Mirror, Mirror

How does a poem about a fairy tale show a new way to read?  Be sure to read Mirror, Mirror, by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josee Masse, and you'll find out!  It is one of the most clever books we’ve ever read! 

Singer uses the “reverso” technique that takes classic fairy tales and reverses the telling of them.  The first line of her poems becomes the last line in the next poem, the second line becomes the next to last line, etc.  The effect is amazing!  The artwork by Masse parallels the reverse idea with split drawings that capture your eye. 

We think this is a book that can spur conversations about poems, fairy tales, writing techniques, and visual strategies!  I think this book will keep stirring our imaginations.  We hope you enjoy Mirror, Mirror!

Question Collection:

*What do you think about the reverso technique?

*Which poem is your favorite?

*Which fairy tale do you think lends itself best to this technique?

*Can you write a reverso?

*Can you draw illustrations to go along with your reverso?

Chicken Socks

Celebrate National Poetry Month!  Chicken Socks, by Brod Bogert and illustrations by Tim Ellis, is a collection of funny poems that young children will enjoy.  One example is The Easter Kitchen bringing out some good laughs if you’ve experienced the accidents that can happen while dyeing eggs!  After reading the humorous poems, I was touched by the concluding poem, The Thank You Poem.  It was a nice way to close the book with leaving the reader thinking about being thankful. 

Question Collection:

*Which poem did you think was funniest?

*Which poem was the most unusual?

*What would you add to The Thank You poem?

Echoes for the Eye

Celebrate National Poetry Month!  Echoes for the Eye (Poems to Celebrate Patterns in Nature), by Barbara Juster Esbensen and illustrated by Helen K. Davie, is a fun book to celebrate poetry and nature.  We like to look for patterns in nature so this book was especially interesting to us.  Esbensen categorizes the patterns of nature into the following categories:  Spirals, Branches, Polygons, Meanders, and Circles.  Examples of poems in the Branches category are poems about veins and lightning.  This book is a thought provoking collection!  The illustrations encourage a picture walk, possibly before and after reading.  We hope you enjoying reading and viewing these poems!

Question Collection:

*What’s your favorite poem?  Picture?

*What patterns surprised you?

*Can you think of other patterns?

I Am the Book

April is National Poetry Month.  We hope you and your children enjoy poems as much as we do!  We're going to take a few days to look at some of our favorite books of poems.

 I Am the Book, poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Yayo, is a great book of poems to start looking at poems.  This collection by Hopkins sparks thinking about the written word through different poems by different poems with the common theme of celebrating reading.  The illustrations by Yayo are fun to explore while also being thought provoking.  We recommend a picture walk to discover all of the clever ways that books are depicted by the artist.   This book would make a great gift to a child or a child’s teacher.  I think this book should be in every library!

Question Collection:

*Which poem is your favorite?

*Which illustration makes you smile?

*Where are all of the places a book can take you?

*Can you think of a way to draw another illustration that corresponds to this book?

Mathematickles

The cover of this book grabbed our attention first:  Mathematickles,

poems by Betsy Franco

+ illustrations by Steven Salerno =

fun poems to tickle your funny bone

This book is filled with clever ways to use math words and symbols to tell about changes that come with the seasons. One example we enjoyed was:  sphere + sphere + sphere = snowman.  Many of these made us laugh out loud! Younger children may not know some of the math symbols, but we enjoyed reading the words and figuring out the meanings.  This book lends itself to coming up with your own creative math problems and solutions.  Enjoy!

Question Collection:

*What’s your favorite math equation in this book?

*What made you laugh in this book?

*Can you make up a math problem and solution like one of these?

The Baby's Book of Baby Animals

The Baby’s Book of Baby Animals, by Kay Chorao, is a beautifully illustrated collection of thirty-six poems and nursery rhymes about baby animals. Each page contains amazing, fun pictures for a child to enjoy while listening to rhyme. This is a book that can be enjoyed time and time again.  After repetition children will start “reading” the pages on their own.  This book was a gift to our family.  It has provided hours of great reading fun!

Question Collection:

*Which poem is your favorite?

*Which animal is your favorite?

*Which page do you think is the prettiest?

*Which page do you think is the funniest?

*Is there a rhyme you can say on your own?