HOPKINS AWARD POETRY

Wardlaw, Lee. Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku. Ill. Eugene Yelchin. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2011. ISBN: 978-0-329-94635-7.

Poetic Elements: Wardlaw abounds in her uses of poetic elements in this book.  “Your tummy, soft as warm dough,” is an example of how simile is used.  Metaphors are also used when dogs and cats are compared to each other.  “Dogs have hair, Cats, fur.  Dogs whine, yip, howl, bark.  Cats purr.”  Won Ton, the cat, is personified with being able to think, reason, and justify like a human.  My favorite example is when Wardlaw squishes the words “let me in” to look like “letmeinletmeinlet” and resemble the elongated sound of a cat’s meow.   Rhyme is not prominently featured in this book, but is found coupled with assonance in the line, “me to muzzle his buzzle.”  “Prickle-puffed, I hiss,” mixes the elements of alliteration and hyperbole as an illustration of a cat’s appearance when scared, and it arches its back and back hairs stand straight up.  Onomatopoeia is an easily featured element:  squeaks, whine, yip, howl, bark, purr, sniff, crunch, snap, hiss, meow, whisper.      

Appeal:  Although usually unappealing to children, the senryu written to relay the story will probably go unnoticed unless specifically highlighted.  Family pets typically make for familiar experiences that children can relate with and hold their interest, too.  Unknowingly, children will be able to synthesize over the various situations that the cat is faced with.  The choices of words used are understandable and feature many sight words that young readers will find familiar to read.  This is a book to be enjoyed by reading again and again. 

Overall Quality:  This book, written with children in mind, can also be enjoyed by cat lovers of any age.  The poems share a story of how a cat is adopted from a shelter and how it goes to live with a family. Written in senryu, similar to haiku, the humor and plot will diminish any negative and preexisting feelings towards this style of poetry. I personally forgot that I was even reading a poetry book.  The feelings and actions portrayed by the cat kept me in stitches! The two-page spreads typically feature three senryu poems that are carefully placed among the illustrations.  They are the perfect complement to each other.  After thoroughly enjoying this book, I will definitely seek out more of Wardlaw’s books to read and would personally consider her to be a visiting author in my school library.   

The Poets:  Lee Wardlaw is the single poet that has written this story in verse.  She is an accomplished writer who has written over 30 award-winning children’s books.  Senryu poetry is what is featured in Won Ton, but she has also written picture books, easy-readers, chapter books, non-fiction, middle grade novels, and young adult novels.  Several of her poems are featured in the book The Poetry Friday Anthology compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.  Won Ton has been a recognized winner for the 2012 Lee Bennett Hopkins Children’s Poetry Award, the ALSC Notable Children’s Poetry Award, and the CCBC Best Children’s Book of the year to name just a few.   More information about Wardlaw can be found at her website www.leewardlaw.com

Layout:  This 32-page picture book is written in senryu.  It is similar to haiku writing with a seventeen syllable pattern written over three lines in a 5-7-5 syllable pattern.  Its content is humanistic in nature and is expressed through a narrative style, intended to be humorous, playful, or ironic. For this particular writing at hand, Won Ton is spoken from a cat’s perspective.  The illustrations by Yelchin use graphite and gouache on watercolor paper. They are playfully mocking the cat’s sentiments in the story.   

Spotlight Poem:  Reading the book in its entirety would be a great way to explain a character’s point of view.  I would extend this concept by showing various pictures with different characters that are human or animal and ask the class to synthesize with the picture and imagine if they were the character in the picture, and what they might be saying.  Ultimately, I would like to flip this activity into a writing assignment and have additional pictures for the students to choose from individually and take ownership by writing a short story and embellishing the character’s point of view.

A short portion of Won Ton by Lee Wardlaw is included below

The Adjustment

Scrat-ching-post?  Haven’t
heard of it.  Besides, the couch
is so much closer.

Pesky fly! Allow

me to muzzle his buzzle.
Never mind the lamp.

Naptime!  Begone, oh

fancy pad.  I prefer these
socks. They smell of you.

Help! I’ve been catnapped,

dressed in frillies, forced to lap
tea with your sister.

Letmeoutletme

outletmeoutletmeout.
Wait—let me back in!