Illustration of a star with a blue sky filled with clouds inside of it
Art by Lisa Desimini
Poetry,

Famous

A poem about the different ways one can be famous 

By Naomi Shihab Nye (selected text excerpt from “Famous”)
From the September 2023 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify the big idea of a poem about fame and make connections to their own lives.

Complexity Factors
  • Levels of Meaning
    The poem expands upon the usual meaning of fame and looks at various ways that people and ordinary things can be famous simply because they matter or are useful to someone or something else.
  • Structure
    This non-rhyming poem is comprised of seven stanzas of varying length. Each stanza is a complete sentence.
  • Language
    The poem includes personification. One bubble contains the definition of the word bosom, which appears in the fourth stanza.
  • Knowledge Demands
    Readers will need to make some inferences to fully understand the poem. A dress shoe and pulley are mentioned.
Featured Skill: Main Idea and Supporting Details,
Other Key Skills: big idea, vocabulary, theme, repetition, author’s purpose, making connections, text features, inference, compare and contrast
Standards
  • Common Core
    Anchor Standards: R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, SL.1, SL.2, L.4, L.5 Grade 4: RF.4.4, RL.4.1, RL.4.2, RL.4.3, RL.4.4, RL.4.5, SL.4.1, SL.4.2, L.4.4, L.4.5 Grade 5: RF.5.4, RL.5.1, RL.5.2, RL.5.3, RL.5.4, RL.5.5, SL.5.1, SL.5.2, L.5.4, L.5.5 Grade 6: RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RL.6.3, RL.6.4, RL.6.5, SL.6.1, SL.6.2, L.6.4, L.6.5
  • TEKS
    Grade 4: 4.1a, c, d; 4.3a, b; 4.4; 4.6; 4.7b, c, d, f, g; 4.8a; 4.9b, f; 4.10a, b, c, d Grade 5: 5.1a, c, d; 5.3a, b; 5.4; 5.6; 5.7b, c, d, f, g; 5.8a; 5.9b, f; 5.10a, b, c, d Grade 6: 6.1a, c, d; 6.2a, b; 6.3; 6.5; 6.6b, c, d, f, g, h; 6.7a; 6.8b, f; 6.9a, b, c, d

Presentation View
See Student View

Want to hear this poem read aloud by the author? Find the audio read-aloud in your Resources tab. 

Want to hear this poem read aloud by a Storyworks writer? Click here!

UP CLOSE: Big Idea

As you read, notice how the word famous is used. What does famous mean to the speaker of this poem?

Famous

The river is famous to the fish.


 The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds   

watching him from the birdhouse.   


 The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.   


The idea you carry close to your bosom   

is famous to your bosom.   


 The boot is famous to the earth,   

more famous than the dress shoe,   

which is famous only to floors.


 The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it   

and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.   


 I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,   

or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,   

but because it never forgot what it could do.

EXCERPT FROM “FAMOUS” FROM WORDS UNDER THE WORDS: SELECTED POEMS BY NAOMI SHIHAB NYE, COPYRIGHT © 1995. USED WITH THE PERMISSION OF FAR CORNER BOOKS.


This poem was originally published in the September 2023 issue.  


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Skills Activities
Quizzes (1)
Answer Key (1)
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Skills Activities
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Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
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Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

2. Reading and Discussing

    SEL Focus, Discussion Questions

3. Discussing the Poem

4. Skill Building

1. Preparing to Read

  • As a warm-up, ask students to make a list of people and things they consider famous. After this exercise, invite them to share who or what they chose and why. 
  • Ask students to make a prediction about the poem based on the title and the illustration. What do they think the poem will be about? 
  • Ask a volunteer to read aloud the Up Close box for the class. 

2. Reading the Poem

  • Read the poem aloud or play our special video to hear poet Naomi Shihab Nye read her poem. 
  • Ask a student to do a second read of the poem. This time, pause for the class to make notes. Ask students to underline words or phrases from the poem that stand out to them. Explain that they can underline words or lines because they enjoy them, because they interest them, or because they’re curious to understand more about them. Invite your students to share why they underlined their chosen words or phrases. 
  • Discuss the poem together by asking the questions that follow.

3. Discussing the Poem

  1. Reread lines 2 and 3. What might make the cat famous to the birds? (inference) The cat is probably famous to the birds because the birds pay close attention to the cat. The birds could be focused on the cat when it is asleep because they’ll need to watch out when it wakes up. Cats sometimes attack birds!
  2. How does the poem’s illustration help you understand the meaning of lines 10 and 11? (text features) The illustration on the bottom left corner of the star shows us a photo of a child. The photo is bent, which shows us that someone must look at the photo often and do so because they love the little girl in it. This is likely why the speaker of the poem says, “The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it.” The speaker probably says that the photo is “not at all famous” to the person in the picture because they aren’t the one who holds and cherishes it.
  3. Repetition is the repeated use of a word or phrase to draw attention to an idea. How many times does the author use the word famous in the poem? Why do you think the author chose to repeat the word famous? (author’s purpose) The author uses the word famous at least once in every stanza of the poem—a total of 11 times! The author probably repeats the word famous multiple times because she wants us to notice something new about the word. The meaning of famous in the poem is different from how we usually use the word.
  4. What does the word famous usually mean? How is the meaning of famous different in the poem? (compare and contrast) When we use the word famous, it’s usually to describe a celebrity, an internet star, or something most people know about. But in this poem, famous means something else. Based on the examples in the poem, something or someone is famous if someone else pays attention to it (such as the birds and the cat), spends a lot of time with it (such as the river and the fish), or cares about it (such as the photo and the person who carries it). In the poem, you don’t need to do anything special to be famous. You just need to be yourself.
  5. Reread the whole poem. What important lesson do you think the author wants readers to understand about being famous? (theme) Answers will vary. Students might say that throughout the poem, the author calls ordinary things famous even though we might not usually see them that way. She believes these ordinary things are famous because others know them well and care about them. This teaches us that being famous doesn’t need to be about being seen as special or important by millions of strangers. Being famous can mean being appreciated as you are by the people around you, and doing the same for them.
  6. In your own words, why does the speaker of the poem want to be famous like a pulley or a buttonhole? (theme) Answers will vary. 

 

4. Skill Building

Distribute or assign the Poetry Kit, which will take students on a deep dive into the poem and offer opportunities to connect the poem to other stories in the issue. 

Can't-Miss Teaching Extras
Make a Connection

Read Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Famous” alongside Lisa Yee’s fiction story “Starring Me, Sophia Sun.” (Find both in our September 2023 issue!) Point out the similar themes in the poem and the fiction. Discuss how the lessons each feature teaches are similar and different. 

Write a Poem

In this three-minute Poetry Read-Aloud, Naomi Shihab Nye offers students a writing prompt: Write your own poem about the things and people who are famous to you. Have your students watch the video before planning and writing their poems. 

Conduct a Survey

In small groups or as a class, have your students conduct a survey asking their peers, friends, and family what they would find more meaningful: being seen as important to those who know you, or being seen as important to millions of people. (The larger the sample size, the better!) Afterward, have your students present their findings in a written or oral report. 

Enjoy More by the Author

If your students enjoyed the selected text excerpt of “Famous” published in Storyworks, introduce them to the full version here in Naomi Shihab Nye’s book Famous, which is also illustrated by the fabulous Lisa Desimini!

Text-to-Speech