Poetry

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brown, Calef. 2006. FLAMINGOS ON THE ROOF: POEMS AND PAINTINGS. Ill. by  Calef Brown. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN: 0618562982

PLOT SUMMARY
This book is filled with poem after poem about unusual, off-the-wall topics. This book will fill young children with delight. Where most children listen for reindeer on their roofs during Christmas time in Brown’s world children hear flamingos on their roofs in December. 

  
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
 The book is an individual poet compilation. There is no theme for the book other than that all of the poems are silly and funny. I find the poems to be every unique such as the poem “Ten-Cent Haiku” I have never read a poem inside of a poem. I also like this poem because it introduces children to a different type of poem. Most children have never heard of a haiku, I know that I did not learn about haikus until I was a student in high school. Brown uses creative language in which the reader uses to build images within the audience’s mind. This is apparent in the poem “Weatherbee’s Diner” this poem is about a diner that serves not food but dishes made from the weather, “The thunder is wonderful, order it loud/with sun-dried tornado on top of a cloud”. I can picture these dishes in my mind and I know that children will too especially at the thought of ordering weather to eat.      

The illustrations are kooky and some of the pictures remind me of the work of Picasso. For me the most interesting depiction is that of the allicatter and the gatorpillar. I think that young children will enjoy the thought of an alligator that is a caterpillar that then turns into a butterfly.   

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
“…The author's strong command of poetic form and his way with words make creating nonsense rhyme look effortless. Full-page, flat acrylic illustrations, most painted in harmonious jewel tones, face single-toned pages of text in a variety of colors. The style is abstract with a folk-art quality, often cartoonish, and always whimsical. The characters have humorous, stylized features and varied skin tones, ranging from pale blue to light green to burnt umber. Packed with amusing details, the paintings consistently expand upon the text….” – School Library Journal

“….Words and pictures manage to be both clear and weird, an enjoyable mix.” - Booklist

Honors

New York Times #1 Best Seller In Children’s Picture Books
Winner of the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry
A 2007 Children’s Book Council Choice

CONNECTIONS

Read the poems aloud to children and, then have the children write their own zany poems with illustrations that they have drawn to accompany the poems .

Flamingos on the Roof

Hallowilloween: Nefarious Silliness

Calef Brown

Verse Novels

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Engle, Margarite. 2008. THE SURRENDER TREE: POEMS OF CUBA’S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN-13 9780805086744  

PLOT SUMMARY
The poetry book is a collection of poems that tell the story of Cuban slaves and their fight for freedom. The poems revel how one former slave Rosa, becomes a symbol of hope and healing through the long wars.

  
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book of poetry is a verse novel that follows several events that occurred during a series of wars that occurred in Cuba concerning plantation owners freeing their slaves. It is told as a narrative from several points of view in which events are told. The author writes from several different perspectives: the healer, the slave, the slave hunter, the general and, the child. I think that Engle wanted to provide the reader with multiple points of view because it encourages the reader to think about how they would feel in each role. Most of the characters were born into their positions. I find it interesting that the character Lieutenant Death, is never given a true name. During one poem at the beginning of the novel I almost felt sorry for him because it seems that he does not like his position as a slave hunter “I am scared of …..the ears of captives/still warm”. In this poem is his describing all of the things that he is scared of and they all involve instruments of his position.        

This book would be better for older students in middle school or high school to read and study. I do not think that younger students would understand the events and emotions that are conveyed in the novel. War is a serious topic and younger students do not have the maturity level to appreciate “The Surrender Tree”.
 
REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
“The Surrender Tree is hauntingly beautiful, revealing pieces of Cuba's troubled past through the poetry of hidden moments such as the glimpse of a woman shuttling children through a cave roof for Rosa's care or the snapshot of runaway Chinese slaves catching a crocodile to eat. Though the narrative feels somewhat repetitive in its first third, one comes to realize it is merely symbolic of the unending cycle of war and the necessity for Rosa and other freed slaves to flee domesticity each time a new conflict begins.” – The School Library

“The switching perspectives personalize the dramatic political history, including the establishment of the world’s first “reconcentration camps” to hold prisoners, as well as the role of slave owners who freed their slaves and joined the resistance against Spain. Many readers will be caught by the compelling narrative voices and want to pursue the historical accounts in Engle’s bibliography.” - Booklist

Honors

• Newbery Honor
• Pura Belpré Award
• Américas Award
• Jane Addams Award
• Claudia Lewis Poetry Award
• Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor
• ALA Best Books for Young Adults
• ALA Notable Book
• NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book
• Amelia Bloomer Book
• Booklist Editor’s Choice
• Kansas State Reading Circle
• Michigan Great Lakes Great Books Award Master List
• Junior Library Guild Selection

CONNECTIONS

Assign students to choose a verse novel to read and review for a class report.

Read one poem a day from a verse novel aloud to older children or adults.

Margarita Engle

The Surrender Tree

The Poet Slave of Cuba

Award Winning Poetry Book

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Schertle, Alice. 2009. BUTTON UP!: WRINKLED RHYMES. Ill. by Petra Mathers. New York, NY: Harcourt Children's Books. ISBN 9780152050504

PLOT SUMMARY
If your clothing could talk what would it say? This book of poems explores what our clothing would say about us if it could talk. 

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The book is a collection of topical poems about children's clothes and all of the poems are written by the same author. The poems are an excellent way to share different points of view. The author uses sensory language which calls to mind a certain image such as the poem titled “Rick’s WOOL SWEATER,”  the words that the authors uses you can just picture Rick, “I make Rick twitchy- wool feels itchy next to his skin.” Most of us at one time have worn a wool sweater so we know how it feels. I can just picture Rick squirming and jerking while wearing this sweater. All of the poems are silly and funny. Young children would be able to relate to the subjects of the poems.     
 

The illustrations for the book are well done. The colors are bright and the animals are all very humanistic in their portrayals. The detailed drawings do a great job of depicting the images that the author evokes. I think that by using animals instead of actual children the poems become even more silly and outrageous which would farther interest young children.  

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
"From delicately comical to downright funny, the art perfectly reflects the contagiously rhythmic, playful verse. Made for sharing, and worth learning by heart, too." - Horn Book

". . . these poems will give readers a new perspective on getting dressed . . . Playful spreads and spot art suit the small, snappy verses beautifully. This whimsical little volume will make a delightful addition to poetry collections." - School Library Journal

"The whimsical illustrations pair perfectly with the wittiness of the text, and the whole is a clever and original poetic treat." - Booklist

Honors

Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award - 2010

CONNECTIONS

Invite younger children to join you in singing poems. For example you can use the poem “The Song of Harvey’s GALOSHES”. This would be a good way to connect children to poetry.   

Button Up!: Wrinkled Rhymes

How Now Brown Cow?

Alice Schertle Profile

Lesson Plans Poetry