Monday, March 31, 2008

Poetry Monday


Why a Poetry Monday?
Because April is National Poetry Month.

(Yes, I know that today is the last day of MARCH, but tomorrow is April. And I'm all geared up to do something for Nonfiction Monday. Besides, Poetry books are filed in the nonfiction area of public libraries. Nuff said.)

What a great picture book story of a dog out for a romp, gets caught in a rainstorm, has to share shelter with a CAT!
Wait a minute.
Take a closer look.
Every object either is made up of words or contains words describing itself.

You could take hours "reading" each page.
Page one = one crow/ one butterfly/ one wisp of cloud/ and on the bottom of the page is SIDEWALK POURED ROCK FLAT GRAY FOOT WAY TRAMPED-ON NOT-LAWN PARKING LOT HOT SPOT,BLACK TAR MULTICAR, HARD FLAT WELCOME MAT.

Whew! Lots more reading there than expected.

Dog appears. Cloud gets larger. Cat appears. Two crows, cawing. And each object is made up of words describing itself. Along the bottom of the two-page spread, grass describes itself. (and on later pages, complains about getting wet)

Watch that cloud turn into a thunderstorm, describing itself as it forms. (I refused to read every word/drop of rain to my child, sorry.)

You would think the tree would stay the same throughout the story, so you could skip reading it, but no. Trees react to storms, too.

Watch the ladybugs.
Watch the ants.

Looks like an easy picture book story, but isn't.
It's Concrete Poetry. J 811.54
You and a child can spend hours with this book.

For more Nonfiction Monday links, click here.
-wendieO

2 comments:

Andromeda Jazmon said...

This is so fun! We have this book in the library and it is great. Happy Poetry Month!!

Anonymous said...

This is such a fun book. I'm a huge Joyce Sidman fan. While this isn't my favorite of hers (This Is Just to Say and Song of the Water Boatman share that honor), it's one that grows on me each time I read it.