Florian, D.  (2005).  Zoo’s who.  New York, NY:  Harcourt.  ISBN 0-15-204639-9

Douglas Florian began writing poetry in 1994 and has since received the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award for his book Beast Feast and the Claudia Lewis Award for Mammalabilia.  His poetry often focuses on animals as do the pieces in Zoo’s Who.  These poems, while extremely short (most are no longer than 4 lines each), have wonderful rhythm and rhyme, and children who are a little older will love the word plays and puns, such as the one found in this clever little poem:

            The Eagle

            I’m not a seagull.

            I’m royal.

            I’m regal.

            All birds are not

            Created eagle.

There are poems that challenge and stretch the language of the reader, even big readers like me.  See if you can decipher the words in this poem:

            The Penguin

            A penguin isn’t thin – it’s fat.

            It has penguinsulation.

            And it toboggans through the snow

            On Penguinter vacation.

            The penguin’s a penguinsome bird

            Of black-and-white fine feather.

            And it will huddle with its friends

            In cold, penguindy weather.

Some of the poems in this book are almost concrete poems – taking the shape of the topic.  Read “The Terns” to students.  The four lines are written in the shape of a square, starting at the top left.  Discuss the word play of the word “tern.”  Then have students try their hand at writing a poem with a shape that illustrates the topic.  

"The Terns.  Terns turn left, and terns turn right. / Terns take turns at learning flight. / Terns, in turn, learn from each other. / One good tern deserves another." 

Florian did the art for the poems as well, using a variety of materials.  The pictures are full-page pictures on the facing page of the poem and are very intriguing, inviting a second or even third look.  While the main illustration for each poem is a watercolor painting of the featured animal, other shapes and letters are stamped onto the page.  Bits of shredded paper with words and letters on them are glued onto many of the pages along with other bits of paper, tin foil, and candy wrappers.  Exploring the content of the pictures is as much fun as reading the poetry. 

Florian is a new poet for me.  I haven’t ever read any of his work before; however, the content of this book has both my grandson and me interested in finding more of his work.  Animals are a universally interesting topic for young children, and this volume is no exception.  

NCTE Award Winner - Valerie Worth

Worth, V.  (1994).  “All the small poems and fourteen others.  Ill. N. Babbitt.  New York, NY:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux.  ISBN: 9780374403454

The National Council of Teachers of English selects a poet every three years to receive their Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children which honors a living poet’s lifetime achievement  in poetry for children ages 3 through 13.  In 1991, Valerie Worth was the recipient of this prestigious award.

Her volume of poetry titled “all the small poems and fourteen more” is 194 pages of one-page poems about topics ranging from frogs to Christmas lights, from doors to garbage, from frost to potatoes.  This volume encompasses 99 poems that were previously published as four separate volumes, plus 14 additional poems.  Each poem is spare, yet full of imagery that will tickle all five senses such as this one: 

            garbage

            The stained,

            Sour-scented

            Bucket tips out

            Hammered-gold

            Orange rind,

            Eggshell ivory,

            Garnet coffee-

            Grounds, pearl

            Wand of bared

            Chicken bone:

            Worked back soon

            To still more

            Curious jewelry

            Of chemical

            And molecule.

Critics label this book of poetry as being appropriate for children ages four through nine.  However, I tried several of the poems – including “garbage” – on my six-year-old, and he had trouble staying engaged.  Many of the images were not ones that he had experience with, so they didn’t make sense to him.  There were a few that caught his attention, but we had to set this volume aside. 

However, I personally love these poems, so I think that using them with older students would be quite appropriate.  Figures of speech abound in these little treasures – personification, similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, and sensory images are generously used, but never overwhelm the poems.  These poems would be perfect for teaching older students about figures of speech and using language precisely and sparingly to evoke vivid pictures and sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings. 

Read a poem such as “fireworks” to the class, even asking them to close their eyes and imagine being in this place as they hear the words. 

           

            fireworks

            First

            A far thud,

            Then the rocket

            Climbs the air,

            A dull red flare,

            To hang, a moment,

            Invisible, before

            Its shut black shell cracks

            And claps against the ears,

            Breaks and billows into bloom,

            Spilling down clear green sparks, gold spears,

            Silent sliding silver waterfalls and stars.

Or read this poem full of tastes and ask the students to imagine the flavors on their tongues:

            sweets

            Here

            Is a list

            Of likely

            Words

            To taste:

            Peppermint,

            Cinnamon,

            Strawberry,

            Licorice,

            Lime:

            Strange

            How they manage

            To flavor

            The paper

            Page.

Then try mimicking the poem by writing one with smells or sounds or unusual colors.

Natalie Babbitt, known for her children’s novel Tuck Everlasting, illustrated each poem with beautiful, realistic, pen and ink drawings that perfectly capture the words of the poems while still being simple, just like the poems themselves. I love the art so much, that I love the book for the art as much as the poetry.

These small poems are perfect for novice readers of poems or those who have been scared off poems by over-zealous English teachers who have made poetry about analyzing rather than enjoying.  The topics of the poems that come from daily life will feel comfortable and familiar to most readers.

Multicultural Poetry

Wong, Janet.  (1999).  Behind the wheel:  Poems about driving.  New York, NY:  Margaret K. McElderry Books.  ISBN 0-689-82531-5.

What teenager hasn’t waited expectantly for that day when they hop behind the wheel of a car and get their drivers license?  The thrill of finally being able to go wherever you want, whenever you want (theoretically, of course!) is such an appealing thought.  So the title of Janet Wong’s volume of poems is the perfect eye-catcher for the teen reader. 

Once inside the slim volume, readers will discover poems centered around all kinds of aspects of cars and driving; however, the intriguing part is that these driving poems are actually metaphors for life. 

Generally, most poems have appeal.  In fact, I read the first one and instantly hopped onto my computer to send it to a friend who has been helping me through a rough time.  I’m not the type to ask for help much – I’m tough, stoic; I can handle this.  I have to remind myself that it’s okay to not be okay all the time, and even more importantly, it’s okay to let others know. 

          Ask a Friend

          You don’t always need

          to go it alone. 

          Ask a friend

          to give you a ride,

          to help you out,

          to get you home.

          When you’ve found some better times,

          you won’t forget, you’ll pay him back.

          Let your friends be good to you.

          Go along for the ride,

          face in the wind.

I then shared this poem with my high schoolers before asking them to write an essay that was a district-required timed writing.  I get to choose the topic of the essay, so I read this poem and asked them to write about a time they needed help and either asked for it or didn’t, including how it turned out and if they would make the same choices if they could do it again.  The poem made a great jumping-off place, a way to focus thoughts and enter into the prompt.

I found most of the poems to be entertaining as well as thought-provoking.  My favorite was probably the title poem.

          Behind the Wheel

          Forget kindergarten,

          sharing.

          Everything you need to know

          you learn right here

          behind the wheel.

          Watch out for the other guy.

          Keep your eye on your rear.

          Thank the old lady who lets you in.

          Don’t steal someone else’s spot.

          When you rush to park and end up hopeless, crooked –

          just start over.

An interesting way to introduce this volume of poetry to students is to read Robert Fulghum’s list of things he learned in Kindergarten, which is referenced in Wong’s first  three lines - share everything, play fair, don’t hit people – there are 16 of them.  Then read the poem and ask students what else they can learn from driving. 

The poems are free-verse and are consistently short and easy to understand.  The only poem I did not personally like was the poem “OK” – a didactic, obligatory nod to avoiding drinking and driving.  (Wong even uses “preachy” in the first line – “You hate to hear this preachy stuff again and again.”)  That particular poem didn’t seem to have the impact it needed for such a serious subject.  Otherwise, the poems are an appropriate mix of topics within the concept of driving, and the emotions they evoke cover a wide range - funny and serious, family and friends, happy and frustrated.  Sensory imagery will engage the minds of the teen readers and the layout is appealing because most poems are short enough to fit on one page, and if two pages are needed, then the poem is placed on facing pages so one never has to turn a page to finish a poem.   

Our school library has a copy of Behind the Wheel, and it is a volume I’ll be using again and again with my classes.  However, it is also a great little book for individual reading that many teens will find interesting and fun.