Super Short Summary

This is Just to Say by Joyce Sidman is a poetry collection in which Mrs. Merz’s sixth-grade class creates an anthology of apology and response poems. Guided by student editor Anthony K., the book includes diverse poems that confess guilt, offer repentance, and respond with forgiveness or withholding. Illustrated by Bao Vang, the collection features poems inspired by William Carlos Williams’s simple, apology-driven style. Some poems address significant emotional experiences, such as divorce and pet loss.