Monday Poetry Stretch - Alexandrine Verse

Last weekend I saw Molieré's play The Learned Ladies performed by the University Players. I was surprised to learn that poet Richard Wilbur had translated/adapted the play. I was quite caught up in the meter and rhyme, and loved the turn of many of the phrases. In some cases I found myself trying to anticipate how the verses would finish. The play opens with two sisters discussing the younger sister's intent to marry the man cast off by the older sister. Here's an excerpt.

ARMANDE.
What, Sister! Are you truly of a mind
To leave your precious maidenhood behind,
And give yourself in marriage to a man?
Can you be harboring such a vulgar plan?
HENRIETTE.
Yes, Sister.
ARMANDE.
Yes, you say! When have I heard
So odious and sickening a word?

The rhyme scheme used by Wilbur was based on Alexandrine (Alexandrian) verse. In English this is usually a 12-syllable iambic line, though you can see Wilbur often used 10. 

I do love to write in iambs, and since I've just seen a play about love and marriage and contemplated both a lot while hosting my in-laws this holiday (she writes with a smile), let's write about the virtues (or vices) of love and marriage! There is no requirement for length here, just to write to the topic in iambic pentameter or hexameter.  Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday.

Nonfiction Monday is Here!

Hi Folks! Welcome to Nonfiction Monday. I'm offering up a review of a book about autumn, as well as rounding up today's posts. Read on!

Book: AWESOME AUTUMN

Author/Illustrator: Bruce Goldstone

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Publication Date: August, 2012

Pages: 48 pages

Grades: K-4

ISBN: 978-0805092103

Source of Book: Borrowed from my local library

Inspired by Thanksgiving, the mounds of leaves in my yard, the rising of Orion in the sky, and the chill in the air, fall is still very much on my mind. As classrooms prepare to head into winter, I hope they'll hold onto to fall for just a bit longer and delve into Bruce Goldstone's book AWESOME AUTUMN. One of the most comprehensive books on fall I've seen in a long time, the text opens with the heading "AUTUMN IS A SEASON OF AWESOME CHANGES." In text and bright photographs Goldstone explains how these changes affect plants, animals, and humans. Readers learn how days get colder and clothes get heavier, days get shorter and nights get longer, leaves change color, frost forms, crops are harvested, animals migrate and hibernate, and so much more. In addition to a cause/effect approach to some of the double page spreads, there are pages about the feel, tastes, shapes, and sounds of autumn. There are also nods to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and what people do in autumn.

The scientist in me is particularly thrilled with the treatment of leaves changing color, how leaves "know" when to fall off the tree, what happens to fallen leaves (decomposition, anyone?), and how frost forms. The text is straightforward and highly accessible for kids. Here's an excerpt.

Leaves that fall can help keep the environment healthy. As they break down, they give food to the earth and to tiny living things in the soil. Fallen leaves also act as sponges. They mix with the soil to help it hold rainwater.

The book ends with pictures of autumn activities and then directions on how to do them.

Overall, this is an engaging and wide-ranging book about fall. Highly recommended.

**********

And now, on to the round up!

Myra from Gathering Books shares a review of Queen of the Falls by Chris Van Allsburg.

Tara from A Teaching Life tells us about a number of books she's been reading including Count on Us: American Women in the Military, Spirit Seeker: John  Coltrane's Musical Journey, and Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America. Check out these Monday reads and more.

Jean from True Tales & A Cherry On Top features the picture book biography Helen's Big World - The Life of Helen Keller.

Jeff from NC Teacher Stuff has a review of Apples A to Z by Margaret McNamara.

Sarah Albee shares an interview and review of Michaela Muntean's book Stay: The True Story of Ten Dogs.

Louise from A Strong Belief in Wicker shares Alison Lester's book about Macquarie Island (a remote subantarctic island), One Small Island.

At Booktalking, Anastasia Suen is reading A Christmas Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Kids by Sarah L. Schuette.

Alice from Supratentorial is sharing three picture book biographies on the likes of Thomas Edison, Julia Child, and Abraham Lincoln.

Jennifer from Jean Little Library also has a picture book biography. See her review of Annie and Helen by Deborah Hopkinson.

Roberta from Wrapped in Foil shares a review of the picture book biography I, Galileo by Bonnie Christensen.

Wendie Old from Wendie's Wanderings writes about the Common Core Standards and encourages us to read the NYTimes article about why kids should read nonfiction.

Ami from A Mom's Spare Time reviews From Peanut to Peanut Butter and Circles, Stars, and Squares: Looking for Shapes. Be sure to leave a comment and your ideas for pairing the books with gifts for a chance to win these titles!

Cindy from Bookends is digging up a hoax with a post about Jim Murphy's book The Giant and How He Humbugged America.

Margo from The Fourth Musketeer shares a review of The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel.

Tammy from Apples with Many Seeds writes about The Ruins of Detroit by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre.


Keep those links coming and check back frequently as I round up today's posts. Happy Nonfiction Monday all!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Prayers and Morning Rituals

Don't ask me where I was last week because I surely won't remember! Work has been crazy busy and I'm feeling like the hole I've dug myself is getting bigger. Perhaps this holiday will afford me some time to catch up.

Even thought I'm going slightly crazy, I still have time to read poetry. These days it's Mary Oliver's work that graces my nightstand. I've been thinking a lot about the poem "I Happen to Be Standing," in which Oliver meditates on her morning ritual with a notebook. The poem begins this way:

I Happened to be Standing

I don't know where prayers go,

   or what they do.

Do cats pray, while they sleep

   half-asleep in the sun?

Does the opossum pray as it 

   crosses the street?

The sunflowers? The old black oak

   growing older every year?

You can hear Oliver talk about this poem and others in this NPR interview.

Do you have a morning ritual? Do you say prayers at night,  in the morning, or whenever the urge hits you? These are the things I'm thinking of and want to write about. Won't you join me? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday.

Monday Poetry Stretch - To the Dogs

My pound puppy turned 15 on Saturday. She's had a rough year but seems to be doing much better these days. It makes me a bit sad to know her days are numbered. She's been a loyal and constant companion and a good friend. In her honor I'd love to see some dog poems this week. (Sorry all you cat lovers. You'll get a turn one of these days!)

Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday.

Poetry Friday - O Captain! My Captain!

Election day is around the corner. All eyes are on the presidential election. When I think of presidents and poetry I can't help but think of Whitman.

O Captain! My Captain! 
by Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
    But O heart! heart! heart!        
      O the bleeding drops of red,
        Where on the deck my Captain lies,
          Fallen cold and dead.

Read the poem in its entirety.


The roundup this week is being hosted by Donna at Mainely Write. Do stop by and check out all the great poetry being shared. Before you go, do take a minute to see the wonderful poems written for this week's poetry stretch on weather. Happy poetry Friday all!

Blog the Vote - Why Every Citizen Matters

When I was visiting my mother a few weeks ago she told me that the "seniors" she knew weren't going to vote this year. She asked, "What's the point?" Since then I've heard many people suggest that their votes don't count, their voices aren't heard, and that they just don't matter. You know what? THEY'RE ALL WRONG. Before I explain why, here's a bit of a history lesson. Forgive me please, I'm a teacher.

Question - What does the Constitution say about voting rights?
Answer - Actually, there is no right to vote in the United States Constitution. However, a number of amendments to the Constitution have made provision for this right in circumstances where it had been denied.

Fifteenth Amendment (Ratified on February 3, 1870) - The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Even though the 15th amendment was ratified in 1870, it took passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before the majority of African Americans in the South were actually registered to vote. For years states in the south used literacy tests, poll taxes, and other means to prohibit and disenfranchise large numbers of African American voters.

Nineteenth Amendment (Ratified on August 18, 1920) - The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

It took decades in which suffragettes marched, wrote, picketed, lobbied, spoke, and protested before they were granted the right to vote. At the time, many in America considered this amendment to be a radical change to the Constitution.

Twenty-fourth Amendment (Ratified on January 23, 1964) - The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Should your financial circumstances determine your eligibility to vote? At the time this amendment was passed the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia were still using poll taxes as a means to exclude African American voters and extend the practice of segregation.

Twenty-sixth Amendment (Ratified on July 1, 1971) - The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

Imagine you live in a world where you can be drafted to fight for your country, yet aren't afforded the opportunity to vote. That's the position young people found themselves in during the Vietnam War when the voting age was 21. This amendment has the distinction of being ratified in the shortest period of time, only 107 days after its proposal.

It took people from all walks of life many long years of fighting for what was right to ensure that all Americans are entitled to vote. I cannot and will not take for granted the privilege their hard work won for me. The law of this land can only take us so far. If we wish for our "government of the people, by the people, for the people" to serve us well, we MUST exercise this right and see it for the solemn responsibility it is.

It is easy to become complacent and believe that one vote, one voice doesn't matter. But when those missed votes and voices are added up, important and diverse groups in our society are left out. For many, many years voting was a right afforded to privileged white men. We have a come a long way since those days, but we still have a long way to go. Every voice, every opinion matters. We cannot move this country forward without the thoughtful participation of ALL our citizens, young and old, male and female, partisan and non-partisan.

On November 6th I will fulfill my civic responsibility. I will wait in line, no matter how long, and cast my ballot. I will wear my "I Voted" sticker to work. At the end of the day I will come home and spend the evening watching history unfold. No matter the outcome, I will be proud that I participated.  Won't you join me?

You can read what others have to say about the importance of voting at Blog the Vote 2012.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Weathering the Storm

I'm home from school today as we wait to see what Sandy will bring. The forecast is calling for rain, wind, and even snow. Folks around here have doing quite a bit of storm tracking. We're as ready as we can be. So, today I'm thinking about weather. Will you write a weather poem with me this week? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday.

Before you go, check out the fabulous collection of fairy tale poems written for last week's stretch.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Fairy Tale Poetry

Friday I shared this poem in honor of the upcoming holiday. 

Apple
by Eve Merriam

Apple,
sweet apple,
what do you hide?
Wormy and
squirmy,
rotten inside.

Apple,
sweet apple,
so shiny and red,
taste it,
don't waste it,
come and be fed.

Delicious,
malicious;
one bite and
you're dead.

I've always liked this poem, in part because I love fairy tale poetry. Here's another poem I love.

Locks
by Neil Gaiman

We owe it to each other to tell stories,
as people simply, not as father and daughter.
I tell it to you for the hundredth time:

"There was a little girl, called Goldilocks,
for her hair was long and golden,
and she was walking in the Wood and she saw — "
"— cows." You say it with certainty,

remembering the strayed heifers we saw in the woods
behind the house, last month.

"Well, yes, perhaps she saw cows,
but also she saw a house."

Read the poem in its entirety.

You can read more poems like this at The Journal of Mythic Arts: Fairy Tale Poems.

This week I'm heading down the fairy tale path. Right now I'm writing poems about magical objects, having been inspired by the apple poem. Perhaps I'll write about a pumpkin coach. Who knows?! I hope you'll join me in writing some fairy tale poetry this week. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday.

Poetry Friday - Apple

My son asked me last night if he was too old to dress up for Halloween. I've never liked the holiday so I should have said yes, but it seems we'll be making a costume in the coming week. Hoping for a little inspiration today, I pulled a few beloved Halloween poetry books off the shelf.

I actually have two Halloween books by Eve Merriam. One is Halloween ABC, published in 1987 and illustrated by Lane Smith. However, I must say that I am even fonder of the 2002 revised edition retitled Spooky ABC. Besides the absolutely pitch-perfect poems and illustrations, one of the most interesting things about the book is the section at the end entitled "The Awful Truth Behind The Making Of Spooky ABC." In it, Lane Smith describes how the first book and revised edition came about. This section also includes images that were created for the first book, but ultimately dropped because Merriam's poems suggested other illustrations. For example, vampire was lost to viper, tree to trap, and cat to crawler. (I do LOVE the cat illustration, as well as the one for invisible. I wish you could see them!) There is just so much to love in these words and illustrations. Today I'm sharing the poem for the letter A. In the book it is accompanied by an image of a red apple held in a hand with long, slim fingers tipped with long fingernails.

Apple
by Eve Merriam

Apple,
sweet apple,
what do you hide?
Wormy and
squirmy,
rotten inside.

Apple,
sweet apple,
so shiny and red,
taste it,
don't waste it,
come and be fed.

Delicious,
malicious;
one bite and
you're dead.

The round up this week is being hosted by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem. Do stop by and take in all the great poetry being shared. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results on the topic of home. Happy poetry Friday, all!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Home

First, I want to thank everyone who wrote for last week's challenge. While I did not have access the internet while I was away, my smartphone and your poems kept me going. A few of these poems even had me laughing in the face of airline delays and bumpy plane rides. So again, I thank you! Please check out the poems written for the topic On the Road.

I went home last week, but it really isn't home anymore. It happens to be where I grew up. It's where my mother still lives. On the flight back to Richmond I realized that more than half my life now has been spent somewhere outside of the place I still call home. When people ask where I'm from, I still think New York, not Virginia. That response always makes me wonder how people define home. Can you have two homes, not the brick and mortar type, but homes of the heart?

Maybe our poems this week can answer that question. Let's write about home.  Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday.

Monday Poetry Stretch - On the Road

Do you like to travel? I've been doing a lot of obligatory travel lately and it's not nearly as much fun as long-planned and awaited trip. It's also not as much fun as an impromptu day trip. 

I was at a conference last week and I'm leaving again this week to visit my Mom. The former will be much more enjoyable than the later. In any case, travel is on my mind. Whether by car, train, plane, boat, or any other form, hitting the road can be exciting. No matter what happens, travel is always bound to be interesting.

So while this is on my mind, let's write about hitting the road this week. I may even write my own poem while making my way home. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday.

By the way, last week the challenge was to write personal ad poetry. The results were a lot of fun, so do stop by and check them out.

Cybils Nominations Open Today!

Nominations have opened for the 7th annual Cybils award! Anyone may nominate one book per genre during the public nomination period. If you try to nominate more than one book per genre, or if the book's already been nominated by someone else, you'll get kicked back to the main page. That's okay though, just go with your second or third choice!

Here's the nomination form. I'm off myself to nominate a few favorites.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Personal Ad Poetry

When my issue of The Horn Book arrives in the mail I first turn to the last page. I know I should save it for last, but it's one of my favorite things about the magazine. In the January/February 2008 issue is an  Ad Hoc page by Alicia Potter that reads like the want ads. There are sections on Services Rendered, For Sale, Real Estate, and Personals. These are all perfect little puzzles that beg the reader to determine the books and characters alluded to by the writer. Here's an example.

FRENCH TWIST. Me, you, Paris? Contact Madeline at (011) 33-494-55-87-24.

Now just imagine how much fun this would be if it were written as poetry. 

I gave it a try and here's what I came up with. 

NOT LOOKING FOR A TOAD
Winter sleeper, spring peeper.
Champion hopper, eyes copper.
Log squatter, loves water.
Eats flies, swimming prize
WINNER. 

It needs work, but you get the picture. I tried to write it like the example above, but the lack of line breaks bothered me.

So, there's your challenge, to write a little personal ad poetry. Extra points to you if you can write about a character from children's literature. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday. Have fun!

Poetry Friday - Reading the Brothers Grimm to Jenny

This week's poetry stretch was to write about school supplies. Folks contributed some really wonderful  poems. You can read the results at Monday Poetry Stretch - School Supplies. 

I'm still reading poetry about fairy tales. Here's one by Lisel Mueller.

Reading the Brothers Grimm to Jenny
Dead means somebody has to kiss you.

Jenny, your mind commands
kingdoms of black and white:
you shoulder the crow on your left
the snowbird on your right;
for you the cinders part
and let the lentils through,
and noise falls into place
as screech or sweet roo-coo,
while in my own, real world
gray foxes and gray wolves
bargain eye to eye,
and the amazing dove
takes shelter under the wing
of the raven to keep dry. 

Read the poem in its entirety.

The round up today is being hosted by Marjorie at Paper Tigers. Be sure to visit and take in all the great poetry being shared this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - School Supplies

There's nothing better then getting poetry in your inbox on a daily basis. So, given my love for all things school-related, I was particularly thrilled that this week's American Life in Poetry included a poem ostensibly about a school supply every child needs.

School
by Daniel J. Langton 

I was sent home the first day
with a note: Danny needs a ruler.
My father nodded, nothing seemed so apt.
School is for rules, countries need rulers,
graphs need graphing, the world is straight ahead. 

Read the poem in its entirety.

This got me thinking about the movie You've Got Mail and this note sent by Joe Fox.

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. "

Yes, I ADORE New York in the fall, but I also LOVE school supplies (not the shopping so much). Honestly, have you met a teacher that isn't enamored of the newest twist on colored pencils? Or crayons? I'm quite intrigued by the poetry of Joe Fox's "bouquet of newly sharpened pencils."

Your challenge this week is come up with some poetic turn of your own for some deserving school supply. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday. 

Monday Poetry Stretch - Photographs

I've been having trouble wrapping my head around a new challenge, as I'm still having fun thinking about last week's stretch, writing the homophoem. (Check out the comments of the post to see all the great poems folks shared.)

Since we've been writing to form the last few weeks, I thought we'd take a topic this week. Did you happen to hear the NPR story last week about the photo historian who found an archive of more than 14,000 photos taken by Charles W. Cushman? Cushman began using Kodachrome soon after it came out and used it to capture the world in ways it had never been seen before. 

You can hear the story at The Found Archive of Charles W. Cushman. Better yet, you can see some of the photos at Lost and Found: Discover a Black-and-White Era in Full Color.

Where is all this leading? I'm thinking about the power of a photograph. Do you have one you treasure? Does it capture a person or a place? What do you love about? Why does it move you?

Let's write about photographs this week. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday. 

Nonfiction Monday - Planting the Wild Garden

I've seen a number of books over the years about how seeds move from one place to another. PLANTING THE WILD GARDEN, written by Kathryn O. Galbraith and illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin, is a beautiful, quiet book that had me hooked from the opening pages. It begins:

The farmer and her boy plant their garden. They drop seeds--tiny, fat, round, and oval--into the earth. From these seeds, pumpkins and peas, carrots and cabbages will grow. In the wild meadow garden, many seeds are planted too, but not by farmer's hands. 

On this first double page spread is a pictures of a woman and her son, both kneeling in the dirt planting seeds. I was most enamored of the illustrations of the growth stages of the pumpkin, carrot, cabbage and pea that border the main illustration.

On the pages that follow are may examples of how wind, water, and animals help seeds disperse. Galbraith uses language that evocatively describes the sounds of the wind (Oooooo--whishhh!), rain Plip-plop!), acorns falling (thump, bump) minnows dining (Gulp! Gulp!) and more. The sentences are simple but so carefully crafted. There is a lovely rhythm to the lines and the story they tell. It all comes full circle when readers learn that people also help to plant the meadow. 

The muted colors and dreamy quality of Halperin's work gives readers much to appreciate. Many of the illustrations beg to be pored over. 

This book is a terrific introduction to seeds, how they travel, and can even be used to introduce the growing stages (life cycle) of plants. I'm using this one with my preservice teachers next week and predict this will become a classroom favorite. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Book: PLANTING THE WILD GARDEN

Author: Kathryn O. Galbraith
Illustrator: Wendy Anderson Halperin
Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Publication Date: April, 2011
Pages: 32 pages
Grades: K-5
ISBN: 978-1561455638
Source of Book: Personal copy

This review was written for Nonfiction Monday. Head on over to Books Together and check out all the great posts highlighting nonfiction this week.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Homophoem

It's always a pleasure to receive an e-mail from our Children's Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, especially when he's writing to share a new poetic form. We have him to thank for our stretch this week.

A homophoem is a two- to ten-line poem that contains at least one homophone, preferably as the surprise end-word.  

If you haven't studied grammar in a while, homophones are words that share the same pronunciation, irrespective of their spelling, but differ in meaning.  

Here are some examples of the form, all written by Pat.

Imaginature

   No one understood
genetics until Mendel
     went to take a pea

*  *
Zen Football

      The quarterback folds
his hands under the center—
“18, 6, X, haik-! “    

*  *
Not Aloud

A horrid fifth-grader named Nate
Was a bully to every classmate.
     When she sent him to school,
     His mother—no fool—
Made certain Nate’s jacket was strait.

*  *
Foul Ball

When the high school band took their places
In the stands for the Rams vs. Aces,
     A kid hit a home run,
     But confused by the sun,
He kept running around all the basses.

*  *  *  *  *

So, the challenge for the week is to write a homophoem. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll share the results in time for Poetry Friday. 

Poetry Friday - Humdrum

This week's poetry stretch was to write a Nonet. A nonet is a nine line poem where each line contains a decreasing number of syllables, from 9 to 1. You can learn more about this form and read the results at Monday Poetry Stretch - The Nonet.

The poetry stretches since their return have been all about new forms (or at least forms new to me). On Monday, I'll be sharing a new form the J. Patrick Lewis sent me. Do stop by and check it out!

In my spare time (the few minutes before bed each night) I am reading Sandburg.

57. Humdrum
by Carl Sandburg

If I had a million lives to live
    and a million deaths to die
    in a million humdrum worlds,
I’d like to change my name
    and have a new house number to go by      
    each and every time I died
    and started life all over again.

I wouldn’t want the same name every time
    and the same old house number always,
    dying a million deaths,      
    dying one by one a million times:
    —would you?
              or you?
                    or you?

The round up today is being hosted by Katya Czaja at Write. Sketch. Repeat. Be sure to visit and take in all the great poetry being shared this week.

Nonfiction Monday - Bugs By the Numbers

BUGS BY THE NUMBERS, written and illustrated by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss, is a book I have a love/hate relationship with. Let's start with the stuff the "bugs" me (no pun intended) so that I can get on to the many things I love about it. Please bear with me while I put on my scientist hat.

First, I really dislike the use of the word bugs as a broad classification for arthropods and other "creepy crawly" creatures. Here's a rundown on the classification system and where these organisms are found.

Domain - Eukarya / Kingdom - Animal / Phylum - Arthropod

Arthropods are composed of five classes of organisms--arachnids, insects, crustaceans, centipedes, and millipedes. Now, hemiptera is an order of insects known as "true bugs." Included here are stink bugs, cicadas, aphids, water striders and more. 

The animals highlighted in this book are ant, butterfly, dobsonfly, fly, ladybug, spider, centipede, grasshopper, walking stick, leaf insect, scorpion, dragonfly, bee, mosquito, firefly, flea, cockroach, praying mantis, tick, bed bug, beetle, termite, and earthworm. All come from the phylum arthropod with the exception of the earthworm. This raises my second concern regarding the use of the word bug. Annelids are a phylum in the animal kingdom consisting largely of segmented worms. Earthworms fall within this phylum. They are not bugs in any sense of the word. I will admit that the term "worm" is used rather loosely and  is sometimes used to refer to certain forms of insect larvae (think mealworms, glowworms, inchworms, etc.). The authors do explain in the fine print on the earthworm page that all bugs evolved from earthworms. Even so, I find their inclusion here troubling. It's the one page that I skip while sharing this book with students.  

Now that I've had may little science rant, let's talk about the really amazing features of this book. When I read this book I begin by reading a bit from the jacket flap, as two brief rhyming stanzas do a terrific job introducing the contents of the book.

Each bug on these pages
Looks unique and rare,
Not like the insects
You see everywhere.

They're made up of numbers:
The ones that you count.
'Cause when you think bugs,
You think BIG amounts.

When you open the pages you'll find 23 different animals constructed from numbers of varying sizes and font faces. Many of the pages have fun flaps and flip-out sections. On every page there is a wealth of information on the animal, always highlighting in some way the numbers used to create it. For example, the ant is composed of 1s, 2s, and 3s, with each number comprising a different body segment (1s-head, 2s-thorax, 3s-abdomen). A fold-out flap of a leaf includes the number 3 and the fact that like other insects, ants have 3 body parts. When the flap is lifted up, 50 ants form the number 50. Beneath the number is this fact. "Ants can lift 50 times their own body weight. If you could do that, you'd be able to life a car." The fold-out flap on the bottom of the page looks like a pile of dirt. When it is folded down, a picture of ant tunnels beneath the ground is accompanied by the fact "An ant colony can reach 20 feet below ground. " In addition to these numbers and facts, readers learn that ants have 2 stomachs, that worker ants can take 250 short naps a day, and that queen ants can live for 30 years. As you can see, this one double-page spread is jam-packed with information. Nineteen of the animals in the book receive such extended treatment, with only four (dobsonfly, fly, tick and bedbug) garnering only a single page each.

My favorite page is the beetle page. While the graphic highlights the rhinocerous beetle, the bits of information along the bottom of the page describe a few standouts in the beetle family. Did you know that the fastest-running insect is the Australian Tiger Beetle? Or the that Goliath Beetle is the world's heaviest insect? Or that there are over 300,000 species of beetles on the planet? 

Want to know or see more? Check out the BUGS BY THE NUMBERS photostream on Flickr.

It's clear from the outset that Werner and Forss anticipated the kind of concern I raised about the use of the word bug. Here's an excerpt from the introductory page.

Now some smarties might notice
As the go through and look,
Not every creature is a bug in this book. 

Not all critters that fly or crawl  on the ground
Are technically bugs, but we both have found
Mos folks call them bugs, and since they do,
We figured, why not? We'd call them "bugs" too. 

Real bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs
And spiders are neither (oh, please don't say, "Ugh").

So yes, the authors beg a bit of latitude in the beginning. I do think that if you use this in any kind of science context this needs to be explained and perhaps examined in a bit more depth.

Despite my concerns regarding the use of the word bug and the inclusion of the earthworm, I find the bulk of the book to be gorgeously constructed, highly engaging, and chock full of interesting tidbits. The kids in your classroom will be fighting over this one, so you may want more than one copy. RECOMMENDED.

Book: BUGS BY THE NUMBERS,

Author/Illustrator:  Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss
Publisher: Blue Apple Books
Publication Date: April 2011
Pages: 56 pages
Grades: 3-8
ISBN: 978-1609050610
Source of Book: Copy borrowed from my local public library

P.S. - Did I mention that their new book, Alphasaurs and Other Prehistoric Types, comes out in October?

This review was written for Nonfiction Monday. Head on over to The Swimmer Writer and check out all the great posts highlighting nonfiction this week.