POETREES
by Douglas Florian
Image credit: www.simonandschuster.com
by Douglas Florian
Bibliography
Florian, Douglas. 2010. Poetrees. New York: Beach Lane Books. ISBN 9781416986720
Critical Analysis and Review
Written and illustrated by poet and artist Douglas Florian, this themed collection is a celebration of trees. Of the eighteen poems in this book, five focus on the parts of a tree including seeds, roots, tree rings, leaves, and bark. The other poems focus on different types of trees. From the familiar oak, giant sequoia, and willow to the very rare scribbly gum and monkey puzzle tree, this collection describes a diverse group of trees.
Florian's rhythmic and rhyming poetry is perfect to read aloud with children. Many of his poems show the reader how the words should be read like in "Paper Birch" which reads "Grows where it's cold/ Paper birrrrrrrrrrrrrch" with the extended /r/ sound. The use of bold print, loosely spaced words, and line breaks all help the reader to read the poems with the correct emphasis. Florian is a master of wordplay. Get ready for tree puns galore with words like "cen-trees," "tree-mendous," and seeds that are "ex-seed-ingly small." The poetry forms are varied with mostly free verse and two concrete poems, "The Seed" and "Tree Rings."
Florian creates beautiful works of art to illustrate each poem. He uses a wide variety of mediums including gouache watercolors, colored pencils, rubber stamps, oil pastels, and collage on primed paper bags. The wrinkly and creased paper bags provide an earthy background for each illustration. The colorful collages are varied in style and sometimes abstract. This book is uniquely designed with a vertical format, so that the trees stretch upward across the double-page spread.
This book contains an informative "Glossatree" that provides scientific facts about each tree and tree part. In the Author's Note, the reader learns that Florian has fond memories of climbing trees and a deep love for trees. A bibliography is also included.
Florian's rhythmic and rhyming poetry is perfect to read aloud with children. Many of his poems show the reader how the words should be read like in "Paper Birch" which reads "Grows where it's cold/ Paper birrrrrrrrrrrrrch" with the extended /r/ sound. The use of bold print, loosely spaced words, and line breaks all help the reader to read the poems with the correct emphasis. Florian is a master of wordplay. Get ready for tree puns galore with words like "cen-trees," "tree-mendous," and seeds that are "ex-seed-ingly small." The poetry forms are varied with mostly free verse and two concrete poems, "The Seed" and "Tree Rings."
Florian creates beautiful works of art to illustrate each poem. He uses a wide variety of mediums including gouache watercolors, colored pencils, rubber stamps, oil pastels, and collage on primed paper bags. The wrinkly and creased paper bags provide an earthy background for each illustration. The colorful collages are varied in style and sometimes abstract. This book is uniquely designed with a vertical format, so that the trees stretch upward across the double-page spread.
This book contains an informative "Glossatree" that provides scientific facts about each tree and tree part. In the Author's Note, the reader learns that Florian has fond memories of climbing trees and a deep love for trees. A bibliography is also included.
Spotlight Poem
BARK
by Douglas Florian
The outer bark of trees is dead,
So when trees grow, the bark is shed.
It cracks.
It flakes.
It splits.
It peels.
From fire, heat, and cold it shields.
It comes in an array of hues--
Of browns or reds or greens or blues.
It's rough or tough
Or strewn with spines.
Bumpy, lumpy, filled with lines.
Or found with fronds
That all jut out.
The bark's a thing to bark about.
This rhyming poem is a good example of the tree-themed poetry in this collection. Florian has a gift for choosing words that beg to be read aloud with children as in this poem. There is also an opportunity for learning with the science content that is packed into Florian's tree poems, including how the bark is protection from fire, heat, and cold.
This poem would be an especially fun poetry break to use in a science class when studying trees. After reading aloud "Bark" several times and discussing how the bark functions as protection for the tree trunk. The teacher would take students outside with paper and some peeled crayons to do a bark rubbing on any tree trunks in the schoolyard. Using the bark rubbing paper, students could use this as a background to write their own tree poem.
BARK
by Douglas Florian
The outer bark of trees is dead,
So when trees grow, the bark is shed.
It cracks.
It flakes.
It splits.
It peels.
From fire, heat, and cold it shields.
It comes in an array of hues--
Of browns or reds or greens or blues.
It's rough or tough
Or strewn with spines.
Bumpy, lumpy, filled with lines.
Or found with fronds
That all jut out.
The bark's a thing to bark about.
This rhyming poem is a good example of the tree-themed poetry in this collection. Florian has a gift for choosing words that beg to be read aloud with children as in this poem. There is also an opportunity for learning with the science content that is packed into Florian's tree poems, including how the bark is protection from fire, heat, and cold.
This poem would be an especially fun poetry break to use in a science class when studying trees. After reading aloud "Bark" several times and discussing how the bark functions as protection for the tree trunk. The teacher would take students outside with paper and some peeled crayons to do a bark rubbing on any tree trunks in the schoolyard. Using the bark rubbing paper, students could use this as a background to write their own tree poem.
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