Friday, March 4, 2016

Poetry Friday



Poetry Friday is hosted today by Teacher Dance.

My selection is "At the Sea Floor Cafe: odd ocean critter poems" by Leslie Bulion with illustrations by Leslie Evans.

Bulion invites readers to "Dive In" with a verse that begins: "Let's visit a habitat shallow and deep/And boiling hot, where acids seep..." That lively and unexpected opening is only the beginning of a poetic adventure that uses a variety of forms from haiku to free verse. This collection of eighteen poems highlights some of the ocean's most intriguing creatures from the bottlenose dolphin to lesser-known and/or unusual animals such as leopard sea cucumbers, emperor shrimp, violet snail, krill, sea spiders, squid and a host of others. Each poem is paired with information about the subject of the verse and the author concludes her work with a discussion of the many poetry forms along with a glossary and suggestions for additional reading. Evans uses linoleum block prints to skillfully portray the animals and their habitat.

Each poem is imaginative, informative, and skillfully crafted which makes this book a wonderful pairing of science and language -- a delight in its own right and ideal for cross-curriculum lessons.

2 comments:

Linda B said...

This book sounds so inviting,Janet, and accessible for a broad range of ages, also could be used in poetry workshop. Thanks for sharing it, will go on my list of books to find.

Sally Murphy said...

Thanks for sharing your review of this book - I'm going to keep an eye out for it.

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