Dear Hot Dog. Poems About Everyday Stuff

Dear Hot Dog by Mordicai Gerstein
Illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein
Published by Abrams
2011

     Dear Hot Dog is a collection of poems about everyday items and experiences.  The collection starts with poems related to the early hours of the day, getting dressed, brushing your teeth, having breakfast.  Among this first group of poems, my favorite is Shoes:

You swallow my feet
for breakfast.
You love to run
and though I'm fast
you always
want to run faster
and faster.
Do you wish I were a horse?
Do you want to be
horseshoes
when you grow up?

     The middle group of poems concentrates on topics like playing outdoors (Kite, Air, Water), snacks (Hot Dog, Ice-Cream Cone), and the weather (Summer Sun, Leaves, Rain). There are some great images in those verses:

Where I imitate dolphins
and sharks till I flop
on the hot concrete
and you lick
me dry  (from Summer Sun) 

Wash away
the ordinary,
everyday world,
and in your flooded
gutters, I'll sail off
in my newspaper boat
to the land of mossy
rocks and gigantic ferns (from Rain)

     The final group of poems, include nighttime topics: Bear (about a teddy bear), Light, and Pillow.

Where do you go
when its dark?
Back into lightbulbs

      Dear Hot Dog will be a good introduction to poetry for the younger readers and early elementary classrooms.  It includes familiar topics and accessible text and offers a great opportunity to have students create their own odes to everyday objects (and you might as well throw in some of  Pablo Neruda's odes...his ode to the artichoke is one of my favorites).  The illustrations by Caldecott Medal Winner Mordicai Gerstein will delight readers who will find themselves reflected in one of the pages of the multicultural children.

Peaceful Pieces

Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace by Anna Grossnickle Hines
2011

Peaceful Pieces is a collection of poems that explores the theme of peace from different points of view and perspectives. There are poems about world peace, inner peace, peace between siblings, friendship, and peace with environment and the world around us. There are some very memorable poems, like "Soldier Daddy" about a boy hoping for his father's swift return from war soon. Or "Weapons," a poem about the destructive power of hurtful words:

"I've shot daggers from my eyes
At those I momentarily despised.
I have never fired a gun
but want to learn
to hold my tongue"

There are acrostic poems, free verse poems and rhyming poems. There are many examples of similes and metaphors as well as a beautiful poem that personifies Peace, which make this a greate poetry book to utilize in the classroom. The illustrations are gorgeous quilts. There is also some biographies at the end of the book about world history makers who are examples of peacemakers. Great addition to any classroom library.

The Secret River

The Secret River by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Illustrated by Leo & Dian Dillon
2011

     Calpurnia lived in a dark forest in Florida. Calpurnia was her name "because she was born to be a poet."  Her dog's name was Buggy-horse, because he had an enormous stomach that made his back dip in the middle, "just like an old buggy horse."  Calpurnia loved poetry and everyday she would find inspiration in nature's little things, like the two birds singing outside her window, or the sun shining, or the oranges on the trees.

Lovely day,

come what may.

If I did not love

my mother 

and my father

I would run away.

Because it is a running-away

kind of day.

On that lovely day, Calpurnia finds out that the times are hard around the forest.  Her father makes his money selling fish at the market, but now there are no fish to catch. "I shall have to close my fish market, and things will go hard with all of us."  Calpurnia knows she must do something to help her family so she decides to go fishing herself.  Wondering what a fish would like to bite on, she decides to make some pink paper roses to use as bait.  On her way to the river she drops by Mother Albirtha's house, the wisest person in the forest.  Mother Albirtha tells her about the secret river; nobody knows where it is but "you will know the river when you see it. Just follow your nose."
     Calpurnia didn't know exactly what "follow you nose" meant, but she let nature guide her.  She saw a bunny and followed it, then a blue jay and then, there she was, in front of a river.  She sat by the cypress trees on its shore and stared at the river which was "singing as it ran by." The river was full of fish and Calpurnia asked them if they minded it if she caught some of them to save the forest from hard times.  She hopped on a boat tied to the bank and used her pink paper roses to catch as many fish as she could fit on the boat.  On her way back home she shares her fish with the animals she encounters (owl, bear, panther):

If somebody scares you, the thing to do

is give somebody something to do.

Then they never bother you.

Sometimes they say "thank you."

     Calpurnia stopped by Mother Albirtha to thank her for all her help and give her some fish.  And then she made it home exhausted.  The next day her father took the fish to the market and the hard times became "soft times."
    Calpurnia tried to find the secret river again but she was unable.  Mother Albirtha explained to her that she found the river when it was truly needed and said: "You can go there any time you want to. In your mind. Close your eyes, and you will see it."
     The Secret River won the Newbery Honor in 1956.  It's a beautiful tale of magic, imagination and perseverance.  It's text is lyrical and full of gorgeous imagery. Calpurnia's little poems add a cadence of the time and place.  This new edition with illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon is stunning.  The book begs to be shared out loud in the higher elementary grades. Wonderful!
 

Please Bury Me in the Library

Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis
Illustrated by Kyle M. Stone
2005

     Please Bury Me in the Library is a beautiful book of poems revolving around the love of books, libraries and reading. Some are funny, like What If Books Had Different Names?

Like Alice in...Underland?
Furious George,
Goodnight Noon

     Others are more romantic:

Please bury me in the library
In the clean, well-lighted stacks
Of Novels, History, Poetry,
Right next to the Paperbacks
[...]
Please bury me in the library
With a dozen long-stemmed proses.

     The collection also includes acrostic poems and Haikus. I'm surprised I haven't seen this book in my school  since it fits perfectly inside the elementary poetry classroom library.

     My favorite poem in the collection is Great, Good, Bad

A great book is a homing device
For navigating paradise.
A good book somehow makes you care
About the comfort of a chair.
A bad book owes to many trees
A forest of apologies.

     The illustrations, the language, the theme, everything is perfect! This beautiful poetry book does not owe any tree an apology.

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Rick Allen
2010

     Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night is a gorgeous book of poems around the theme of nighttime  and its inhabitants.  There are poems about bats, owls, spiders, slugs, mushrooms and even the moon. Each one deserves to be read slowly, savoring each verse and listening to its cadence.  Each poem stands alone perfectly but as a collection, it is a marvel.
     As a teacher, this is an amazing source of lyrical examples.  There are poems that exemplify repetition like Moon's Lament, personification like Oak After Dark, and even a shape poem like Dark Emperor whose verses make the outline of a horned owl.  There are too many verses I would like to copy here for you to read...From Dark Emperor:

     O Dark Emperor

of hooked face and 

hungry eye: turn that

awful beak away

from me;

disregards

the tiny hiccup 

of my heart 

as I flee.

Or from Night-Spider's Advice:

Use what you have.

Rest when you need to.

Dawn will come soon enough.

Someone as to remake

the world each night.

It might as well be you.

     The illustrations by Rick Allen truly complement the feeling of being immersed in nighttime.  

     There is a poem per page with its accompanying illustration and, as an added bonus, there is a side "mini-lesson" on the topic of each poem.  This provides a great nonfiction link to share with the kids, and for teachers it allows a great opportunity to bring literature and poetry into the science classroom. 

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes by Sally Mavor
2010

     Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes is a collection of traditional nursery rhymes.  Some are very popular and some I had never heard of, but that's not the point.  The reason I picked this book is because it is a work of art.  The illustrations are  fabric relief collages made from a variety of materials (acorns, stones, driftwood, walnuts, beads, buttons, and even wire) all hand sewn together on dyed wool and photographed.  The result is stunning.  This book is a true treasure to be savored over and over...and try to resist the temptation to rip the pages out and frame them to decorate you child's room. 

My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story

My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story by Jamie Lee Curtis
Illustrated by Laura Cornell
2010

     It's Mother's Day so there is no better time to include in this blog My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story . "My mommy hung the moon. She tied it with string. My mommy's good at everything." From that opening verse we are taken through a long list of all the wonderful things moms can do, their quasi superhero status when seen through the eyes of their young kids. Moms can light up the sun, puff clouds, feather birds, grow food, write all the books, and my favorite, "webbed all the world, she dotted .com. She e'd the email, my own CD MOM."
     The illustrations are quirky and quite colorful and offer pages full of details to look at during multiple reads. My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story is sweet and funny. A book to read year round.

Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss
Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
1995

    It's never too early to introduce kids to the world of classical music (thanks Mom for giving that world to me!).  Classical music is art and math all at once.  In Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin, classical instruments get introduced one by one.  The trombone with its "mournful moan and silken tone",  the trumpet with its "swinging song", the french horn, the "mellow" cello, the violin, the flute "that sends our soul a-shiver", the clarinet, the oboe, the bassoon, and the harp, complete the chamber.  Once they are all together, the conductor and his orchestra begin: "The STRINGS all soar, the REEDS implore, the BRASSES roar with notes galore. It's music that we all adore. It's what we go to concerts for."
     Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin uses a lot of content vocabulary, introducing the concepts of solo, duo, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, nonet and chamber.  At the same time, the book reinforces mathematical concepts of addition and counting.  The verses flow so well though, that at no point do you feel like you're being "taught", you're just taken on a wonderful musical exploration.  The illustrations are a beautiful accompaniment to the lyrical language.  This is a great book to give kids a taste of the world of classical music and if they're anything like my own child, they'll be shouting "Encore!"

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
2009

     April is Poetry month, so I'm happy start it with a beautiful poetry picture book. Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors is full of lovely imagery and poetic language.  Through its pages, colors take on the seasons.  Red sings from treetops during Spring, Yellow slips goldfinches their spring jackets.  Blue grows new names in the summer: turquoise, azure, cerulean.   White dazzles day and turns night inside out in the summer.  Just beautiful!  This is a book to be read slowly, over and over, all at once, or just the verses for the season of the time.  Its illustrations are also gorgeous, dreamlike, and works of art on their own (they were awarded the Caldecott Honor).
     Some of Red Sing's vocabulary might seem advanced for younger kids, but I've always believed in exposure, exposure, exposure.  Children are sponges, drench them in rich language and they'll surprise you.  For teachers, this book offers plenty of opportunities to explore personification, onomatopoeias, metaphors, similes and of course, poetry.  Happy Poetry Month!