YOU READ TO ME, I'LL READ TO YOU: VERY SHORT SCARY TALES TO READ TOGETHER

YOU READ TO ME, I'LL READ TO YOU
by Mary Ann Hoberman
Illustrated by Michael Emberley

Image credit: www.maryannhoberman.com

Bibliography:

Hoberman, Mary Ann. 2007. You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together. Ill. by Michael Emberly. New York: Little, Brown and Company.  ISBN 9780316004961

Critical Analysis and Review:

This poetry collection is Mary Ann Hoberman's fourth installment in the popular You Read To Me, I'll Read To You series.  This is a thematic collection featuring poems that are spooky and creepy, but also playful and funny.  Hoberman's unique poetry is designed to be read out loud by two voices. As the Author's Note explains, the color-coded text indicates one reader on the left side and another reader on the right, while the yellow text in the middle is meant for both readers to read together chorally.  

The opening poem "Introduction" invites readers into the scary tales with "Do you like to/ Quake and quiver?/ Do you like to/ Shake and shiver?" while also explaining "I'll read here/ And you'll read there."  Readers of all ages would enjoy poems such as "The Mummy" which features word play or the banter between "The Ogre and the Giant."  Another highlight is the personification in "The Witch and the Broomstick" in which one reader voices the witch and the other the broomstick, each extolling their own virtues.  Each of Hoberman's poems begs to be read aloud in a performance with two readers.  

Ed Emberly creates delightful illustrations using pencil, watercolor, and dry pastel.  His drawings of ghosts, ghouls, zombies, dragons, and the like are more playful than scary.  With two or three scenes per page, the action of the poem is depicted in cartoon-like illustrations that help the reader to follow along.  A favorite page is the stark, black background of "Scaredy Cats" showing only the eyes of two unknown creatures.  By the end of the poem, the two frightened beings turn on their flashlights to reveal themselves as an insect and an octopus. 

Readers that enjoy the other books in the You Read to Me, I'll Read to You series will surely fall in love with the silly and slightly spine-tingling poetry meant to be read aloud in this collection.

Spotlight Poem:

Excerpt from TRICK OR TREAT 

by Mary Ann Hoberman

Trick or treat!

                          Trick or treat!

              Wonder what

              They'll have to eat!

Hope it's candy!

                           Hope there's plenty!

              Here we are 

              At number twenty.

Trick or treat! 

                           Trick or treat!

Give us something

Nice and sweet!

                           Give us something

                           Nice and quick

Or we'll have to 

Play a trick!

This poem is an excellent example of Hoberman's strong rhythms and rhyming text featured in her poems.  The repetition of "Trick or treat!" also makes this poem approachable for younger readers.  In this poem, children would enjoy the illustrations as the two masked trick or treaters are revealed to be young dinosaurs.  In a classroom or library lesson, I would love to have two students read this poem as a piece of performance poetry in October when Halloween is approaching.  

BUTTON UP!

BUTTON UP!

Wrinkled Rhymes by Alice Schertle

Pictures by Petra Mathers

Image credit: books.google.com

Bibliography:

Schertle, Alice. 2009. Button Up! Ill. by Petra Mathers.  New York: Harcourt Children's Books. ISBN 9780152050504

Critical Analysis and Review:

The 2010 winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry award, Button Up! is a delightful themed collection of poetry.  Alice Schertle's poems are each written from the perspective of a different article of clothing.  With this clever premise, Schertle's poems feature a hiking hat, galoshes, jammies, a bicycle helmet, and more explaining their adventures and various uses.

Schertle expertly utilizes several elements of poetry such as rhyme and personification.  Onomatopoeia is displayed in "The Song of Harvey's Galoshes," as his wet shoes make the sound, "Squash-galosh, squash-galosh."  In "Clyde's Costume," Schertle uses alliteration when the costume is described as "ghastly and ghoulish and ghostly."  Repetition is also utilized throughout Schertle's poetry like in "Bill's Blue Jacket" which repeats the title phrase, "Button up! Button up! Button up/ TIGHT!"

Petra Mathers creates watercolor illustrations to match the text of each poem.  Brightly colored animals don the articles of clothing mentioned in each poem.  A favorite page is the ostrich who is uncomfortably wearing "Rick's Wool Sweater" scrunched up along his long neck.  The small mouse peering up at "Emily's Undies" hanging on a clothes lines is another adorable image.

Spotlight Poem:

VIOLET'S HIKING HAT

by Alice Schertle

I am Violet's hiking hat.

I live on Violet's head.

"I NEVER take off my hiking hat,"

Violet said.

I'm taking a hike with Violet.

Violet's showing me things. 

"Hat," says Violet, "there's a caboose.

These are butterfly wings."

"Hat," says Violet, "here's a rock.

These are the monkey bars."

Violet takes me out at night.

"Look," says Violet. "Stars."

Here in the bathtub with Violet

we're having a storm at sea--

a whale, a rabbit, a submarine,

a bucket, a duck, and me.

I am going to sleep with Violet

in Violet's race car bed,

on Violet's panda bear pillow.

"Good night, Hat," Violet said.

This poem shows off Schertle's style of using rhyming text and short stanzas.  Told from the point of view of a hiking hat, this poem offers a unique type of mentor text for young writers.  In a classroom or library lesson, I would challenge young poets to write a poem from the point of view of a favorite article of clothing.  I think most children will be able to think of a favorite hat, sweatshirt, or pair of shoes that they really love.  Then, they could brainstorm by jotting down a list of places they have worn that item.  Using the list, they could try to write a clothing poem in the style of Alice Schertle.  

SONG OF THE WATER BOATMAN AND OTHER POND POEMS

SONG OF THE WATER BOATMAN AND OTHER POND POEMS
by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Beckie Prange

Image credit: www.joycesidman.com/book

Bibliography:

Sidman, Joyce. 2005. Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems. Ill. by Beckie Prange. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780618135479

Critical Analysis and Review:

This Caldecott Honor book is a thematic collection of poetry all about the plants, animals, and insects that reside in ponds. Each of the eleven poems explores a different pond dweller such as the wood duck, the caddis fly, and cattails.  In addition to the wonderful variety of poems, this book also contains a great deal of science content related to pond life.  

This book begins with "Listen for Me," a poem about the spring peepers which are tiny frogs that trill through the night announcing the arrival of spring.  The celebration of wildlife continues as the baby ducks hatch in "Spring Splashdown."  Poems about a beetle, dragon fly and the food chain follow.  Finally, in "Into the Mud," the painted turtle burrows into a muddy hole below the pond to hibernate for winter.  

Beckie Prange paints unique illustrations for each poem using woodblock that is hand-colored with watercolors.  The bold lines of the woodblock create a contrast against the airy lightness of the pastel watercolors.  A notable illustration is the heron swooping in from above as he "spears the fish" in "In the Depths of the Summer Pond."  Prange plays with perspective showing, at times, a cross-section of the pond, or a bird's eye view, or a zoomed-in close up like in "Travel Time" depicting the tiny water bear. 

This poetry collection is a must-have for science lovers who appreciate poetry.  This book includes a Glossary defining the scientific terms.

Spotlight Poem:

LISTEN FOR ME

by Joyce Sidman

Listen for me on a spring night, 

on a wet night,

on a rainy night.

Listen for me on a still night,

for in the night, I sing.

That is when my heart thaws,

my skin thaws,

my hunger thaws.

That is when the world thaws,

and the air begins to ring.

I creep up from the cold pond,

the ice pond, 

the winter pond,

I creep up from the chill pond,

to breathe the warming air.

I cling to the green reeds,

the damp reeds,

the muddy reeds,

I cling to the slim reeds;

my brothers are everywhere.

My throat swells with spring love,

with rain love,

with water love,

My throat swells with peeper love;

my song is high and sweet.

Listen for me on a spring night,

on a wet night,

on a rainy night.

Listen for me tonight, tonight,

and I'll sing you to sleep.

The opening poem in the collection is an excellent example of Sidman's amazing artistry as a wordsmith. In this poem, she describes the tree frog's emergence from its winter freeze as it comes back to life in the spring as one of the noisiest pond dwellers.  The repetition of one word in each stanza is remarkable as it gives a theme to each part of the poem.  Also, the repetition of the first and fourth line in each stanza creates a nice rhythm.  Sidman is a master of well-placed repetition.  The last line of the poem is especially peaceful as it states, "Listen for me tonight, tonight,/ and I'll sing you to sleep."  Love that line!

I would use Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems as a poetry break with second grade classes because they take a field trip to a pond each spring to explore the wildlife there.  Each poem in this collection could be applicable to their pond study, especially "Listen for Me" and "In the Depths of the Summer Pond" which describes the pond habitat's food chain.  This poem "Listen for Me" could be read aloud in a performance in which six groups could read each stanza.  I think using the "groups" strategy would make this poem come alive for readers.