SCIENCE POETRY

Yolen, Jane. BUG OFF! Creepy, Crawly Poems.  Honesdale, PN: Word Song, 2012. ISBN: 978-1-59078-862-2

Poetic Elements:  A distinctive rhyme can be found in most of Yolen’s poetry written in free verse.  For example in the poem “Honey Bee Mine” she writes, “I’ll turn you into something runny, coagulating into honey.” She shows humor in her poem “Oh, Fly” when she writes, “Oh fly, you flew onto my leaf and not my food.  What a relief!”  In “Butterfly to a Flower” Yolen metaphorically speaks of a butterfly’s movement as “A tutu-clad dancer.”  Ants are blissfully personified in “An Army of Ants” saying “An all-female work force, their food stores enhance, Toiling too hard to consider romance.”  Using clever wordplay, alliteration is achieved in “Lovebug Alone” at the end of the poem when it reads, “Are you a solo so low bug?” Yolen attains this same feature in “Spider to the Poet” in the last line that reads, “Then put it on the World Wide Web.”  Onomatopoeia is used in “POP! Goes the Tick” when Yolen writes “He’ll pop! and leave some ick.”  Yolen definitely uses fresh and abstract ideas to help readers connect the dots in her poems and describes easy to understand images.

Appeal:  Although Yolen writes with an appealing poetic form, retaining the attention of young people will be bolstered with the help of Jason Stemple’s unique photographs.  Bugs are very appealing to kids and something they can easily relate to from seeing them in natural settings from everyday life.  The poems are enriching, but are further supplemented by way of a non-fiction paragraph about the creature at hand that Yolen has obviously researched in being able to share concise and accurate information.  Yolen’s use of language in her poems will deepen the linguistics of a young person allowing them to make connections with less familiar words. Imaginations will “swarm” when reading this book!  

Overall Quality:  The book is nicely designed in content and appeal and focuses on some of the tiniest creepy and crawly creatures alive.  The up close photograph shots allow the viewer to see much more than would usually be noticed with the naked eye.  Children will enjoy looking at the book and will ask for the poems to be read to them if they are not yet readers.  The poems are short enough to keep almost any attention span.  The same black font, size and spacing are used throughout.  The only real change is how the poems’ titles are presented on each page.  All poem titles are written in a bright, primary color and are placed in various ways on the page: straight, crooked, wavy, ascending, and descending.  The use of one poem with one photograph, and squeezing in an additional non-fiction blurb about the creature creates a sense of balance for each layout.  It would be a welcome to read more books published by Yolen.

The Poets: Jane Yolen is the single poet that has composed this anthology on insects and spiders.  She is a notable author that writes in various styles and has written over three hundred books for children and adults.  She has received many awards which include:  the Golden Kite Award, Christopher Medals, the Regina Medal, and the Kerlan Award. Some of her poems are included in other poetry collections as well.

Layout:  Yolen’s book was published in 2012 and includes the freshest knowledge about spiders and insects available.  The book is a 32-page style picture book composed of photographs taken by Jason Stemple.  It is organized with a table of contents, a note from the author, and followed up with thirteen double-page layouts.  Each layout has a detailed photograph of the bug being poetically spoken of and the opposite page features the poem and an information paragraph giving specific details and facts about the creature.  The mode of written expression is similar in nature with all of the poems in the book.

Spotlight Poem:  Using this book to spotlight a poem a day during a second grade science unit of study on insects and spiders would allow time to ponder and think on each poem.  Yolen has some higher ordered thoughts scattered in her poetry and it would be a great way for students to take time to synthesize and discuss aloud the creature, its habits, and what the poet is trying to convey in her poem.

“Pop! Goes the Tick” by Jane Yolen

The tick is mostly mouth,

and if he lands on you

he’ll try to suck your blood,

‘cause that’s what all ticks do.

But never try to squeeze him.

He’ll pop! And leave some ick.

Bacteria comes sliding out,

Which makes a person sick.