Poetry Friday Round Up: Dear Wandering Wildebeest

Welcome to the Poetry Friday Weekly Round Up.  Join in by adding your link at the bottom of this post. To begin with, enjoy a couple poems from this collection:

Title:  Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Water Hole

Author:  Irene Latham

Illustrator:  Anna Wadham

Target Ages:  6 and up

Genre:  Poetry Collection

Publisher Summary:

“Spend a day at a water hole on the African grasslands.  From dawn to nightfall, animals come and go.  Giraffes gulp, wildebeests graze, impalas leap, vultures squabble, and elephants wallow. “

Sample Poems:

“The Watchman’s Song”

Call me sentry,

Call me guard.

I round the mounds

in the yard.

I stand up tall.

I scan the dirt.

I watch the town,

ears alert.

I sing my song:

peep peep peep,

It means, we’re safe!

Forage! Sleep!

But, if Jackal stalks

and closes in,

or if Hawk circles

yet again –

I’ll whistle-shrill.

That means: Duck!

Grrrr-bark-rrrrr-bark.

Don’t push luck!

Call me sentry,

Call me guard.

I round the mounds

in the yard.

“Tree for All”

Giraffes feast on my leafy crown;

my buffet never closes.

Rhinos doze beneath my broad branches;

my umbrella shelters and shades.

Baboons scramble up and down my trunk;

my playground delights all ages.

Owls nest in my hidden knothole;

my cradle cozies brand new wings.

Skinks sleep in my think spotted bark;

my camouflage keeps them safe.

Safari ants trail along my roots;

my roadways help build a city.

No grassland beasts can resist my charms;

I am a wild brush willow tree.

Evaluation:

Latham plays with words and poetic forms.  For instance, her titles are colorful and fun.  “Lifestyles of the Sleek and Sinuous” describes how the Black mamba snake lives while “Calling Carcass Control” explains the feeding habits of various animals. Many of the poems follow a traditional format with set stanzas and rhyme. Others are more creative. “Oxpecker Cleaning Service” is written as an advertisement while informing readers about this animal’s important role.  To highlight the difficulty giraffes have to get a drink, a free verse poem is written in outline form. 

While the poems can be enjoyed for their diversity and delightful imagery, this collection has educational value as well. It can supplement units on Africa, habitats, and animals in the science curriculum.  Sounds devices like rhyme and alliteration are plentiful.  These poems can be used to study diverse voices and personification.

The poems themselves are educational on their own. However, a short paragraph corresponds to each one providing additional background information for young readers to better understand the habitat and animals. 

This format can be an inspiration for poetry writing in the classroom or at home.  First, provide an informative prose paragraph on an interesting topic or assign students to pick their own. Then, allow students to write poems using the information. Encourage them to play with literary devices like personification and point of view as well as sound devices. This activity is also an opportunity to teach the difference between poetry and prose. While prose just “gives the facts,” poetry allows readers to experience the facts through vivid imagery and different points of view.

Anna Wadham’s illustrations are fantastic.  The soft colors and beautiful drawings give little glimpses into life on the African grasslands. 

Overall, Dear Wandering Wildebeest is a celebration of nature and diversity.  It is a must-read!  

Poetry Friday: Firefly July

Title:  Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems

Selected by:  Paul B. Janeczko

Illustrator: Melissa Sweet

Target Ages: All

Genre: Poetry Anthology

Publisher Summary: 

It takes only a few words, if they’re the right words, to create a strong image.  Whether listened to in the comfort of a cozy lap or read independently, the thirty-six very short poems in this collection show readers young and old that a few perfect words and pictures can make the world glow.

Evaluation:

This collection of seasonal poems includes selections from a wide variety of poets.  Some classics are included like “The Red Wheelbarrow” (Williams) and “Fog” (Sandburg), but most of them are from lesser-known authors.  Each poem is a little treasure of imagery and enchantment. 

Most of the poems are 25 words or less, making it easy to keep youngsters and relunctant readers engaged. The focus on a single, vivid image or idea is an effective building block for introducing and teaching poetry. 

With poems this concise, young writers are likely to feel more confident to try their hand at composing one themselves.  For teachers or parents who want to try the poem a day challenge, these works are perfect.  Reading one takes less than a minute. 

Melissa Sweet’s original watercolor, gouache, and mixed-media collage illustrations are an brilliant compliment to each poem.  She always has the perfect mix of color, texture, and image.

Firefly July is an excellent resource for teachers, parents, and poetry lovers. 

Sample Poems: 

Water Lily

My petals enfold stamens of gold.

I float, serene, while down below

these roots of mine are deeply stuck

in the coolest most delicious muck.

                  -Ralph Fletcher

Little Orange Cat

Little orange cat,

you prowl

like a small tiger

(stalking what?)

in the field

of white daisies

and shining

buttercups.

                  -Charlotte Zolotow

November Night

Listen…

With faint dry sound,

Like steps of passing ghosts,

The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees

And fall.

                  --Adelaide Crapsey

Fog

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

                  -Carl Sandburg

For more poetic inspiration, visit Random Noodling for this week’s Poetry Friday round up.

Poetry Friday: Six Sheep Sip Thick Shakes (Brian P. Cleary)

For Poetry Friday, I have a rollicking fun selection:  Six Sheep Sip Thick Shakes and Other Tricky Tongue Twisters (by Brian P. Cleary).  It is not poetry in the traditional sense, but there are many poetic elements—rhyme, alliteration, assonance, and consonance.   These sound devices are great tools for building early literacy skills and language proficiency.  For example:  

The people with

the purple paper

pranced in their

pants by the

simple steeple.  

There are several examples of alliteration (the same beginning sound)—people/purple/paper/pranced/pants and simple/steeple.   Children can recognize the sounds they frequently hear and pick out the specific words with those sounds.  Older children can identify consonance (repetition of same sounds anywhere in the word).  The emphasis on the “p” sound is underlined.    Encourage listeners to identify how many “p’s” they hear (10 total).  Another example emphasizes other sound devices:  

Sasha shifted as she sifted

through the thistle

for her sister’s whistle.

There is end rhyme (thistle/whistle) and internal rhyme (shifted/sifted).  Alliteration and consonance are present, but there is also assonance (repetition of the same vowel sound) which is trickier to identify.  The underlined letters indicate where the short "i" sound is located.

The tongue twisters are written similar to poetic lines.  Some could possibly work as simple poems based on their end words and structure while others seem random in their breaks.   With older children, parents and teachers can begin a basic discussion on what makes a poem a poem.  In other words, how do we know the difference between poetry and prose? 

The illustrations (by Steve Mack) are bright and colorful, making them enticing for young readers. The tongue twisting lines make for humorous and creative pictures, many focusing on animal antics. 

I recommend Six Sheep Sip Thick Shakes and Other Tricky Tongue Twisters for ages 3-9.  Young listeners and readers will find the tongue twisters pleasurable to their ears and the dynamic pictures a feast for the eyes.  This tongue twisting ride is sure to prompt children to create their own twisters.  They will be having so much fun doing it that they won't realize they are practicing important language and reading skills.  Round in out with the opportunity for them to illustrate each one they write.  

For other great poetry related posts, visit Write. Sketch. Repeat.