For the Love of Spiders and Spi-ku

I've been a fan of spiders for ages, long before I became a faculty member at the only college in the country with a spider mascot. As a classroom teacher I had a tarantula in my classroom and often shared spider-related humor with my students. A particular favorite was this Calvin and Hobbes strip. 

If you can't quite make out the text, here's what Calvin opines.

Like delicate lace,
so the threads intertwine,
Oh, gossamer web
of wondrous design!
Such beauty and grace
wild nature produces … 

UGHH, look at the spider
suck out that bug’s juices! 

While many folks focus on the "yuck factor," spiders are truly fascinating creatures. Leslie Bulion has fully captured how amazing they are in both verse and prose in Spi-ku: A Clutter of Short Verse on Eight Legs. Add in the incredible illustrations by Robert Meganck and you have a masterpiece that even arachnophobes will love.

Bulion is a master of informational texts that marry engaging, kid-friendly poetry with science. I wish her books had been around 33 years ago when I settled into my first classroom, eager to put science books in kids hands that would neither put them to sleep with their didactic approach to content, nor turn them away with the complexity of the writing. Not only were truly exceptional nonfiction science books hard to find back then, but poetry was almost nonexistent. As someone who encourages teachers to integrate poetry and children's literature into content area instruction, Leslie's books are a gift.

Let's start this review by exploring from the back. My students know how much I love back matter. It's one of the components that I believe separates good nonfiction texts from great ones. The back matter in Spi-ku consists of a glossary of 24 terms, notes on poetics forms, spider identification that includes common and scientific names (genus and species) for the 53 spiders illustrated so carefully by Meganck, ideas for going on a spider hunt, an annotated bibliography with resources for further study, the author's acknowledgements (yes, she consulted with experts!), a double-page spread showing spiders' relative sizes, and a page of close-up illustrations of the spiders that appear on the cover. Phew! See what I mean about back matter? This information adds a welcome layer of depth to the text.

While many of the poems in the text use Japanese or Japanese-inspired forms, such as haiku, tanka, dodoitsu, and cinquain, there are other forms, including limerick, double dactyl, free verse, concrete, and many more. The first poem, "Araneae All Around" provides a nice introduction to the humble spider and the volume. The poems are all accompanied by illustrations of spiders, their silks, and webs. I found myself constantly flipping between the pages and the spider identification in the back to try and determine exactly what spiders I was looking at. After the introductory poem, Bulion introduces arachnids, or the class of invertebrates that spiders belong to.

(Click to enlarge.)

I adore the word play in using mite in this poem. This is the kind of thing that students will remember. I know this one turn of phrase is a great way to remember at least one other type of organism found in the arachnid class. As pictured above, each double-page spread includes one or more verses and a block of informational text. The spiders highlighted in the text blocks appear in boldface to make them stand out. The information unfolds in a thoughtfully organized fashion, taking readers on a journey that has them learning about spider silk, spider movement, how they catch and eat their meals, their webs, how some spiders capture prey without the use of a web or snare, how spiders fool both prey and predators, spider senses, and so much more. 

I learned as much from the poems in the book as I did the nonfiction excerpts. The 3 different spreads on spider enemies all include poems for two voices and are particularly engaging when read aloud. The text ends with a final poem entitled "Appreciate Araneae!" After learning so much about them, it's hard not to appreciate all they contribute to "Our Spiderful World," which just so happens to be the heading for the last block of nonfiction text. (Go ahead, see for yourself!)

(Click to enlarge.)

There is so much to love in this volume. I encourage all you folks who are fearful or disdainful of spiders to be brave and take a peak. I guarantee that by the end of it, even the biggest spider-haters will be converts. 

For all you teachers out there, Leslie has developed a particularly useful Educator's Guide. Don't miss it!

Thanks to PeachTree for sending me a copy of the book and including me on the blog tour. You can check out the other stops this week to learn more.

• Monday (4/5): Picture Books 4 Learning
• Tuesday (4/6): Storymamas
• Wednesday (4/7): The Miss Rumphius Effect!
• Thursday (4/8): Reading to the Core
• Friday (4/9): TeacherDance

You can learn more about Leslie Bulion and her books at her web site. You can also find her on social media at:

• Facebook: @leslie.bulion
• Twitter: @LeslieBulion
• Instagram: @lesliebulion

You can learn more about Robert Meganck and his art on his web site. (Turns out, he's my neighbor here in Virginia. Hi Robert!) You can also find him on social media at:

• Facebook: @rmeganck
• Twitter: @r2meganck
• Instagram: @r2meganck

Finally, keep up with PeachTree Publishing and see what's new in their world of books at:

• Facebook: @PeachtreePub
• Twitter: @PeachtreePub
• Instagram: @peachtreepublishing

The Straight Poop on Who Pooped in Central Park?

Way back in 2009 I wrote a post entitled Low-Brow Topics That Make For High-Brow Reading. Here's how it began.

*****

On Tuesday I finally threw up my hands in frustration over the proliferation of "boys don't read" articles in the last few months. Here's an excerpt from the post entitled More Boy Bashing - Here We Go Again.

Can we please give boys and young men just a bit of credit for their reading habits? If we constantly push potty and other forms of low humor on them as something they'll read, aren't we just setting the bar a tad bit low?

I was thinking about this last night as my son and I were reading a portion of Jurassic Poop: What Dinosaurs (And Others) Left Behind, written by Jacob Berkowitz and illustrated by Steve Mack. Yes, this is a book ostensibly about poop (see that word in the title?), but it is SO MUCH MORE. The book discusses fossils, fossilization, carbon dating, history, archaeology, and the work of several different scientists. My son was drawn in more by the dinosaur connection than anything else, but since reading it he has been endlessly fascinated with the notion that you can learn about the past from things (artifacts) that are left behind, poop being one of them.

There are a number of books on low-brow topics that we hand to reluctant readers in an attempt to encourage them to read. However, the base nature of these topics and the quality of the work don't need to be mutually exclusive. (Oh, a book about poop? Must be crap!) So, in an effort to elevate some topics and/or titles perceived to be low-brow, here are some books (nonfiction all!) that will interest boys AND girls by the very nature of their FABULOUSLY INTERESTING content.

*****
That list was filled with books on poop, toilets, underwear, and more. Why mention this in a book review? Because I've found a book (heck, a whole series!) that could easily be added to this list.

Gary D. Robson has written 20 books in the Who Pooped in the Park? series. Just take a look at this map to see some of the locations covered. I had no idea there was a book for Virginia! I'll be picking that one up for my outdoor education workshops soon.

You can learn more about the series at Gary's web site.

The latest book in the series is WHO POOPED IN CENTRAL PARK? SCAT AND TRACKS FOR KIDS. Emma, Jackson, Lily and Tony spend a day walking through Central Park, beginning at the Central Park Zoo and ending at Farmer's Gate. At the beginning of their walk they meet a worker named Lawton who tells them he can identify animals by their scat and tracks. As the kids move through the park, they stop along the way to make observations, talk to people they meet, and look at poop and tracks. It's certainly an interesting way to spend the day, and the kids are fully engaged with their explorations. Back matter includes additional information (scat and tracks) on ten of the animals observed directly or indirectly through the signs they leave behind.

While I like the story and, I was even more enamored of the informational boxes on most double-page spreads titled "The Straight Poop." These boxes, added to the text, provide readers with a wealth of information. Here's an example of what you'll find in these boxes.

Groundhogs (also called woodchucks) build long, underground tunnels with special rooms just for pooping, so you won't find much groundhog poop above the ground.

Even though this book is set in Central Park, folks in the northeast, particularly in urban areas or close to state and local parks, will find this a useful guide. Even kids who don't live in and around NYC will learn something about the myriad of animals depicted. And really, who can resist a book about poop? Certainly not me.

Book Review - California, the Magic Island

California, the Magic Island, written and illustrated by Doug Hansen, is a book that every California teacher should have on his/her bookshelf. But what is it? Is it mythology? State history? Alphabet book? Actually, it's all of the above.

Here's the overview from the back cover.

Queen Calafia, the legendary heroine of a sixteenth-century Spanish romance about an island overflowing with gold, is incensed with she hears that a state has been named after her. Being the good queen that she is, she's willing to hear from twenty-six animals about why California is worthy of her regal name. Each animal describes an iconic cultural object or historical event, enchanting readers—and maybe even Calafia herself—with their tales of the magical place called California.

Hailing from western New York, I have visited the state on a number of occasions, but know very little about California history, so this was a very nice introduction.

The book opens with an introduction to Queen Calafia and Her Magic Island. As all good stories begin, this one starts with "Once upon a time (or maybe only yesterday) ..." Readers learn about the Queen and her island, her fury at the use of their island name, and her command to her warriors to let the animals speak for California as she decides the fate of the people. What follows are 26 stories, each told by a different animal, each about a different event, location, industry, animal, or some other important piece related to California history or present. After their stories, readers learn about the judgment that Queen Calafia has made.

Back matter in the text contains information about the origin of the Queen Califia legend, additional information about each of the animals and the stories they narrate, and a note about the artist and the content of the borders at the beginning of the book. The illustrations are brightly colored, gloriously vibrant images that are nothing short of magical. I spent almost as much time pouring over the illustrations as I did reading the text.

I loved the story of the monarch butterflies, and will use excerpts from this in my science teaching. Other connections to science include stories about the La Brea Tar Pits, Mount Palomar Observatory, and Yosemite.

Hansen looks broadly and inclusively at California history. The stories are short, providing just information to pique the interest of readers. I know that I closed the book wanting to know so much more. This is a beautiful book with a story inventively told.

You Can Fly with the Weatherfords

When I was young and learned my father served in the Naval Air Corps during WWII, I became a voracious reader of anything and everything about the war, including the Holocaust, Pearl Harbor, Jackie Robinson, Rosie the Riveter, the WACs, and more. What I didn't find were stories about the Tuskegee Airmen. My young self would have been as thrilled as I am today with the release of an amazing poetry collection entitled You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford.

You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen is a collaboration between award-winning children’s book author Carole Boston Weatherford and her son, debut illustrator Jeffery Boston Weatherford. They have woven poems and scratchboard illustrations into a history in verse inspired as much by World War II newsreels as by modern day graphic novels. The project was nearly ten years in the making. With starred reviews in Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly, the book for middle grades is off to a flying start.

Here the mother-son/author-illustrator team interview each other.

Carole: When did you first hear about the Tuskegee Airmen?

Jeffery: I first heard about them when I was a young boy. We took family trips to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington and to Tuskegee Institute, Alabama where we toured exhibits about the Tuskegee University’s founder Booker T. Washington, botanist George Washington Carver and the Tuskegee Airmen. I always had dreams of flight.

Jeffery: Why did you want to write this book?
Carole: I first learned of the Tuskegee Airmen in a magazine article in the 1980s. I was so moved by their story that I saved the magazine. My literary mission is to mine the past for family stories, fading traditions and forgotten struggles. The Airmen’s saga is historically and politically significant. As a children’s literature professor, I knew of at least one historical fiction picture book and of several informational books about the Tuskegee Airmen. I felt that the story would lend itself well to a poetic treatment.

Carole: Tell us about your family’s military ties?

Jeffery: My great great great grandfather Isaac Copper fought in the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. He was one of 17 veterans who founded the town of Unionville on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. My mother’s father Joseph Boston Jr. served in World War II. He was a technical sergeant in the Army Corps of Engineers in New Guinea and the Philippines. My grandmother still has his uniform and medals.

Jeffery: Which poem was most challenging to write?

Carole: “Operation Prove Them Wrong” was by far the toughest to write. It was like plotting scenes for a war movie. I had to boil down Operation Corkscrew and Operation Diadem to a few lines that captured the battles. It might have been easier if I were gamer like you or at least a World War II buff.

Carole: You were a serious gamer growing up. Did your background as a gamer influence how you illustrated the battle scenes?  

Jeffery: Yes, absolutely. I had lots of residual visual references from battles across galaxies.

Jeffery: What is your favorite illustration from the book?
Carole: I like the one opposite the poem “Routines.” It shows a dogfight in which one plane gets bombed and explodes. The explosion is quite animated, like something out of a comic book. I almost want to add an action bubble: Boom!

Carole: Describe your creative process.
Jeffery: For inspiration, I viewed documentary photographs from the Library of Congress and National Archives collections. While researching picture references, I had some dreams of meeting Tuskegee Airmen. I also watched the movie Red Tails. For each illustration, I drew a graphite study to layout the composition. Once that was completed and approved by the publisher, I refined the image and transferred it to scratchboard. I used various nibs for different effects.

Jeffery with Airman portrait

Jeffery: What do you want readers to take away from the book?

Carole: I want them to be inspired by the courage and determination of the Tuskegee Airmen. I want them to understand that the sky is no limit if they are willing to prepare themselves, practice and persevere. The book aims to lift the ceiling off of young people’s dreams. 

P-51 Mustangs flying in formation over Ramitelli, Italy.

From the LOC archives: http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/ppmsca/13200/13268r.jpg

Did you know? The Tuskegee Airmen got the name Red Tails when their ground crew painted the tail of the P-47 red.

WWII by the numbers: Before the Tuskegee Experiment began, there were only 130 licensed African American pilots in the U.S.

Here's one of my favorite poems from the book.

Train Ride to the Clouds

All aboard for Tuskegee Institute,

where Booker T. Washington uplifted ex-slaves

and George Washington Carver 

is working wonders with sweet potatoes!

If Carver can make paint

from clay and plastics from soy,

then the school Booker T. founded

can surely make you a pilot.

If you did not believe that were true

you would not have packed your bag 

and boarded the train for Alabama

with a Bible and a box lunch from your mama.

If your faith were not vast as the sky,

you would never have taken this leap.

Poem © Carole Boston Weatherford, 2016. All rights reserved.

The poems in this volume are moving, vivid, and packed with information.  The poem in the Epilogue describes the race barrier breaking moments that came after the Tuskegee Airmen paved the way for integration of the U.S. military. The backmatter includes an author's note, timeline, and extensive list of additional resources and primary sources. 

You can find helpful teacher resources for this work at: https://cbweatherford.com/books/youcanfly/teacher-resources/

*****

My thanks to Carole and Jeffery for sharing their conversation and their work. You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen was released on May 3rd and is available now. Don't miss it!

The Poem That Will Not End - Talking With Joan Bransfield Graham

What happens when poetry takes over your life? Ryan O'Brian finds out when he spouts poetry and writes poems all day long!

While at recess he says:

I beg you, won’t you help me?
Please help me, be a friend.
Rescue me, I’m captured—
this poem will not end!

Then later in the evening while taking a bath he proclaimed:

My brain went into overdrive,

I started writing faster,
careening wild at breakneck speed—
a poetry disaster.

Early the next morning he laments:

I spent a restless night and thought,
Whatever can I do?
When I woke up, I found my pillows
covered with . . . haiku!

THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END: FUN WITH POETIC FORMS AND VOICES, written by Joan Bransfield Graham and illustrated by Krysten Brooker, is a fun-filled romp through the day in the life of a young boy who gets caught up in poetry.

While the rhyming text of the story keeps readers moving forward, it's the poems written in the illustrations that make you stop to soak in all the poetry goodness. You’ll find a villanelle, sonnet, acrostic, haiku, limerick, and many more forms. This triolet describes just how caught up Ryan is in writing poetry.

CAPTURED

|’m captured, won’t you help me find a way, 

to free me from this urgent need to write? 

|t follows me and hounds me night and day. 

|’m captured, won’t you help me find a way,

 to toss aside this curse—| want to play! 

You must admit . . . this is a scary sight. 

|’m captured, won’t you help me find a way, 

to free me from this urgent need to write?

All poems ©Joan Bransfield Graham. All rights reserved.

While reading this book I found myself thinking back to MATH CURSE, written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. In it, readers follow a nameless student who lives a day filled with math problems. This book is different in that Graham has given readers a boy with a name, a family, and an ordinary life filled with poetry. Kids will love the story, while teachers will love the fun poems and poetic forms that are introduced.

Reading this had me wanting to ask folks around me, "how do you use poetry in your own life?" I think that’s a great question to put to the very talented author of this book. Here are her thoughts about that and some more on her poetry writing process.

**********

How have you used poetry in your own life?
Joan:  I make my own cards with my original photos and poems.  Isn't poetry what we reach for in life's most important, emotional moments? But I think poetry is how you see the world. It expands our vision, helps us see higher, wider, deeper . . . longer.  It captures a moment in time. Sometimes life can take over your poetry. I found if I didn't make poetry an important part of my life, I wasn't the person I was meant to be. It can be a continuing challenge to fit everything in . . . a juggling act. While POEM is written in a humorous vein to let children see that poetry is FUN, I hope it also makes some small statement that we must embrace our creativity, our uniqueness, and weave it into our lives; we are all richer for it. Ryan O'Brian, in the end, does "make it work." I love how poetry connects us to ourselves, to each other, to the world. We have such a vibrant poetry community! Here's to celebrating each other's imagination, sharing a healthy, joyful creative "Fever," and staying connected. 

When was the main text/poem of the book composed? How did it start? 
Joan: Many years ago, and "It started with a rhythm,/ a rhythm and a rhyme." and I couldn't stop--I kept adding more ideas. The line "My mom called up, "Are you in bed?" is directly from my life. I was a "night owl" even as a child and was probably reading a book or writing poetry as late as I could. I never wrote on the mirror with toothpaste though.

Did you share your drafts of the poems before you finished the book? Is there an individual or a group of individuals with whom you regularly share work? 
Joan: Yes, I did. When I first moved to California, I met some wonderful poets (They were writing for adults.), and they are still dear friends. I'm in a terrific, helpful critique group of fellow SCBWI writers (I'm the only poet.), and we meet at my home once a month.  I'm also a founding member of the Children's Authors Network (CAN!)--a marvelous group of authors and illustrators, which includes poetry dynamos Janet Wong and April Halprin Wayland (also with Teaching Authors). If you click here, and then again on "Classroom Resources," http://canetwork.weebly.com/joan-bransfield-graham.html, you'll find my Teacher Ideas, across the curriculum, for POEM and other useful guides. As Co-coordinator of Ventura County for our SCBWI Central-Coastal California region, I help to plan a variety of events throughout the year for writers and artists in our area.  

How long do you let your poems “sit” before you let them go? Do you finish poems or abandon them?
Joan: As long as they need. Rather than "abandon" poems, I think of them as being in various stages of incubation. It does help to let a poem "cool" for a few days and then look at it anew with "fresh eyes." 

Do you have a favorite poem from the book? Or a poem that you loved that didn’t make it into the final manuscript? 
Joan: I'm fond of "Bike," the poem from yesterday's prompt. Couldn't "Bike" be a metaphor for poetry? When you "step on," you are in for a ride that can "take you anywhere." I hope "the road ahead" is filled with poetry for all your readers. Tricia, you are doing an incredible job of seeing to that for both the fans of your blog and your students! 

Would you like to share the details of any new poetry project(s) that you’re working on?
Joan: So many things! Lee Bennett Hopkins has a new book, MANGER, scheduled for Sept., 2014, and I am fortunate to have a "Rooster" poem included--in fact, I see my rooster is on the cover! I have many other poems in forthcoming anthologies. When a friend whose son teaches high school English mentioned his students wondered why they needed to study poetry, I started writing an article--FIVE REASONS TO GIVE CHILDREN THE GIFT OF POETRY. I'm not sure where I'll send that piece when it's finished, but I need to write it. I guess I'm Ryan O'Brian.

**********
I had the pleasure of interviewing Joan nearly 5 years ago for a National Poetry Month series. You can read more about her and her poetry at Poetry Makers - Joan Bransfield Graham.

THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END is a welcome addition to the world of children's poetry. I do hope you get a chance to enjoy it.

Thanks so much to Joan for inviting me on this blog tour. You can check out the other stops on this electronic journey at:
Monday, Jan. 27 - Poetry for Children
Tuesday, Jan. 28 - Tales from the Rushmore Kid
Wednesday, Jan. 29 - Double Olympic Poetry Challenge and Teaching Authors
Friday, Jan. 31 - Jama's Alphabet Soup

So now for the fun! If you'd like to win a copy of THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END, please enter below. A winner will be chosen on February 5th.

Poetry Friday - At the Sea Floor Café

At the Sea Floor Café: Odd Ocean Critter Poems, written by Leslie Bulion and illustrated by Leslie Evans, is a collection that contains 18 poems, a helpful glossary of scientific terms, poetry notes that describe the form of the poems, and suggestions for additional resources. Did you know that Bulion has a graduate degree in oceanography? That means you'll find poetry and science--a perfect pairing in my opinion--that are nicely matched in this collection. 

Here's a poem about an octopus.

Walk Like a Nut

This octopus walks backwards on two arms,
And wraps the other six around its top.
It ambles free of predatory harms,
And thus avoids become shark-chewed slop.

It winds six tentacles around its top,
Pretending to be flotsam sharks ignore,
And treads away from trouble, flippy flop,
Instead of being chomped to guts and gore--

A coconut that strolls across the ocean floor.

Poem © Leslie Bulion. All rights reserved.

The poems in this collection are accompanied by factual information. Here's the text about the coconut octopus.

The coconut octopus wraps six of its arms around its head and walks backwards on its other two arms. This movement makes the octopus look like a coconut drifting across the shallow sea floor near Indonesia. Predators hunting for an eight-tentacled snack pass on by.

This is just the type of book I enjoying sharing with my preservice teachers. The blending of poetry and informational text makes this a good choice for teachers attempting to to integrate children's literature into the content areas.

If you want some additional information on ocean life, here are just a few resources you may find useful.

• The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a terrific animal guide, as well as some great games and interactives. (Print out a set of critter cards for even more fun!)
  
• DLTK's Crafts for Kids has some ocean animal activities.
• Treasures at Sea: Exploring the Ocean Through Literature is a teaching unit that includes games and puzzles, writing activities, book recommendations, art activities and more.
• The Fish FAQ from Woods Hole Science Aquarium has answers to just about any question you might have about fish and other ocean animals.

The round up this week is being hosted by Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Do stop by and take in all the terrific poetry being shared. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

On Love, Loss, Poetry, and Growing Up - Meet Kevin Boland

A few weeks ago I fell in love with Kevin Boland (known to his baseball-playing buddies as Shakespeare). How could I not love a boy who loves two of my favorite things--baseball and poetry? How could I not appreciate a boy who writes things like this?

Man, sonnets are hard: counting
syllables in every line, trolling
for rhymes (p.16).


I said I wouldn't write anymore,
but I take that back.

When I got sick, I missed baseball.
When I got well, I missed writing (p. 56).


I'm still trying to slip in some inside
rhyme, just a few things that chime
a little but don't go bong, bong, bong
at the end of every line (p. 61).


I've got this pitcher figured out: slider,
fastball, curve. Slider, fastball, curve.
Like meter in a bad poem--no surprises (p. 113).

(Excerpts from Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge. You can also read the first few pages.)

From the moment I opened Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, Kevin Boland was in my head, and by the end of the book he was in my heart. I really wasn't prepared for the emotional punch of his story told through poems laced with humor, angst, love, loss and of course, baseball. What's a boy to do when he's told he's sick and can't play the sport he loves? His father, who is a writer, hands him a marble composition notebook and and says, "You're gonna have a lot of time on your/hands. Maybe you'll feel like writing/something down."

By the fourth poem in, Kevin has taken a book about poetry from the den and secreted it away to his room.

It feels weird smuggling something about
poetry up to my room like it's the new
Penthouse (p. 5).

As Kevin recovers from mono he writes about the death of his mother, girls, baseball, the past, and the struggles of a typical teenager. The poems take a variety of forms, including sonnet, couplet, free verse, elegy, pastoral, pantoum, and more.

**TIME OUT**

Before I go any further, I need a time out for a confession. I'm not a fan of many so-called verse novels. I know, I know! I can already hear the arguments for them, and you can probably name more than a dozen that you love. (Little Willow posted a lengthy booklist of verse novels.) But for me (confession, remember?) some of them read like prose that's been broken up to LOOK like poetry. Don't get me wrong, they're often terrific stories, but sometimes they just don't FEEL like poetry.

I don't know if Shakespeare Bats Cleanup is or has been categorized as a verse novel, but it's exactly what I think a verse novel should be -- a carefully ordered collection of poems that tells a good, no scratch that, a great story.

**TIME IN**

All of this is a very lengthy prelude to my reflections on Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs, Koertge's sequel to Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. When I was invited to participate in the blog tour, the folks at Blue Slip Media were concerned that this book might not be my cup of tea because I focus on poetry for younger readers through middle grades. While it's true that I rarely review YA books, my concern was not so much about the audience, but the verse novel format. The verdict? I'm so glad I said yes.

My love affair with Kevin Boland continues as he struggles with his new girlfriend (who doesn't really know much about poetry), his new poetry gal pal (who totally gets his poetry obsession), his English class, his father's dating, the line between friendship and something more, and baseball. As with Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, I appreciate Kevin's take on writing, life and baseball. Here are a few of my favorite excerpts.

I love my thesaurus. I like
to think about all the words
in there, cuddling up together
or arguing. Montagues on
one side, Capulets on the other.
Synonyms and antonyms (p. 4).


He calls rhyme a benevolent bully because it'll make a poet
look hard for the right word and then maybe he finds
an even better one (p. 11)!


Sadness is a big dark bus
with a schedule all its own.
But when it pulls up and the door
opens with a hiss, you pretty much
have to get on (p.25).


The sestina is almost impossible. I tried one once
and after a couple of stanzas threw myself onto
the nearest chaise and wept. Copiously (p. 80).

(Please Note - These excerpts came from an uncorrected proof. The bound copy may differ from the ARC and what is presented here.)

When I closed this book I wanted to understand why I connected so fully with Kevin. What was it about him that drew me in and kept me in his corner? Honestly, I think it's because Kevin is the male version of my middle school self (save the dead mother) and in his poetry he admits to all the things I felt but never put in writing. Will teens feel the same way reading him? I sure hope so. Boys will connect to his everyman status because he is, after all, just a regular guy. Girls will enjoy getting inside his head (who doesn't want to know what boys are thinking?) and will appreciate that he's not afraid of facing his emotions, even if only on paper.

I'm embarrassed to admit the I knew Koertge only through his adult work, not what he's written for young adults. I HAVE BEEN MISSING OUT. If you haven't met Kevin Boland, you're missing out too. Don't waste another minute. Run to the nearest library or bookstore and pick up a copy of Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. Then you'll only have to wait 8 more days until Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs is released.

All poems ©Ron Koertge. Used with permission of Candlewick Press.

Book Review - Looking Closely Around the Pond

I have always been a fan of the Games Magazine puzzles called "Eyeball Benders." These are a type of puzzle in which the reader must identify a common object pictured in a close-up and generally uncommon view. Here is an example from the July 2008 cover of the magazine.

Why do I mention these puzzles in a book review? Because books in the series Looking Closely from Kids Can Press uses this type of visual puzzle as an introduction to natural environments. Written and photographed by Frank Serafini, the books challenge readers to guess the identity of each close-up photo. The cropped images on the right hand page are framed in black. The small circle that is visible allows readers to focus on just one part of the larger image. The left hand page in each spread begins with "Look very closely. What do you see?" What appears next are two ideas designed to get readers thinking. The page ends with the words, "What could it be?" On the next page each object is shown in its habitat and accompanied by a description.

The first spread from Looking Closely Around the Pond is focused on the a portion of a turtle shell. The next page begins with the words "It's a Box Turtle." The text reads:

Box turtles are shy creatures. They creep slowly around the pond, eating snails, mushrooms and small berries. They stay close to shore because they are not very good swimmers. In winter, box turtles dig into the ground. There, they sleep, or hibernate, until spring.

The colorful designs on a box turtle's shell help it to blend in with grasses. When a box turtle gets scared, it pulls it legs and head inside its shell to protect itself.

Looking Closely Around the Pond highlights nine plants and animals that can be found in this environment. The last page features a double-page photograph of a pond. The book ends with the following photographer's note.

Photographers pay attention to things that most people overlook or take for granted. I can spend hours wandering along the shore, through the forest, across the desert or in my garden, looking for interesting things to photograph. My destination is not a place, but rather a new way of seeing.

It takes time to notice things. To be a photographer, you have to slow down and imagine in your "mind's eye" what the camera can capture. Ansel Adams said you could discover a whole life's worth of images in a six-square-foot patch of Earth. In order to do so, you have to look very closely.

By creating the images featured in this series of picture books, I hope to help people attend to nature, to things they might have normally passed by. I want people to pay attention to the world around them, to appreciated what nature has to offer, and to being to protect the fragile environment in which we live.

Dr. Serafini succeeds beautifully in getting readers to attend to the small details found in nature. His images will surely capture the imagination of children and adults alike. Readers will delight in the challenges provided by the close-up photographs and this welcome introduction to the pond environment. I know I did. Highly recommended.

Books: Looking Closely Around the Pond
Author/Illustrator: Frank Serafini
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 40 pages
Grades: K-4
Source of Book: Review copy received from Raab Associates.

Book Review - Food Chains

The series Follow That Food Chain from Lerner Publishing uses the "choose your own adventure" format to provide readers with an exciting new way to learn about the food chain. The books in the series examine food chains by situating them in different ecosystems and then allowing readers to choose an animal to follow through the chain. Ecosystems explored include the Australian Outback, cloud forest, coral reef, desert, estuary, Galápagos Islands, mangrove forest, Nile River, rain forest, savanna, temperate forest, and tundra.

Each book begins with an introduction to the ecosystem or biome that is the focus of the book. The Rain Forest book focuses on rain forests of south America, while the Temperate Forest book focuses on the woods of North America. The next step is for readers to select a tertiary consumer to follow through the chain. In the case of the temperate forest, readers can select the American black bear, gray wolf, great horned owl, Canada lynx, or bald eagle. In the rain forest they can select the jaguar, anaconda, or harpy eagle.

From the outset, there are two things that work really well here. First, one page of text fully describes the members of the food chain (consumers, producers, and decomposers) and their role in it. Then readers are told how to use the book. Here's an excerpt.

Begin your journey through the temperate forest food web by choosing a tertiary consumer. These large carnivores, or meat eaters, as at the top of the food chain. That means, for the most part, they don't have any enemies in the woods (except for humans).

When it's time for the tertiary consumer to eat, pick its meal and flip to that page. As you go through the book, don't be surprised if you backtrack and end up where you never expected to be. That's how food webs work--they're complicated. And watch out for those dead ends! When you hit one of those, you have to go back to page 7 and start over with another tertiary consumer.

So, knowing the task at hand, I chose the gray wolf and turned to page 28 to begin my adventure. Ostensibly, these books are about the food chain, right? That's what the title says. But here's the second thing I really appreciate about these books. They're just as much about the ecosystem and animals as the food chain. The interdependence of all these things becomes apparent as you read. When I got to page 28 I learned a whole lot about gray wolves before I even got to the next phase of food chain investigation. Here are a few examples.

• Wolves hunt over more space than any other land mammals, except humans.
• Until the 1960s, rewards were offered for killing gray wolves.
• Wolves can go up to two weeks without eating.
• Wolves have been known to eat up to 22 pound in one feeding. (That's almost 1/3 their weight!)

After reading about wolves the text reads, "Last night for dinner, the pack tracked down ..." On the facing page are a series of choices. They include:

• a pine marten caught scampering across the pine needles
• a raccoon rubbing his food in a river
• a panicked white-tailed deer that gave a good chase
• burying beetles on their way to a new carcass
• a northern flying squirrel that surprised the pack as he glided to the ground
• an elk that's been sick all winter
• an American beaver distracted by the fall of a large tree

I chose the poor elk and flipped to page 14 to read on. This is where I hit a dead end. DRAT! So, I went back to the beginning and chose a great horned owl. From here I followed the chain to a raccoon (the owl ate a baby left alone), then a Canada goose (the raccoon ate goose eggs hidden in the tall grass), then grass and plants near the water (a goose's preferred food), and finally to the earthworms decomposing materials in the soil (which eventually served as nutrients for the plants). PHEW!

The rain forest food chain was just as interesting. I started with the anaconda and was surprised to see the sentence stem read, "Last year for dinner, the anaconda swallowed ..." Last year! The anaconda ate a capybara swimming in the river, which ate leaves from a kapok tree. Once you get to the producers, the cycles takes you to decomposers and you start again. My second trip through the text took me from jaguar to green iguana to rhinoceros beetle (accompanied by the word crunchy!) to fungus growing on a tree trunk. That particular decomposer allowed me to choose from a host of carcasses, including the jaguar, giant armadillo, giant anteater, harpy eagle, anaconda, army ants, bromeliad flower, and nuts from a cacao tree.

I had a great deal of fun reading through these books and learned a lot in the process. Readers will learn about much more than food chains as they work their way through these texts. The two books in this series that I reviewed were thoughtfully planned and dense with information. Students in the upper elementary grades are sure to be intrigued and excited about this interactive format. Highly recommended.

Source of Books: Review copies received from publisher.

Book Review - Life Cycle Series

For young readers there are some exciting new series books that explore animal life cycles. Both are small in dimension (7" x 6") and fit nicely into little hands.

From Lerner Publishing comes the series First Step Nonfiction - Animal Life Cycles. Books in this series introduce readers to deer, dragonflies, grasshoppers, robins, salamanders, and worms. Written with emerging readers in mind, the books use short, simple sentences and glossy, full-color photographs. At 24 pages they're just the right length to hold interest and provide information.

The text contains a number of highlighted words that appear in the book's glossary. Here's an example.

A robin is a bird, like a duck or an owl.

In the glossary readers will find a picture of a bird (the robin) with this definition.

bird - an animal that lays eggs and has wings and feathers

The final pages of the book contain an illustrated diagrams of a robin highlighting major body parts. Also included are robin facts and and index.


From Capstone Press comes the series Watch It Grow. Books in this series introduce readers to goldfish, mealworms, milkweed bugs, painted lady butterflies, pillbugs, silkworms, and snails. Also designed with emerging readers in mind, the books combine simple, easy to read sentences with color photographs, many of them labeled to highlight features described in the text. The books in this series contain an important note for parents and teachers. Here's the one from the Snails book.

The Watch it Grow set supports national science standards related to life science. This book describes and illustrated apple snails. The images support early readers in understanding the text. The repetition of words and phrases helps early readers learn new words. This book also introduces early readers to subject-specific vocabulary words, where are defined in the Glossary section. Early readers may need assistance to read some words and to use the Table of Contents, Glossary, Read More, Internet Sites, and Index sections of the book.

There is a lot of information packed into the 24 pages of the books in this series. Unlike the Lerner series which contains a photo on and text on every page, these books contain a full-page photograph on the left side of every spread with accompanying text on the right. Here is how the snail book begins.

What Are Snails?
Snails are invertebrates.
They have a soft body
and a hard shell.
Apple snails live in water.
They change as they grow.

The phases of the life cycle are divided into sections in the book, so readers move from the introduction to snails to From Egg to Hatchling and then to From Hatchling to Adult.

The Goldfish book is just as interesting, though divided differently because of the stages in the life cycle of a goldfish. This one contains the sections Metamorphosis, From Egg to Larva, From Larva to Fry, and From Fry to Adult. The pictures of the goldfish larvae are fascinating, and made me wonder how the photographer managed to capture the tiny creatures. The photo on page 12 is a bit blurry, but otherwise the images all standout and do a fine job of supporting the text.

Both of these series would be fine additions to nonfiction collections and are excellent resources for young readers.

Source of Books: Review copies received from publisher.

Book Review - Follow That Map!

Follow That Map!: A First Look at Mapping Skills, written and illustrated by Scot Ritchie, provides readers with an introduction to map skills while whisking them off on an adventure to find some missing pets.

The Table of Contents identifies the 14 double-page spreads that take kids through this problem-solving adventure. The book opens with a Getting Started spread. It begins this way.

Do you know how to find a hidden treasure? Do you know how far your house is from the candy store? Do you know the way to your favorite ride at the amusement park? It's easy! Join the friends below and follow that map!

This text is accompanied by a simple definition and a drawing of a map that contains a number of features that are highlighted and defined, including a compass rose, landmark, symbol, legend, routes, and a scale bar.

The next double-page spread presents the problem that begins the map-reading adventure.

Sally and her friends are playing in her backyard. Pedro notices that Sally's dog, Max, and her cat, Ollie, are missing.

Where have Max and Ollie gone? The five friends decide to find out!

Each stop along the way presents a map, a question, and some helpful information. Here is an example from the spread "In the City."

No luck on the trail. Yulee suggest going to the city zoo. Maybe Max and Ollie are visiting the animals.

Martin is getting close to the zoo. Which direction is he running?

The compass rose on a map shows you directs such as north, south, east and west.

I'm not sure what the motivation for answering the questions will be, but as a part of lesson on mapping these will be helpful tools for teachers.

Readers are introduced to 10 sights and a variety of maps along the way, including a weather map, treasure map, physical map, world map, and more. The maps are colorful, interesting, well captioned, and will be interesting for kids to explore. I did have one area of concern and that is in regards to the physical map. On the page it is called a topographical map and accompanied by this definition.

A topographical map shows the natural features of a landscape. You can use this kind of map to find rolling hills, low-lying lakes or high mountains.

The map that accompanies this text is the one on the cover of the book. My problem is not with the definition, but with the map itself and the title of the map. True topographic maps use contour lines to show the shape and elevation of the earth's surface. This map does not have these lines. That's why I referred to this map as a physical map. To avoid confusion later a teacher would likely need to explain this distinction and perhaps show examples of both topographic and physical maps of an area.

The book wraps up with the kids returning home to find the missing pets asleep under a tree. The final spread leads readers through the process of creating their own maps. Teachers will find the learning resource material (pdf) for this book to a source of useful ideas and classroom activities.

I generally liked this book, though I thought the inclusion of the map of the planets to be a bit over the top, though young readers will find it fun to look at and think about. the introductory pages alone make this one worthwhile for the clear and concise way maps are presented.

Book: Follow That Map!: A First Book of Mapping Skills
Author/Illustrator: Scot Ritchie
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 32 pages
Grades: K-3
Source of Book: Review copy received from Raab Associates.

Book Review - Who Lives Here? Savanna Animals

The Who Lives Here? series, written by Deborah Hodge and illustrated by Pat Stephens, examines animals in their natural environments and explains how those animals are uniquely adapted to their habitats. The books are organized by habitat and include titles on Desert Animals, Forest Animals, Polar Animals, Rain Forest Animals, Savanna Animals and Wetland Animals.

Who Lives Here? Savanna Animals opens with a Table of Contents that begins with a page that defines that habitat (What is a Savanna?) and ends with a page containing animals words (pictorial index) and information for parents and teachers. In between are 9 double-page spreads, each introducing a different animal.

The opening page that asks the question "What is a __?" provides a good basic introduction to the habitat. Here is how the What is a Savanna? page begins.

A savanna is a huge area of grassy land, dotted by trees and bushes. Savannas are found in hot parts of the world. Most have a long dry season and a shorter rainy season.

The savanna is home to many exciting animals. Their bodies and habits are suited for living on the warm grassy plain.

The facing page briefly describes the savanna after it rains, a bit about what happens when the rainy season ends, the importance of grass to the animals that live here.

Once the background information has been covered, this book all about the animals. Readers will find information on these savanna inhabitants.

• Elephant
• Wildebeest
• Giraffe
• Meerkat
• Zebra
• Black Mamba
• Lion
• Ostrich
• Rhinoceros

Each set of animal pages includes a description of the animal and a sidebar with facts about the animal and its adaptations, as well as an illustration that covers a full one and a third of the double-page spread. Here is an example.

Giraffes
(Main Spread, p.10)
The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world. Some big males are as tall as two-story buildings.

Giraffes stay near acacia trees that grow on the savanna. A calf drinks its mother's milk, but soon it will eat acacia leaves, too. Delicious!

(Sidebar, p.11)
A giraffe nibbles high in the treetops. It picks leaves with a tongue that is as long as your arm.

Male giraffes wrestle with their powerful necks to see who is the strongest.

Long, strong legs help the giraffe run fast. Hooves, as big as dinner plates, give a fierce kick.

Here's a sample spread of these animal pages.
Each of these animal entries is packed with information. The text is easy to read and the illustrations in the sidebar support the text by providing close-up views of the adaptations described. The animal words section on the last page of each book provides a search-and-find opportunity for readers. Six close-up views of a body part are accompanied by a name, page number, and the question "Can you find pictures of these body parts in the book?" The idea here is for students to revisit the pages and think about how the body part helps the animal adapt to its environment.

This is a strong entry in the series that will be a useful resources for students studying how a variety of animals adapt to their environments. The accessibility of the language and detailed illustrations make them helpful texts for young readers. The fact that this book contains elephants, giraffes, and other "exotic" animals makes this one particularly appealing. Recommended.

Book: Who Lives Here? Savanna Animals
Author: Deborah Hodge
Illustrator: Pat Stephens
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 24 pages
Grades: K-3
Source of Book: Review copy received from Raab Associates.

Nonfiction Monday - Dinosaurs ROAR, Butterflies SOAR!

Dinosaurs ROAR, Butterflies SOAR!, written and illustrated by Bob Barner, offers a look at prehistoric life both large and small, as well as the role that butterflies played in fostering the growth of flowering plants. Written on two levels to engage a variety of readers, you'll first find simple text describing the basic action.

"Flowering plants made more air for dinosaurs to breathe and huge amounts of food for them to eat."

This text is set in a larger font and displayed more prominently on the page. This text is accompanied by more detailed informational text, found near the bottom of each page spread and set in a smaller font.

Dinosaurs were accidental farmers that helped plants grow. As they walked, their feet opened the soil, and their droppings fertilized seeds that grew into new plants.

Each turn of the page reveals energetic and bold illustrations covering a double-page spread. The first spread, packed with dinosaurs, gives way to a page filled with butterflies and flowers. Each paper collage is filled with bright colors, textures, and fine details, like those found on the butterfly wings.

While simplified for the youngest readers, the text is still highly informative. Here are some things readers will learn.

• Butterflies spread pollen, which helped flowering plants flourish.
• Widespread availability of flowering plants meant more food for herbivores, and likewise, more food for carnivores. (For older students there's a great food chain lesson here!)
• While a catastrophic event caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, butterflies and other smaller animals lived.
  
• Today more than 18,000 types of butterflies are known.

The book ends with an easy-to-read timeline (great for young readers just becoming familiar with this concept) and a final spread of interesting facts about plants, caterpillars, insects, and more.

Barner doesn't gloss over the fact that there is still much we don't know about dinosaurs and other animals that lived in prehistoric times, butterflies included. He reminds readers that "As with dinosaurs, no one knows the colors of these ancient creatures." He ends on the enticing notion that "Many plant, butterfly, and dinosaur secrets remain hidden in fossils and rocks waiting to be found, maybe by you." Wouldn't that be amazing?

Dinosaurs ROAR, Butterflies SOAR! is a wonderful blend of art and science. For dinosaur lovers, as well as kids interested in butterflies, this book is a winner. Barner's book will make a great addition to all those units on butterfly life cycles. Introducing a bit of butterfly history will be a wonderful way to round out the study of these amazing creatures. Download the teacher's guide for some additional ideas for using the book in the classroom. Highly recommended.

Book: Dinosaurs ROAR, Butterflies SOAR!
Author/Illustrator: Bob Barner
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: April, 2009
Pages: 32 pages
Grades: K-3
ISBN: 978-0811856638

Source of Book: Personal copy.

This post was written for Nonfiction Monday. Hosting this week is Robin Gaphni at The Booknosher. Do take some time to check out all the great posts highlighting nonfiction this week.

Nonfiction Monday - How To Build Your Own Country

I've been holding on to this book for a while, but since I'm teaching a class tonight on how to teach civics in the elementary classroom, today is the perfect time to shine a spotlight on it.

As a child I had dreams about having my own room. I didn't have to wait long, because my sister went off to college when I was 9, but before that time there were many days when I longed to draw a chalk line down the center of the room to mark off my space, my territory. If you ever shared a room with a sibling, you know what I'm talking about. For any kid who wants to take the notion of having his/her own territory to the extreme, How To Build Your Own Country will show him/her just how to do it.

Written by Valerie Wyatt and illustrated by Fred Rix, How to Build Your Own Country is a step-by-step guide to building a country from scratch. Here's how it begins.

Suppose you stumble across a chunk of land that no one owns. You could take it over and declare it a brand new country. Your own personal country! The Kingdom of Jason! The Federal Republic of Katie! Even if it were only the size of a bathmat, it would be yours, all yours!

If you think that's highly unlikely, you're right. Unlikely, but not impossible.

What follows are three chapters that guide readers through the country building process. Wyatt uses the micronation of Bathmatia (a hypothetical country founded in a bathroom) to illustrate each point, as well as information about countries currently in existence. The book is chock-full of facts relating to topics in geography, economics, and history. However, they're so creatively woven into the text that kids won't feel like they've picked up a textbook when they crack this one open. You'll be more likely to hear kids sharing interesting tidbits with their friends. Here's an example from a sidebar entitled "One Dog, One Vote."

Duncan M. MacDonald cast his vote in a 2006 election in the United States. There was only one problem: Duncan is a dog. He was registered as a voter over the phone (his owner took the call) and received an absentee ballot in the mail. (Absentee ballots are used by voters who can't vote in person at election time.) Duncan marked his choice with a paw print, and then his owner, Jane Balogh, mailed in the ballot. Ms. Balogh was trying to make the point that it's too easy to get registered to vote because she was concerned about voter fraud. For doing so, she was convicted of making a false statement to a public official.

The first chapter, entitled "Stake Out Your Identity," details naming your country, finding a population, designing a flag and choosing a motto, and writing a national anthem. In addition to helpful hints for completing each task, readers will find some handy-dandy activities along the way, like the U-Name-It matching column for folks stumped for a name, or the Mad-Lib™ style fill-in-the-blanks for writing a national anthem.

Chapter two, entitled "Run the Country," explains setting up a government (autocracy, oligarchy, theocracy, single-party government, and democracy are all described), holding elections, writing a constitution, making the laws, serving your citizens, making money, and taking a holiday. Here's how this chapter begins.

Running a country is a bit like having a pet fish. You have to take care of the fish or bad things will happen (to the fish). Actually, looking after a population is a lot more work than that because your citizens won't be satisfied with just food and clean water. They will expect big things, such as a justice system, a government and an economy, and smaller things, such as roads, schools and hospitals. These are the necessities that will help them lead healthy and prosperous lives. And if your citizens are healthy and prosperous, your country will be, too.

The last chapter, entitled "Meet the Neighbors," highlights the fact that we all live in "one big world, and sometimes we need to work together on issues like peace and global warming and disaster relief." What follows is an introduction to some of our neighbors (big and small, old and new, rich and poor, etc.), international organizations, and talk of keeping the peace.

While there is no bibliography at the end of the book, there is a helpful glossary and an extensive index. Remember how I said that the book covered a range of topics in social studies? Here alone is what you'll find if you explore the index listings for the letter R.

• refugees
• religions
• representative government
• representatives
• revolutions
• rights, citizens
• rights, human
• Russia

The writing in the book is engaging and often playful (jokes and puns abound), but always straightforward and clear. Topics are broken down into easily digestible chunks so that the text never gets overwhelming for readers. The cartoon illustrations are quirky, colorful and fun, adding to the playfulness of the text. (Take a look at these spreads from the book.)

Part of the CitizenKid collection (a collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens), How to Build Your Own Country will make a fine addition to school and classroom libraries. For teachers who want to help kids better understand issues related to government, this book will serve as a useful guide to setting up a micronation in the classroom. You can even download some helpful learning resource materials to help with this endeavor. Just don't say I didn't warn you if your class decides to annex the cafeteria and demands its users pay taxes!

Book: How To Build Your Own Country
Author: Valerie Wyatt
Illustrator: Fred Rix
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: August, 2009
Pages: 40 pages
Grades: 3-6
ISBN: 978-1554533107

Source of Book: Review copy received from Raab Associates.

This post was written for Nonfiction Monday. Hosting this week is Tina Nichols Coury at Tales from the Rushmore Kid. Do take some time to check out all the great posts highlighting nonfiction this week.