing up.

I would like to say “A Maze Me” would have been enjoyed by younger me… but I don’t know that. All I know is that the me who read this is in-between. In-between houses and states, in-between the ages 24 and 25, and in-between winter and spring. This book felt like permission to just be in-between, to not let go of my joy or whimsy as I age, but instead to find strength in it.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this for a sixth grade girl who has, in 3 weeks, read and reread all the books of poems that I have.

Here I am, stunned into silence. These poems are just unparalleled in beauty and the way they cut to the heart. I almost don’t want to bring this to her tomorrow. I have to reread each one...

(From part 4 of the last poem):

My mind

Is always

Open

I don’t think

There’s even

A door

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely all the way around, with a few pieces deeply resonating with my younger self.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

page. 25...poem Every Day

My hundred year old next door neighbor told me:
every day is a good day if you have it.
I had to think about that a minute.
She said, Every day is a present
someone left at your birthday place at the table.
Trust me! It may not feel like that
but it's true. When you're my age
you'll know. Twelve is a treasure.
And it's up to you
to unwrap the package gently,
lift out the gleaming hours
wrapped in tissue,
don't miss the bottom of the box.

I always like her work.

[Jesse Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful little book of poetry and illustrations. Although it is written for girls, as a parent, this book was a reminder to me to see the world through the eyes of my daughters, and to listen to them as they live and speak and exist.

[Laura Cunha · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://leiturasdelaura.blogspot.com.b...

[RH Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lighthearted investigation of beginning adulthood, articulating some of those fears I had about growing up that I'd forgotten about -- like the fear of being a stressed-out conventional adult. It's a good reminder.

[Jayra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a lovely poetry book for younger teens and has reminded of my young self. An easy read.

But my most favorite poem is Every Day.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poems (kids)

[Olivia F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose to read this book because I've really been enjoying poetry lately! The cover of this book said "poetry for girls" so I thought why not! Another thing I looked at when I was choosing the book was the inside cover it had a poem on the inside about life and it was beautiful! That poem was kind of the main thing that made me choose this book.
The book is filled with all different poems named after events that girls encounter in life. For example some names are,"The Boys", "In the School Cafeteria", and "My Body is a Mystery". The book started off with a girl talking about growing up and becoming a woman. After the introduction that's when the poems about life start. They tell distinct memories or feeling that girls have encountered when going through these events.
I really likes these poems, they were all really relatable and made you look at things from a certain perspective. They took me back to memories of when I was younger and figuring out what it's like to grow up and go to high school. I think that the introduction was a good idea but was a little random. The rest of the book was all poems so it was a little awkward to just have a little story at the beginning. I think the author could do a little better with opening the book up, maybe with a really deep poem that summarized life and then get into the deeper ones later.
In conclusion, I would recommend the book, "A Maze Me", by Naomi Shihab Nye. The book was definitely accurate of a girls life and I could really relate. I think girls might like the book more than boys, but if you want to see the inside thoughts of a girl, guys...knock yourself out! She made some poems serious and so a little comical and it was a great mix! i really enjoyed her poetry and think a lot of people would like this book!

[Debbie Reiber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Maze Me: Poems for Girls by Naomi Shihab Nye is a book of poetry. It was a Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Honor Book in 2006. The age group this book is intended for is intermediate to advance. This book has an assortment of poems. Some poems are about family, friends, places, animals, boys, and pretty much life.
I enjoyed about seventy-five percent of the poems. I wasn’t completely captured by all of her poems. It felt like the rhythm wasn’t there or they just didn’t interest me, but I did find and enjoy the emotions, the familiarity, and the humor in the majority of the poems. My favorite poem in this book was “Baby-sitting Should Not Be Called;” it was funny, and so true.
I think this book could be interesting for intermediate and advance young girls. I wasn’t interested in all the poems, but Nye made me think back to my childhood of silent reflections, emotions, and things that had changed over time. This book would even be a good example in the classroom to encourage writing and self-expression. Nye suggested in her introduction,
If you write three lines down in a notebook every day (they don’t have to be great or important, they don’t have to relate to one another, you don’t have to show them to anyone) … you will find out what you notice (p. 5)

[Friend of Pixie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally avoid books that have "for girls" or "for boys" in the title, as I don't think any literature is solely for one gender. But I bought this anyway because it was one of the few books at my local poetry bookshop that sounded like it was for kids. I read a few of these aloud to Logan, but really, they didn't seem so much for kids as for YA or grown-ups who are nostalgic about being young or had a hard time saying goodbye to childhood. My son isn't there yet and most of these were too sad for him. Just not his cup of tea at all. I did have a few favorites myself, but overall, it wasn't a great collection for me.

Here is one of the ones I liked. It illustrates the sadness that pervades the collection:

Supple Cord

My brother, in his small white bed,
held one end.
I tugged the other
to signal I was still awake.
We could have spoken,
could have sung
to one another,
we were in the same room
for five years,
but the soft cord
with its little frayed ends
connected us
in the dark,
gave comfort
even if we had been bickering
all day.
When he fell asleep first
and his end of the cord
dropped to the floor,
I missed him terribly,
though I could hear his even breath
and we had such long and separate lives
ahead.

[Danielle Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems make me smile. Naomi is a gem

[HeavyReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book when I was searching through the young adult section at the library, looking for books about teaching poetry to teens. I was attracted to this book because of the "poems for girls" part of the title.

I liked some of the parts of these poems a whole lot, but I wasn't too excited about very many complete poems, and the whole collection left me feeling let down.

I like the following line from "Ringing:" "I want to be someone making music/with my coming." I also like the very short poem "Mystery," which is about a girl liking and not liking her mother, both at the same time.

I am not sure if these are poems the author wrote as a young girl (what the media now labels a "tween") or if she wrote the poems as an adult, with the intended audience of young girls. In any case, most of the poems felt incomplete or somehow lacking to me.

[Che · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so badly to like this book but I just didn't. The poems are mediocre and I just kept thinking if this was a young girl's first introduction to poetry, she may not grow to love the artform & that's a crime in my mind.

[ALICIA MOGOLLON · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy quick read, while i really enjoyed many of the poems some felt forced and tedious. When they worked they were delightful pictures made of metaphor when they didn't they were like a yawn you can't quite release.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just a really beautiful book. Four [probably 4.5 if halves were an option] stars only because there was that occasional poem that didn't quite sit as well. But perhaps that's a matter of taste.

[Dayna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the poem about the vegetable truck and the ice cream truck and bringing music to remote streets. A great poetic manifesto :)

[Tahlia Betancurth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Refreshing Read

A Maze Me: Poems for Girls by Naomi Shihab Nye is a wonderful collection of over 70 poems that explore several aspects of everyday life such as friendship, family, self-love, and dreams. In the introduction, Nye explains, “if you write three lines down in a notebook…every day you will find out what you notice. Uncanny connections will be made visible to you. That’s what I started learning when I was twelve, and I never stopped learning it,” (Nye 7). Once you begin reading her poems, you embark on a journey through Nye’s curious mind, and it is clear that they were written with this method.
Nye strongly utilizes imagery, figurative language, and repetition to bring her poems to life. Several poems begin with a simple thought and expand into a philosophical metaphor.
Each poem sucks the reader in with its vivid imagery, making it easy to imagine the picture Nye is painting with her words. She often uses elements of nature in her poems, specifically animals like birds and cats. However, some poems seemed too personal and difficult to interpret without further explanation from the author herself. A perfect example of Nye’s ability to embed several elements into one poem is “My Body is a Mystery” where she uses imagery, repetition, and metaphor to admire her own body. The first and last stanzas are repeated, except in the last stanza she adds an extra line that emphasizes the theme of self-love and appreciation:
“Because my body is a mystery
A magical geography of skin
that keeps me in
And I travel in it everywhere
Sometimes it seems to beat me there and then
We meet again
Oh we always meet again” (Nye 58)
At first glance this book may appear to be a collection of poems solely meant for young girls, but it undeniably satisfies the adult (male or female) reader who is nostalgic about their childhood thoughts and experiences. Nye herself admits that she had a hard time letting go of her childhood. She discusses several topics that anyone can relate to such as family, friends, love, and curiosity. With this collection, Nye encourages her readers to embrace the simplicity in our everyday lives, and she beautifies the most ordinary objects such as a bucket, a little chair, and kitchen utensils. The recurring idea of appreciating life and the many wonders it brings is a prevalent theme in this collection of poems. In the poem “Every Day,” Nye discusses this theme beautifully with a metaphor. She writes, “Every day is a present…And it’s up to you to unwrap the package gently, lift out the gleaming hours wrapped in tissue, don’t miss the bottom of the box,” (Nye 25). Although this collection is short and may only take one day to read, I would highly suggest taking the time to examine each poem’s contents carefully. Each poem may contain several interpretations, and they certainly spark imaginative and curious thoughts. A Maze Me is a refreshing read that will leave one wanting to read more of Nye’s beautiful work.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Maze Me is a collection of poems for girls. It was recommended by our textbook Children’s Books in Children's Hands and listed as one of School Library Journal’s Best Books. Naomi Shihab Nye writes over 70 poems divided into five sections, each based on her experiences, observations, and ponderings as a child and adolescent.

Many of the poems feel like daydreams. A single detail or observation could sprout an entire poem, such as a truck of watermelons passing by or a brief conversation with mom at age two. A few of the poems will feel familiar for adolescent readers. Nye inquires about a boy in class and reflects on walking through the school cafeteria looking for that one person.

Despite these relatable scenes, I do wonder why the book was labeled “for girls.” Most of the poetry did not feel inherently feminine, but I doubt most boys would pick up a book labeled in this way. Nye likely excludes so many readers with this title.

Otherwise, I recommend these poems for any student grades 4-8. The language is packed with metaphors, imagery, symbolism, and other poetic devices that could be used to meet Common Core craft and structure standards. A Maze Me definitely does not need to be read in its entirety. Instead, I could see flipping to a random page each day and doing a read aloud/close-reading as a class. Students could also use the “first lines index” at the back of the book to pick a poem to read, analyze, and/or recreate on their own!

[Twila Newey · Rating 4 out of 5]

45. A Maze Me: Poems for Girls, Naomi Shihab Nye. Almost every poem. Just go buy it. I bought it for Zo and she hasn't even seen it yet. Playful, grounded, funny and full of life. I've found another poet that I love, love, love!

What Travel Does

My uncle comes home from Siberia
describing the smoked caribou leg
still wearing its hoof
left on the drainboard
week after week,
small knives slicing
sour red flesh.
He becomes a vegetarian
But he misses the spaciousness.
It wasn't crowded up there.
He ran into a polar bear
the same way you might run into your
mailman around the block.

My teacher returns from China
obsessed by the two-string violin
and tiny birds in lattice cages.
She plays a tape
as we do our silent reading.

My whole family comes back from Paris
asking why we live anywhere else.
Every interesting person
and tucked neck scarf
looked full of stories.
People paused for [raspberry] tarts and crepes
in the middle of the afternoon.

My grandfather comes home
from Palestine
older.
He has been in the camps.
He can't stop aching.

After Mexico, my neighbor Lupe
misses intense color,
won't wear beige anymore.
She prefers papayas sliced
with lime juice drizzled on top.
She feels happy every time she faces south.

[Cara Humphries · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very surprising to me! I hate to admit this, but I judged the book by it's cover/title, sadly. When I read "Poems for Girls", I thought that this book would be very girly and filled with poetry that had no depth, but I was very much mistaken. This book has true depth and draws you to truly think about the content and about your presence as a human on the Earth. The book is very truthful about the realities of childhood and the transition into adulthood. This book targets the struggles and wonders of being a young girl in a beautiful way. I would highly recommend this book to parents and teachers of young girls!

As a teacher, I would definitely have this book in my classroom. I probably would not do a whole instructional period around this entire book, but I would definitely allow my kids to read it in free read time or when we learn about poetry. A way to incorporate this book for my students would be to have a poetry focused unit where I encourage my students to dig deeper into the meanings of poetry, allowing them to choose their book to study. I would also encourage them to pay attention to the rhyme scheme and other details that would enhance their knowledge.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this interview with Naomi Shihab Nye (https://onbeing.org/programs/naomi-sh...) and decided to start reading poetry to my teenage as a way to wake her up in the morning, so I started with this book. A poem every day (almost).

It's a great collection and definitely a good level for my teenager. I think it would have benefited her to read them on the page herself, but aloud is ok too.

She constantly fought to keep me from reading every morning, but when I started reading, she always got quiet and listened. Recently, she didn't want me to read her a poem so I told her to read one to me and she actually went and found a (different) poetry book and read a poem to me, so I think that's positive.

I'll get another Naomi Shihab Nye book for her in the future. I think we'll mix things up and do Emily Dickinson next.

[Allie Aldape · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Maze Me is a poetry book made for pre-teen and teenage girls. The majority of the poems were very relatable to what an 11-18 year old girl may be feeling during the years where she is discovering herself. Personally, I enjoyed the majority of the poems. There were a few that I feel didn't have much rhythm or that didn't really interested me much. But, while reading this book, I definitely had many moments of reflection to who I was as a young girl, and could definitely relate to much of what Nye was saying. This book would be great for girls in middle school and high school. It can be used to teach how one can express themselves in writing.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved these poems. They were easy to read and understand, simple yet beautiful and thought-provoking. They comment on ordinary daily life activities, things, and feelings. I felt a kind of quiet wistfulness in them, but maybe that was just me. This is a book you can easily read in half a day, as I did, or in one sitting even. I could deeply relate to many of these poems.

I do, however, have to question why these are "poems for girls". There wasn't anything that would exclude males from understanding or connecting to these poems. So I strongly recommend this book to everyone.

[Kim Clifton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little diary full of poems. I liked most of them, though I didn’t get them all. I think I would like it more if it wasn’t subtitled “poems for girls”— most of them didn’t feel exclusively feminine, but I still was looking the whole time. I think they’re mostly poems inspired by the author’s childhood, which is a different thing.

Disclaimer: This is my first poetry book, and I’m not sure how I feel about just reading poems all in a row. How long are you supposed to pause afterwards? Do you reread before turning the page?

[LPR · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Nye's new book on the Goodreads Choice 2020 Award 'ballot' and gasped aloud because I suddenly remembered this book. A Maze Me meant so much to me in middle school/sixth grade ish, I think I checked it out from the school library four or five times over the course of a few years.

....my oh my. I don't remember a single concrete detail about this collection, but I remember exactly what it made me feel, and that I kept being pulled back in. Wow. I'll have to find this again soon just to hand out with my 12 year old self again for a little bit.

[Sirah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually I'm not one to pick up anything with a subtitle "for girls," but I'm glad I took a chance on this book. While there are a few hints to growing up perceived female and some of the tangles that mothers and daughters get into, most of this book is simple observations about life and how to move through the world. There's a sense of wonder and curiosity throughout these poems, and I love the way the poet occasionally transforms "the way we've always done things" by changing perspective just a little. I didn't love every poem, but the ones I did, I really loved.

[Aubrey Griedl]

I think I have mentioned this on another review, but I always feel weird rating someone's personal poetry and stories. Some poems may seem odd or incomprehensible to me, but to the authors/creators, they make the most perfect sense. Anyway, I just wanted to say that this was definitely a worthwhile read. As an aspiring poet, it gave me some good inspiration regarding how I can write (formatting and such) and what I can write about (childhood, random people, letter poetry, etc.). Some of the poems definitely hit differently, which I appreciate. Overall, it was a great read.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of poems that express the awe and frustration of youth. Nye's language and vivid imagery combine with a natural rhythm that disarms. Here we see watermelons in a truck as "fat stacked bodies/striped like animals" and learn of a turtle who walked for twenty years with a keychain. This is the happiest of a half-dozen poetry collections I've read the last few days, and most of the time it warmed my heart. I'll read it again when I'm sad.