Module 6: Responding To Poetry

                                                        Janeczko Collection

Bibliography

Janeczko, Paul B. 2001. DIRTY LAUNDRY PILE: POEMS IN DIFFERENT VOICES. Ill. by Melissa Sweet. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0688162517

Summary

Have you ever wondered what a cow might complain of? Did you know that a scarecrow could dream? Dirty Laundry Pile is an anthology of poems that presents the perspectives of both animals and objects. Seashells share messages, a vacuum cleaner thinks of swallowing its owner, a dirty laundry pile heeds a warning, and a mosquito only needs its prey to be still to feed. This book will make you think twice the next time it’s time to clean house.

Quality and Appeal

Dirty Laundry Pile is an anthology of twenty-seven poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko. The poems are written from the point of view of an inanimate object or animal. The book’s poems include several well-known poets including Douglas Florian, Bobbi Katz, Marilyn Singer, and Jane Yolen. As explained in the introduction at the beginning of the book, the author describes these poems as mask poems because “the poets let their imagination fly and feel what it might be like to be a mosquito, a crayon, a kite, a turtle.” Although the subject matter is varied, there are sections where several poems have been included on one particular topic including trees, household cleaning tools, cats, and turtles. A table of contents is not included, but would have been a much-welcomed addition to locate a poem quickly.

Illustrator Melissa Sweet contributes to the whimsical nature of the book. The illustrations are inviting and helpful to the reader by providing understanding to each poem and clearing up any misconception that might come about by the poet’s words. The illustrations are water colored based and the colors are bright, but not intense. The illustrator does a particularly good job of delivering an emotional response through the character’s facial expressions. Just as Mr. Janeczko encourages his readers to use their imagination as they write a poem, so too can the illustrations contribute to that use.

Poetic forms included in the book free verse, concrete, and rhyme. The rhyme poems will appeal to younger children the more often they are heard. Children will also begin to actively participate in each reading as they recognize the rhyme scheme. The poetic element of sound is also heard through examples of onomatopoeia. In the poem, “Washing Machine,” there are several examples including, “Glubita / glubita / glubita,” and “Blub-blub-a dubba.” The words are laid out on the page to animate the sound and force of water flowing into the machine.

Figurative language in the form of simile can be seen in the poem, “Root,” where “Roots like ours, coarse and strong / as a grandmother’s fingers” and “A tangled weave, rough and aged / like wooden lace” are written. In the poem, “The Whale,” simile is seen in the line, “Big as a street.”

Personification is seen throughout this book of poems. A few examples include, “Winter Wind,” where the wind is “shaking the door with both my fists.” The poem “ The Vacuum Cleaner’s Revenge” gives the machine human-like qualities with the lines, “My stomach is full” and “I gulp another / Pizza crust.” One final example is from the final poem, “Curtain’s Call” where the curtains proclaim, “I clap them awake / on summer days / with a wink of wide-eyed light.”

Imagery is plentiful in this anthology of poetry. One example which encompasses all the senses is in the poem, “Old Tortoise,” which begins “Some might mistake me / for a rock / and pass me in a hurry, but if you are as slow as I, you too may touch the grass / and hear it talk all afternoon / and watch and smell in wonder. What was that and that and that?”. Another example is in the poem, “Turtle in July,” where the turtle seeks comfort from the intense heat. The lines include, “Heavy / Heavy hot / Heavy hot hangs / Thick sticky / Icky.” These lines almost make the reader break out into a sweat.

The emotional impact of the poems range from the lightheartedness of being a kite in the poems, “I’m Up Here” and “ Being a kite” to the playfulness of a washing machine’s duties in “Washing Machine.” There are times when the poems can turn reflective with “Old Elm Speaks,” and “Roots.” Sadness creeps in with a lost article clothing in the poem, “The Red Gloves.” The neglect of an animal petitioning for warmth in “The Plea of the Old Horse on Looking through the Kitchen Window” is another poem that reflects sadness.

Dirty Laundry Pile offers an inviting look at objects from their perspective. The book helps children to see that even inanimate objects can have a voice of their own. The illustrations that accompany each poem contribute to the tone and mood of each poem.  The poems are written in a variety of structures, which can also be a great teaching point for introducing poetry format. Overall, an entertaining book that will keep children engaged.

Spotlight Poem

Crayon Dance

The cardboard ceiling lifts

Pickmepickmepickme, I pray

The fingers do! They choose me, Sky Blue!

Hurrah! Hooray!

As I am picked from the pocket

All colors whisper, “Good-bye, Pastel!

Be Strong! Don’t break!

Enjoy! Farewell!”

Hi, hi! I’m scrubbing a sky!

Some stripes and whorls and – whee!

Cha-cha-cha, Loop-de-loop

I’m leaving bits of me!

They gave me a chance!

All of me rocks in this

Fine, wild dance-

The dance of me, Sky Blue!

Leaping and laughing, this message I’m leaving:

                     Ha ha!

                            Hi hi!

  

                                    Hurrah!

                                                      Hooray!

                                                          ….Good-bye!

Connections:

To set the mood for the poem, have a box of crayons set out for students to see. Ask the children to think about a crayon being alive and having a voice. How would it feel inside the box? What does each crayon want to accomplish? Do crayons want to be something when they grow up? Is one crayon upset because of the color is has become? Do any crayons have family members that live in the box? Read the poem aloud to students; discuss the feelings of the Sky Blue crayon in the poem. Pair students to read alternate stanzas. Have students create their own poem about any crayon in the box. Students should consider the questions above when composing their poem. The teacher can pair this book with, “The Day The Crayons Quit.”

                                                Poetry By Kids

Bibliography

Adedjouma, Davida. 1996. THE PALM OF MY HEART: POETRY BY AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN. Ill. by Gregory Christie. New York: Lee & Low Books. ISBN 1880000415

Summary

African American children whose ages range from eight to fourteen years old compose The Palm of my Heart, an anthology of twenty poems. The poems express their beliefs, determination, pride, and strength of family. The poems are the work of children involved in a writing workshop presented by the editor of The Palm of my Heart, Davida Adedjouma, in conjunction with the Minnesota Inner City Youth League, and the African-American Academy for Accelerated Learning.

Quality and Appeal

The Palm of my Heart begins with an editor’s note to explain the beginnings of the idea for the book, how the book was published, and hopefully, instill a desire in African American children to explore and seek out the uniqueness of their identity. An introduction comes next from renowned poet, Lucille Clifton. In this introduction, Ms. Clifton reflects back on her experiences with the word ”Black” and offers praise to the young poets in the book for their uplifting and positive words in regard to the same word.   Twenty poems by twenty individuals follow the introduction. Each poem composed begins with the same word, “Black.” When using the word black, each poet’s thoughts are expressed in a positive manner and with pride. Topics consist of culture, race, skin color, imagination, power, ancestry, and spirit. Throughout the book, the word black is bolded as is the topic associated with the word. Each author is given credit for their poetry with their name boxed in various colors underneath the poems. At the conclusion of the book is a section titled, “About the Poets,” which gives the name of each poet, birthdates, interests, and what they dream of becoming when they get older.

Illustrator Gregory Christie won the Coretta Scott King honor award for The Palm of my Heart. His work for the book was rendered in acrylic and colored pencil. The images portrayed in the book are vivid and culturally authentic. One image is particularly poignant with its connection to African American’s heritage. The image portrayed in “Black Poetry” shows small children surrounding two older gentlemen, who look to be playing drums strapped around their shoulders. Images of thatched roofed huts are seen in the background. The words from the poem, “a dance in the sand, a song from a faraway land” lead the reader to believe that this could be Africa.

Most poems are written in free verse with two poems written in rhyme. This rhyme facilitates the rhythm that flows with each reading. Repetition is evident in each poem with the word “black” used as the basis for each poem’s construction. Repetition can also be heard with the lines, “Life is good / life is good.” and “black is me.”

Sound, in the form of onomatopoeia, is demonstrated in the poem created by Ratisha Hawkins. She describes black hands as beautiful as “They wiggle, wwwhhh, in the wind.” Other elements of poetry include the use of simile when Tyler says, “Black is as dark as me,” when Ratisha compares how her hands wiggle “like the wind,” and the description of how “Black is beautiful as beautiful as white people / beautiful / as April.”  Metaphor examples include “Black culture is a secret / shared in the night,” “Black power is freedom, the strength to live / live / long,” and lastly, “Black spirit turns and churns / it is energetic and eternal.” Personification is used with the words, “ Black imagination: / letters printed in a book / sitting there.” Each poem resonates a pride and celebration of the human spirit within each child.

The Palm of my Heart will elicit a cultural pride from every African American child that desires to read or hear this book read to them. One cannot help but feel a wide range of emotions when reading this anthology. The depth to which these children expressed themselves should speak to each person that comes in contact with this book of poems. We should never limit our potential and the ability to address topics so close to our heart. This stands true for all races, creed, colors, genders, nationalities, and religion.

Spotlight Poem

Black is the color of some people

but people are different

differences are good because

no one else says the

same things as you.

                 SHAWNTA’YA JONES

Connections:

The teacher should introduce the book by informing students that the authors of each poem are children their own age and that each poem begins with the same word. The teacher should inform students that the poems are a celebration of each poet’s life and how that celebration revolves around their cultural heritage. The teacher should read the book and highlight the poem above.

This poem lends itself to an honest conversation about diversity within the classroom. The teacher and students should discuss how their classroom is rich in cultural diversity. Students can discuss and chart what makes each culture represented within the classroom unique. After charting these differences the students can create a classroom poem celebrating the backgrounds of each child.

                                                         Free Choice Poetry  

Bibliography

Coombs, Kate.2012 WATER SINGS BLUE: OCEAN POEMS. Ill. by Meilo So. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 9780811872843

Summary

Come explore the aquatic world of the ocean. The initial poem pushes you way from the shoreline and sets your sail toward the great vastness of the ocean. Along the journey   the reader encounters creatures that are more commonly known to them such as seagulls, sea urchins, the blue whale, octopus, and sea turtles. A variety of unusual living things are also introduced including an oarfish, gulper eel, and nudibranch. As the adventure comes to an end the tideline pleads one last enticement, “Don’t forget me – I was here, wasss h e r e / wasssss h e r e …”.

Quality and Appeal

Water Sings Blue, written by Kate Coombs, consists of twenty-three poems that highlight the wonders of ocean life. Most poems are featured on one page, while others including, “Old Driftwood” and “Tideline,” among others, are the focus across two pages. The book is written as if the reader is logging his traveling experience from beginning to end. The initial poem, “Song of the Boat,” is rich in imagery. Visual imagery of color is detailed when the boat is pushing away from the shoreline with the lines, “Push away from the stillness of the nut-brown land” and “Push away - heave-ho – from the heavy brown pier.”  As the sailboat travels out into the ocean, visual imagery can be seen with the lines, “For the water sings blue and the sky does, too.” One can only imagine that the concluding poem, “Tideline,” has the traveler returning back to land, as the reader sees an illustration of a sailboat anchored to the shore. The sea, in the background, calls out, “Don’t forget me-.”

Meilo So has created the watercolor illustrations. The illustrations are a complement to each poem, setting the mood for each. In “Song of the Boat,” the illustrator used a mix of bright blues to depict a bird’s eye view of the ocean. In other poems radiant hues of orange, yellow, red, and greens are used to depict the various creatures that inhabit the sea. Two excellent example of how color enhances the message of the poems can been seen in “Octopus Ink” and “Coral.” “Octopus Ink” reveals an enormous, black ink spot with the red arms of the octopus semi hidden at the bottom of the page. Another example is in the poem, “Coral.” A sea of intense hues blanket across two pages offering up the lines, “We are golden. We are pretty. We are coral. We are a city.” What a beautiful display to view!

Rhythm and rhyme work wonderfully together in the poems, “Coral” and “Ocean Reality.” In “Coral” spirited lines like “We are busy. We are growing. We don’t care where / you are going” flow without effort for the young readers. In the humorous poem, “Ocean Reality” Frank Hermit, aka hermit crab, is available to list or show a sea creature’s habitat. Catchy lines like “That one’s not available / I’m waiting for the snail / to vacate his townhouse / and put it up for sale” will generate a smile from all who read.

In the poem, “Not Really Jelly,” the element of sound can be seen and heard within the form of onomatopoeia with the lines “ all slither and jiggle / and tremble and squish.” Other examples of onomatopoeia include the words “heave-ho, “ grind and grumble,” “whisper hush,” and ‘swirl and swish.” The poem, “Sand’s Story” offers up alliteration with the lines, “Now we grind and we grumble, humbled and grave, at the touch of our breaker / and maker, the wave.”

Figurative language in the form of similes is used throughout this book of poems. One example includes the poem, “Song of the Boat” where “the sea lets you fly like a gull.” In the poem, Blue Whale,” several lines depict similes. These lines include “Rolling your belly like a tide” and “you’re as grand as a planet.” “Oarfish” offers up the line “where the sea feels like a grave.”

Kate Coombs has beautifully crafted sense imagery throughout to enhance the book’s credibility. One such poem that details a picture of sight and sound is “What the Waves Say.” On a two-page layout, the reader is drawn into the illustrations detailing the various actions of waves. The poem’s lines complement the images with descriptive phrases like, “shimmer and run, catch the sun.” and “Shift and splash, drift and dash. Slow and gray, foggy day.”  An excellent example of how the author paints a picture with her words can be seen in the poem, “Jellyfish.” The poem consists of three lines, “Deep water shimmers, A wind-shape passes, kimono trailing.” The descriptive use of words gives great aesthetic pleasure.

Water Sings Blue is an inviting book that will delight children with its rhyming verse and playful topics about ocean life.  For the older reader who has fond memories of beach vacations or experienced living close to sea, the book will help to recall days gone by with a fondness. The book is an excellent resource with aquatic vocabulary and science infused information about an ocean habitat.

Spotlight Poem

Coral

We are busy.

We are growing.

We don’t care where

you are going.

We are cousins.

We’re a throng.

We are wide

and we are strong.

We are reaching,

Stretching high.

Pretty soon

we’ll own the sky.

We are golden.

We are pretty.

We are coral.

we are city.

 Connections

This poem could be an introduction into the ecosystem of a coral reef. Locate a video of a coral reef to have playing in the background as the poem is read to students for the first time. Ask children to pay attention to the descriptive words used to identify coral. If possible, have a variety of coral available for students to see and make their observations about. Engage students to identify the rhyme scheme in each stanza. Groups of students can be assigned a stanza to recite and perform before the class. Students can create their own movements to each stanza as the poem is performed. Students can also write their own poems, using descriptive words, to identify coral reefs.

Module 5: Performance Poetry

                                                        Performance Poetry

Bibliography

Greenfield, Eloise. 2006. THE FRIENDLY FOUR. Ill. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 9780060007591

Summary

Drummond, mostly known as Drum, begins to see his summer as one filled with no friends and playing second to his baby brother. That is until he notices new neighbors moving in down the street with a girl about his size. He is soon introduced to Dorene and they become fast friends. Another neighborhood boy named Louis later joins the duo. After a while, Dorene’s cousin, Rae becomes a part of the summer gang. The children form a lasting bond and call themselves, “The Friendly Four.” Their adventures range from playground fun, board games, kickball, and even the creation of their own town, Goodsummer. With summer vacation about to end and school to begin, the children reflect on the friendships they have formed and upcoming adventures they will have together again next year, no more bummer summers!

Quality and Appeal

The Friendly Four consist of thirty-four poems separated into six sections, which are seen in the table of contents at the beginning of the book. Sections one through four are assigned to the four friends. With the introduction of each section a new friend is introduced and added. For example section two is called “Drum and Dorene,” section three adds Louis, and in section four we are introduced to Rae. Section five belongs to the creation of their town, Goodsummer. Section six is titled, “Goodbyes.” The book is written with speaking parts for each child. Each child’s lines are color coded specifically for them. Drum is red, Dorene is blue, Louis is green, and Rae is purple. When all four friends join in verse together, the lines are black. The friends’ stories are told in sequential order of the summer’s events.

Jan Spivey Gilchrist has created the watercolor illustrations. Each poem’s mood is beautifully illustrated by brilliant colors for playfulness or muted hues to depict the somber tone. In the poem, “We Did It!” the colors shown are bright and cheerful, depicting the emotional satisfaction experienced by the friends as they completed their make-believe town, Goodsummer. In the poem, “Punished,” the illustrator relies on soft pastels of grey and blue to capture the mood of each child’s consequence for not listening to grown-ups. The illustrations enhance the imaginative play that these four friends experience over one summer.

The poems, for the most part, are told in free verse. There is the occasional poem that has the pattern of rhyme. One example of this rhyme scheme can be seen in the poem, “The Fuss.” Dorene and Rae begin the poem with the words, “One day we had a mighty fuss, every single one of us.” The next two lines conclude with all four friends joining in, “We were kicking the ball and everything was fine, until the ball went over the line.”

Sound is also evident with the addition of words that reflect onomatopoeia. This element can be seen and heard with the words “Huffing, puffing! Whew!,” “willy-nilly,” “Surprise!,” “Ahhhhh,” and “Hooray!”

Sense imagery and the figurative language element of hyperbole are included in the poem, “Tall Tale.” Dorene is talking to Drum about her previous home and embellishes her story with quite an imagination. She says, “I slipped and fell, and I slid all to the way top of the hill and hurt my leg, and the people tried to carry me down, but they all kept sliding back up.” I enjoyed Drum’s response to her clever story. His response was an emphatic “Uh-huh, sure right!”

Throughout most of the book, the mood is upbeat and lighthearted. There are several poems that reflect a range of emotions. These emotions include Drum’s jealousy over his new baby brother, Louis’s sense of belonging and sincere love with his new adopted mother, Rae’s insecurity about her mom’s illness, and sadness over the departure of Rae at the end of the summer. Although these occurrences are relatively new for young readers to experience, the matters are still relevant to our world. Children should be able to grasp these concepts.

Eloise Greenfield has created a book that will appeal to youngsters for its imagination and adventures experienced by the children in the book. The color-coded dialogue is perfect for elementary students to participate in choral reading or to be performed by individuals. The text colors allow students to easily keep their place at the story progresses. The dialogue allows for each child to put its own authentic voice to the character assigned.

Spotlight Poem

The Friendly Four

Drum:                              Didn’t I call this summer a bummer?

All:                                  Not anymore, not anymore.

Drum:                              I was alone, and life was lonely.

All:                                  But not anymore,

Drum:                             ‘cause were the Friendly Four!

Louis, Dorene, Rae:       The Friendly Four?

Drum:                             The Friendly Four.

All:                                 We’ll call ourselves the Friendly Four.

Drum:                             Bummer’s gone and lonely, too,

Louis:                             We showed them what good friends

                                        can do,

Rae:                                We sent them flying out the door,

All:                                 ‘Cause we’re all here, and we’re

                                       

                                        the Friendly Four.

Connections

This poem lends itself to a great icebreaker at the beginning of school.  

As an introduction, the teacher can read the poem aloud. Children can be given their own copy to read. Then, everyone can read the poem together. Students can be grouped to create their own “Friendly Four.” Since most children have attended school together for several years, make sure to include new students with groups where common interest lie. There are several interest inventories that can be found online or the teachers can create one themselves. Once groups have been formed and time given to find their interest, the groups can be assigned one poem to perform in front of the class. Each member of the group must introduce another member and tell one thing they learned about their new friend.

                                                        Hopkins Award Poetry

Bibliography

Meyers, Walter Dean. JAZZ. 2006. Ill. by Christopher Meyers. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 9780823415458

Summary

Get your toes a tapping and fingers snapping as the father son team of Walter Dean and Christopher Meyers celebrate everything JAZZ. A rich text details the birth of jazz in America with its infusion of African and European musical traditions. The book continues with the spotlight about how jazz musicians from the states mesmerized European audience during World War I. Various forms of jazz are featured throughout the book including be-bop, vocals, stride, and blues. The importance of individual instruments and several artists are also featured in the pages of this informative selection. The book concludes with a helpful glossary of terms and a jazz timeline with an insightful look into the background of jazz.

Quality and Appeal

JAZZ is the work of poet Walter Dean Myers, winner of the 2007 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award. The book is comprised of fifteen poems celebrating the history of jazz music, musicians, instruments, and traditions. The book begins with a lengthy introduction of how jazz came to be and its progression throughout the centuries. Each poem is given a two-page spread with the text on one page and illustration on the opposite page. The exceptions to this format are both the poem, “GOOD-BYE TO OLD BOB JOHNSON” and “ THREE VOICES.” The poem “GOOD-BYE TO OLD BOB JOHNSON” is told across four pages and details the traditions of a New Orleans style funeral. At first, the mood is somber with rhythm and rhyme drawn out slowly with the words  “Let the deacons preach and the widow cry / while a sad horn sounds a last good-bye.” The illustrations complement the text with uniformed musicians walking slowly against a muted blue background. When the reader turns the page, the muted blue background has been replaced with a vivid greenish-yellow mix depicting a group of men dancing, one holding an umbrella, with another wearing a bright colored sash. The somber mood is replaced with joyous celebration when one reads the words, “We’re stepping / and we’re hipping / and we’re dipping too. We’re celebrating, syncopating, and it’s all for you.” These details encompass the customs of a New Orleans jazz funeral. In the poem, “THREE VOICES” pays tribute to the three instruments of bass, piano, and horn. Each poem within the poem, “THREE VOICES” is given its own section and illustration. One should note that the illustration for “Horn” is also the cover for the book.

The illustrations by Christopher Meyers, son of Walter Dean Meyers, are created by painting black ink on acetate and placing it over acrylic. His use of bold colors make each illustration jump off the page and are as engaging to the reader as the text. The combination of both text and illustration allow the reader to become absorbed into the world of jazz.

Most poems features throughout the book have the pattern rhyme scheme, but there is the occasional poem that is presented in free verse form. Examples for rhythm and rhyme can be seen in the lines “ there’s a steady beat walking, and the melody’s talking, too / If you ain’t moving, there must be something wrong with you.”  Examples of free verse include “AMERICA’S MUSIC,” “SESSION l” and BLUE CREEPS IN.” Repetition can be heard in the lines, “Be ba boodie, be ba boodie boo / Be ba boodie, be ba ba ba, boodie, boo,” from the poem, “TWENTY-FINGER JACK.” I could see where children would become engaged with the rhythm of this poem by bobbing their heads or snapping their fingers.

Onomatopoeia is evident in “BE-BOP,” with the lines, “ Oh be-bop be-bop, oh whee, OH WHEEE!” and “Goes screa----min’, goes screamin’, goes screa---screa—screamin’.” In The poem, “THREE VOICES” is filled with toe-tapping fun as the bass “Thum, thum, thum, and thumming.”

Figurative language in the form of personification are found in the lines “Strings crying like widows,” “Horns tearing down Jericho walls,” “this horn is my heart” and “The piano’s come alive and / I know that she’ll be driving / through the night.”

JAZZ is a great resource for teachers to spotlight various elements of poetry for their students. The illustrations alone will appeal to students due to the richness of color and emotional expressions. Small children will be captivated by the repetitive text and the allure that music holds in general. For older adolescents, the appeal lies not only in the historical significance of jazz, but in the manner in which Walter Dean Meyers gives voice to each poem. The depth of emotion that lends itself to the creation of each poem in JAZZ can be a teaching point about the importance of word choice when writing poetry.

Spotlight Poem

GOOD-BYE TO OLD BOB JOHNSON

Well, good-bye to old Bob Johnson

We’ll haul his body slow

There’s a white horse a-striding

A sad deacon riding

Six men to lay him low

The drums are solemn as we walk along

The banjo twangs a gospel song

Let the deacons preach and the widow cry

While a sad horn sounds a last good-bye

Good-bye to old Bob Johnson

Good-bye

(excerpt from GOOD-BYE TO OLD BOB JOHNSON)

Connections:

This poem speaks to the tone that poems can elicit. Before reading the poem, tell students that jazz music plays a very important role for people in the state of New Orleans. Locate a video that shows a funeral procession in the New Orleans tradition. Show students the beginning service of the jazz funeral and then read the poem “GOOD-BYE TO OLD BOB JOHNSON.” Have students compare the similarities between the poem and video. Ask students to identify emotions felt, not only by participants, but themselves. Have students collaborate to write a rhyming poem based off what they observed in the video and the poem from the book, JAZZ.

                                                        Sidman Poetry  

Bibliography

Sidman, Joyce. BUTTERFLY EYES AND OTHER SECRETS OF THE MEADOW. 2006. Ill. by Beth Krommes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 061856313X

Summary

Beautiful poetry combined with lively illustrations invite the reader to discover a world of wonder. This science infused selection approaches the day in the life of a meadow with riddles that allow the reader to use not only text evidence, but cleverly placed clues within the illustrations. Each poem closes with a riddle, which will entice the reader to unearth the answer. Topics of interest range from plant life, insects, reptiles, mammals, weather conditions, and seasons. On the pages that follow each paired selection of poems, the scientific explanation is given to the riddle. These explanations are thorough, but easy enough to understand. A glossary of terms is provided in the back of the book for easy access for unfamiliar words.

Quality and Appeal

Joyce Sidman’s nature infused Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow is a collection of sixteen poems that ask the reader to guess the subject of each poem as it concludes. The poems are paired together so that each set of eight poems correlates to the other. Samplings of these paired poems include rabbit and fox, which touch upon the food chain with the meadow ecosystem. Another example would be the relationship between the milkweed plant and butterfly. Milkweed provides protection for Monarch butterfly’s eggs with its toxic, milky sap and also is the main source of nutrition for newly hatched caterpillars. Each poem closes asking the reader “What am I, they, we, or it?” The two poems that stray from this routine are cleverly written in letterform to the sun and rain. Each poem closes with the word “Signed.” To aid young readers with difficult vocabulary, the author has included a glossary.

Different forms of poetry embody the subject matter of this book including free verse, rhyme, concrete, and pantoum. The poem, “We Are Waiting” is identified under its title as a pantoum poem. The author provides a definition of this type of poem in the glossary. In the final stanza of a pantoum poem, the first and third lines of a poem appear in reverse or, so that the last line of the poem is the same as the first. The creativity of the author using this form clearly shows her giftedness. The poem speaks of the life of the meadow recovering from fire and how patience will bring about new growth and life to the meadow.

Repetition is heard in “Morning Warming” as a word is added to each new line. The poem starts out with the single word, “sun.” Then the second line becomes “sunwarm,” and so continues the pattern with lines three and four, “sunwarm on back / sumwarm on back legs.” “Shhh! They Are Sleeping” offers repetition as well with stanzas one and four repeating the word “Shhh!”.

Concrete poetry is represented in the poem, “Peel Deal” by the shape of a slithering snake shedding its skin. In the poem, “Don’t I Look Delicious?” the bloated words imitate the body of a toad.

Rhythm and rhyme are shown in the poem “Sap Song.” Lines that show these elements include, “I go up / I go down / from the roots / to the crown.” The readers will find themselves bobbing in unison with each line. Another example is included in the poem, “Always Together” where tiny yellow goldfinches are described as “We tumble / we twitter/ we dip /float / and flitter.”

Alliteration is used throughout this book of poetry. Lines that provide a sampling are “beautiful bubbles / bubbles of foam / bubbly castle, snug bubble-home” and “sprouts a secret, silent, sparkling night.”

Beth Krommes has drawn intricate scratchboard illustrations that will entice the reader to carefully search out details to answer each poem’s riddle. The illustrator has strategically placed partial clues within the design to assist the reader when answering the questions, “What am I?” and “Who is he?”.

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow will appeal to children of all ages. The guessing game aspect will engage the reader to use the scientific information to come up with and answer to each poem’s question. The information detailed in each poem allows for fun and teachable moments. The topic of each poem is relevant in content and message with its invitation into our natural world.

Spotlight Poem

Shhh! They Are Sleeping

Shhh! They are small.

Shhh! They are many.

Shhh! In a heap, they lie soundly asleep.

Soft is their fur.

Soft are their noses.

Soft is the curl of their grassy nest-keep.

Eyes not quite open.

Ears in a tangle.

Paws folded close beneath whiskers and chin.

Shhh! They are hidden.

Shhh! They are waiting.

Gathering strength for their life to begin.

What are they?

Connections

This poem would work well with a performance by a group. First, the teacher should read this poem in a hushed voice to provide an example of how these small rabbits, newly born, are gathering strength until it is safe to come out of hiding. Groups of three students can be assigned each stanza. Each student within the group can read one line apiece. To add to the performance, each group could pantomime the action described in each stanza. If time permits, the class could pair the poem with “He.” One student could be the reader of the poem while another student could portray the lone fox searching for its prey, the newborn rabbits.

Module 4: Poetry Across The Curriculum

                                                          Science Poetry

Bibliography

Florian, Douglas. 2007. COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS: SPACE POEMS AND PAINTINGS. Orlando: Harcourt. ISBN 978152053727 

  

Summary

COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS: SPACE POEMS AND PAINTINGS offers the reader twenty easy to read poems about the solar system. Explore the galaxy, in poetic form, with this informative book detailing facts about the planets, moon, sun, stars, and beyond.

Quality and Appeal

Douglas Florian provides the words and illustrations for this delightful and humorous journey through space that won the 2008 Mind the Gap Award. The book begins with a table of contents, which is quite extensive, providing a thorough outline of topics covered for the reader. The initial poem, “Skywatch” encourages the reader to explore space in a fun way. The author then introduces the reader to broader subjects including poems about “The Universe,” “ A Galaxy,” and “ The Solar System.” As the book continues the author introduces the inner and outer planets, sun, comets, constellations, black hole, and that what might lie beyond our galaxy.  Science vocabulary is abundant yet not overwhelming as to make the subject matter unappealing. Included in the vocabulary for this book, are names of Roman gods, famous classical composers, artists, science terminology, and multilingual use for the word, sun.

A galactic glossary is included at the back of the book, which provides additional information about each topic covered. For those interested in pursuing even more information, a selected bibliography and further readings page is included.

In addition to the text, Mr. Florian also created the illustrations. The illustrations were created with gouache, collage, and rubber stamps on primed brown paper bags. Each topic and illustration is given a two-page spread. The illustrations are cleverly detailed with visually appealing features. For example, in the poem “Venus,” there is a thermometer located on the left of the planet with numbers ranging from 100 – 900. A photograph of a sculpture of Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is in the center of the planet illustration with tiny, red hearts dispersed throughout the two-page spread. The illustrations provide just as much information as the text.

Most poems included in this selection are concrete in meaning, including those about the planets. There are some poems that could be defined as abstract including “The Universe,” “A Galaxy,” and “The Great Beyond.”  The addition of the concrete poem, “A Galaxy” spiraling inside its words has a somewhat hypnotic hold on the reader as the poem is read. All poems are short and each has a rhyming pattern that will entice and entertain the reader. The pattern of most poems is an ABAB rhyme scheme, but some differ. The poem, “Neptune,” is composed of couplets, two lines that rhyme and have the same meter. 

The poetic element of sound is heard with the use alliteration in the poems, “Jupiter” with the words “Jupiter’s jumbo,” and “Jupitererrific.” In the poem “Venus, ” alliteration is present with the words “nine,” “nothing,” and “no.” Onomatopoeia is present in the poem “Mercury” as the planet is described as “Speedy, nimble, quick, and fast.” “Jupiter” also offers the element of onomatopoeia with “Gigantic, Immense. So wide.”

Descriptions of figurative language in the form of personification are cleverly written with the depiction of Mercury “always racing, on the run.” The author’s sense of humor comes out in this poem when he adds tiny bare feet to encircle the planet, Mercury. An example of the sense imagery of sight is detailed in “Comet,” described as “A dirty snowball / of space debris. The biggest snowball / That you’ll ever see.”

A reader’s emotional response to the poems within this book will be one of curiosity and intrigue. The element of humor that Mr. Florian adds to this informative book will keep readers turning each page, whether that interest is from the whimsical words or creative illustrations.

Comets, Stars, The Moon, And Mars: Space Poems And Paintings will appeal to elementary age students exploring the solar system. The book is playful in design, but informative enough that it could be used for upper grade levels. The book would be an excellent choice for a unit study on the solar system with the integration of language arts and poetry curriculum as well. To add to the appeal of this book, the author has wittily illustrated himself on the inside book jacket as a green alien with red eyes who “writes poetry, and stargazes in New York City.” Funny!

Spotlight Poem

The Moon

A NEW moon isn’t really new

It’s merely somewhat dark to view.

A CRESCENT moon may seem to smile,

Gladly back after a while.

A HALF moon is half dark, half light.

At sunset look due south to sight.

A FULL moon is a sight to see,

Circular in geometry.

After full, the moon will wane

Night by night, then start again.

Connections:

This would be a great activity to reinforce a lesson on the phases of the moon. After reading the poem and having a class discussion to explain the different phases of the moon. I would distribute the poem to each student. Each student would also receive four Oreo cookies and construction paper. Students will take one Oreo cookie for each phase of the moon and show how that would look like with each Oreo cookie. For example, a new moon is “somewhat dark to view.” Students would eat or scrape off the inside filling and glue the Oreo cookie next to the stanza representing the new moon. Students could either cut their poem into four stanzas strips or keep as one complete piece of paper. I saw this activity conducted at my school with second graders, although the poetry book was not used. I think this a clever way to support a student’s understanding of a science concept as well as promote poetry across curriculum. I am going to pass along this poetry book to the teachers at my school, so that they too can see the benefits of its content.