National Poetry Month celebrating poetry and children

April is National Poetry Month and the perfect time to encourage children to express themselves poetically and provide opportunities to share their poetic ideas

I·am·bic pen·tam·e·ter - noun - a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.

Ruthie Rose's Big Idea: A Poetry Story by John Schu & illustrated by Holly Hatam

 

My thoughts:  Bright, colorful, happy illustrations immediately capture the interest encouraging reading. It's as though an artist has just opened his brand new box of a multitude of crayons and has creativity exploding from his fingers and mind.

And then we see the delightful Ruthie Rose and her spontaneity captures our attention. Her precocious ideas bring us delight. It is evident from the shadowy words of amazing, famous poetry billowing across the pages that Ruthie Rose has been exposed to classic, beautifully written poetry..... Robert Louis Stevenson, etc. And she has an idea to develop a spot in the library to share poetry.

Every once in awhile - every generation or so - a genius of poetry graces the scene. Exposing young children to really good rhymes and then to really good poetry often enables the blossoming of a new and wonderful poet.

Ruthie Rose's idea is good, the book is cheerful and fun, the book does not help or enable to writing or understanding of poetry.

About the book: From the New York Times bestselling John Schu comes a celebration of poetry and possibilities that follows a child who sparks to life a special space in her school for exploring ideas of all kinds.

Ruthie Rose wakes up with an idea.

A big, bright, beautiful idea.

An idea so great! An idea so grand! Ruthie Rose can’t wait to share it with her idea-loving librarian, her art teacher, and her best friend. As the idea gets shared, it sparkles through her classmates, shouts down the hallway, and echoes over the playground. It invites everyone in the school, including YOU. John Schu’s effervescent prose is complemented by Holly Hatam’s vibrant artwork in clear, vivid colors, depicting a cast of adorable characters. Collaged throughout the artwork are intriguing snippets of language and lines from classic poems, sure to inspire young poetry lovers to discover more.

In the Desert by David Elliott & illustrated by Gordy Wright

 

My thoughts:  The illustrations evoke the heat and dry land that is the desert. Browns, oranges, sand, yellows bespeak dry heat and being virtually devoid of green life. Life as it exists in the desert is portrayed in beautiful bold, stark reality.

This a essentially a "non-fiction" book as it describes life in the desert. So a nice education book with poetic phraseology. 

The text is a form of poetry but not one that I particularly enjoy. It seems more prose in narrow columns than traditional or classic rhythm and rhyme. No iambic pentameter is seen. Very nice ideas are put forth in the author's own style of poetry. 

About the book: With wonder and wit, David Elliott’s poems look beyond the Sahara’s blinding surface to the rich flora and fauna of the world’s largest hot desert, depicted in Gordy Wright’s vibrant illustrations.

The Sahara, covering more than three million square miles, is a harsh and uninviting landscape, inhospitable to most forms of life. But under every rock, in every crevice, and hidden in the growth of the landscape, life persists. From the dangerous deathstalker scorpion and the Nile crocodile to the familiar Saharan cheetah and Nubian vulture, the animals of the Sahara not only survive but thrive. In his iconic and admiring poetry, David Elliott reveals the secrets of barren desert landscapes, featuring animals both familiar and elusive. With comprehensive back matter offering notes on the poems and Gordy Wright’s striking, saturated paintings, In the Desert seeks out the hardy animals who have made the desolate deserts their home.

DISCLOSURE: I received complimentary copies to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given. Candlewick Press