Reading Rumpus: Poetry

Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts

Nighttime Symphony by Timbaland with art by Christopher Myers and Kaa Illustration - mini book review

Publisher's Synopsis: "The sounds of the city at night create a lively lullaby in this melodious bedtime story from superstar producer and musician Timbaland, Caldecott Honor–winning illustrator Christopher Myers, and Kaa Illustration!
As a little boy gets ready for bed, the sounds of a wild storm echo around him, lulling him to sleep. From the crash of thunder to the pitter-patter of raindrops to the beat of passing cars, the music of the city creates a cozy bedtime soundtrack."

My Two Cents:
Nighttime Symphony is more than another sweet, lyrical bedtime story, it is an ode to fatherhood.

If I Was the Sunshine by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Loren Long

Publisher's Synopsis: "A breathtaking picture book about the relationships we share from New York Times bestselling storytellers Julie Fogliano and Loren Long in the tradition of The Runaway Bunny and Guess How Much I Love You....
Through clever, thought-provoking verse and warmly evocative art, New York Times bestsellers Julie Fogliano and Loren Long explore the awe-inspiring nature of relationships, love, and connection."

My Two Cents: If I Was the Sunshine is one of those books that begs you to pick it up. The typography, the pastel colors, the title…. All done with an artistic swoosh that begs you to grab it. That’s what I did as soon as my library acquired it. And, I am glad.

Bigfoot is Missing by J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt with illustrations by Minalima

Bigfoot is Missing! is an interesting poetry addition all about Cryptozoology… Bet you don’t know what that means!

The poems are short and sweet, in some instances not like poetry at all (in a good way!). The illustrations are big and colorful advertisement-style graphics that seem to be looking for eighteen mythical beasts of yore. The brevity of word and gargantuan color makes for a nice balance. The end pages are short definitions of each mythical beast that will leave young readers headed to research more about them.

Writers Lewis and Nesbitt have both been Children’s Poet Laureates and illustrators Mina and Eduardo Lima are heavily involved in the Harry Potter film designs so this book comes with a stellar group of people attached. This is a good poetry book to add to both library and classroom collections. Out just in time for April's Poetry Month!

Genre: Poetry Picture Book
Age: Elementary & Middle
Pages: 40

Thank You to Publisher Chronicle Books for my advanced copy
Release Date: March 31, 2015
ISBN: 978-1452118956

You can read more about the authors on Chronicle's webpage: HERE.

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The Tree That Time Built by Mary Ann Hoberman & Linda Winston - Book Review

The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination is an amazing and beautiful poetry anthology supporting both science and language arts curriculum standards, as well as opportunities for critical thinking. But, I suspect, any time you attach the word “evolution” to something, you are limiting some of its audience. And that is such a shame.

The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination is one of those books that teaches without effort and flows from knowledge to art easily. Strong examples of figurative language, scientific study and critical thinking are married to artistic expression. There are over 100 poems and an accompanying audio CD presenting 44 of them, most read by their authors.

The footnotes, added to many of the poems, are especially helpful in teaching. They tie science, nature, and art to background knowledge (or build new knowledge, for that matter) and extend the poems critical thinking possibilities. They offer teachers opportunities to seize those special “ah, ha!” moments, so wonderful within the profession. The end features a glossary of terms and book suggestions for further explorations. A final ‘About the Poets’ section is just icing on the cake.

Lets not forget to mention that The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination is also a beautiful book in hand. The publisher has taken the extra time to choose rich papers and strong design elements to add even more depth of presentation. In a world of growing digital media, this book lover can certainly appreciate that effort.

Highly recommended! The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination is a must for all (elementary & secondary) language arts and science classrooms and libraries. I will be passing this one along to my own school’s science teacher :-)

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Genre: Poetry. Age: 9-12. Pages: 224.
Themes: Science, Nature, Beauty, Art
Thank You to Sourcebooks for my lovely copy; I'll be passing this one around!
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. Date: October 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-1402225178
Buy The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination Here

Boston's NPR affiliate has a nice interview with the authors. Scroll down to the 5th interview to listen: HERE.

Mary Ann Hoberman is our Children's Poet Laureate. She lives in Connecticut and has four children and five grandchildren. She always knew she wanted to be a writer. You can read more about her on her website. Her co-writer is Linda Winston, a teacher and cultural anthropologist, you can read more about her on her publisher's website.
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Poems, Fairy Tales, Neil Gaiman, Oh My

Here is a fantastic reading of Neil Gaiman's poem, "Instructions" by the author extraordinaire himself! This would make a great introductory poem to a fairy tale unit. At the end of the unit revisit the poem and see how many of the instructions were wisely given!

found via Stainless Steel Droppings and posted on JOMA
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National Poetry Month: Ideas galore all across the web

Here is a hodge-podge of sites for my teacher friends:

Poets.org has great ideas for incorporating poetry ---> Here
and also on conducting a poetry read-a-thon -----> Here

and ways to get the community involved ---> Here

and a list of cities with poetry activites ----> Here

Scholastic has a great support site with grade level resources -----> Here

Teacher Vision has awesome poetry podcasts ----> Here plus... poems of the day, lesson plans and slideshows -----> Here

Teacher Planet has complied stuff from around the web -----> Here

Education World has stuff ---> Here

Harcourt Books has a downloadable curriculum kit ----> Here

Read Write Think is stocked with a roundup of sites ---> Here

Finally, hurry on over to author Karma Wilson's blog to enter for a chance to win a signed copy of Bear Feels Sick. I couldn't find a deadline so you'd better hurry -----> Here
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