NEW POETRY BOOK

Lewis, J. Patrick. National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems That Squeak, Soar, and Roar! Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2012.  ISBN 978-1-4263-1009-6

Poetic Elements:  Rhyme abounds throughout this book. Onomatopoeia is highlighted in the poem "Luna Moth" that reads, “Tick-tick-ticking-all silver-green.”  The anonymous poem "Bull and Ox" models the use of simile, “A bull acts like a bully.” Personification is prototyped in Marilyn Singer’s poem "Beavers in November" where the beaver speaks in first person, “You pat, I gnaw, I pile, You store.”  "The Walrus" by Jack Prelutsky combines alliteration and assonance: “The widdly, waddly walrus has flippery, floppery feet” and “The thundery, blunder walrus has rubbery, blubbery hide.”  Janet Wong uses imagery in her poem "Blue Jay" when the interpretation of an alert sound the Blue Jay makes is code for “Hawk incoming! Fight!” These are only a few examples of the many, many poetic elements that can be found in this anthology about animals.

Appeal:  Providing an assortment of poets and poetry styles will beg those short in attention to stay tuned.  The quantity of poems and photographs that are included are a distraction (in a good way) to keep the reader responsive. Observing how God has uniquely designed and equipped each animal to live will leave readers in awe of HIS awesomeness.  New insights about these creatures will be learned by all who interact with this book and will peak curiosities to want to learn more. 

Overall Quality:  The design and organization of this book have been well conceived.  The book is oversized for visual purposes.  The poems are appropriately written for both young and old people alike to enjoy.  To fully appreciate the book, one must look at the photographs, too.  Most are from photographers that were at the right place, at the right time to be able to capture such unusual shots.  A variety of poetry styles are used and mixed throughout.  Depending on the photograph, depends on the number of poems that are featured on the page as well as its location.  All of the poems are written in the same size font.  Poem spacing depends upon the type of poem that has been written.  The poem "The Anteater" written by Douglas Florian is included in this anthology and it takes up more room than usual because it is a shape poem.  On the contrary, J.W. Hackett shares a haiku poem about sparrows which is a concise 3-line poem. This book does not necessarily make me want to read more poems by J. Patrick Lewis who put the compilation together, but after reading various poems within the book, I would consider seeking out other featured poets that are published within the book.   

The Poets:  The US Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, has compiled this book to feature many outstanding poets.  Some of the notable poets include:  Robert Frost, Jack Prelutsky, Emily Dickinson, Janet Wong, and Jane Yolen.  Those poets less known include:  Edward Lear, Kay Ryan, Charles Simic, and Norma Farber.  Some of the poems in this book are included in other books.  For example, "Mother’s Plea" by Lee Bennett Hopkins is also featured in his book City I Love which was written solely by Hopkins.  This book is an anthology that teaches from various sources about animals.

Layout:  The book is very nicely organized.  It is 183 pages in length and has 200 poems about animals and includes many photographs.  It is not intended to be read all at once cover to cover, but to pick and choose randomly in no specific order.  An introduction is written by J. Patrick Lewis who hand selected the poems for this book, which is followed by the Table of Contents.  The animal poems in the Table of Contents have been grouped together in various related animal characteristics:  The Big Ones, The Little Ones, The Winged Ones, and The Water Ones, etc. After all of the poems have been shared, there is a section called “Writing Poems About Animals.”  It segments about various styles of poetry writing and then gives an example for each of the following types:  couplet, shape poem, haiku, limerick, free verse, and cinquain.  A “Resources” page follows allocating a selected bibliography of children’s books on wordplay.  Some of those include:  acrostics, anagrams, epitaphs, lipograms, parodies, rebuses, and reversos.  Thus it is probably quite obvious that there is a variety of poetry styles used throughout the book, but all pertain to animals in some way.  The Index is organized four different ways:  Title, Poet, First Line, and Subject.  Text credits and photo credits help to conclude the book.  Background information is not included about the poets or their poems.  However, the more notable poets have several poems published in this book compared to those less known only having single poems featured. 

Spotlight Poem:  The poem "Zebra" (shared below) would be a great anticipatory set to use with teaching critical thinking skills on multiple perspectives.  I would follow by reading several of Doreen Cronin’s books Diary of a Spider, Diary of a Worm, and Diary of a Fly.  By discussing the point of view that each book is written from, students would learn to analyze and think more critically. Students could then pick their own animal and apply this lesson by creating several diary entries told from the perspective of that animal.  Without divulging the animal, students who wanted could volunteer to read an entry or two aloud and see if classmates could guess which animal the point of view is coming from.

“Zebra” written by Gavin Ewart

White men in Africa,

Puffing at their pipes,

Think the zebra’s a white horse

With black stripes.

Black men in Africa,

With pipes of different types,

Know the zebra’s a black horse

With white stripes.