THE LLAMA WHO HAD NO PAJAMA: 100 FAVORITE POEMS by Mary Ann Hoberman

Hoberman, Mary Ann. 1998. The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems. Ill. by Betty Fraser. San Diego, CA: Browndeer Press. 0152055711.

The Llama Who Had No Pajama by Mary Ann Hoberman offers a collection of 100 favorite poems.  This delightful collection of poetry is a great addition to any library or classroom.  These little poetry gems will engage the reader with their rhythmic qualities and engaging topics.  These pieces with their nonsensical words, repletion, and rhyme scheme lend themselves to be sung and even memorized.  The collection touts a variety of themes and tones throughout the book.  The reader will delight in the whimsical and fast paced, “Yellow Butter…” and the reflective and a little somber, “Mayfly” poem. 

This book would work well as a first introduction to poetry with its variation on themes and engaging content.  The topics are common themes relatable to a childhood audience and the wide variety available in this one volume offers a great opportunity to use this book for smaller poetry breaks in the classroom.  The author focuses the pieces on topics such as animals and important milestones.  She even takes on the bothersome little brother and the magic of snow.  Kids will delight in the rhythmic qualities of the poems and will find themselves engaged in the text and topics.  The clean and simple artwork helps to reflect the themes of the pieces and create visual interest for the reader.  These pieces beg to be read aloud over and over and will quickly become memorized favorites for the young audience.  These pieces will foster phonic development and reinforce reading skills. 

Worm

Squiggly

Wiggly

Wriggly

Jiggly

Ziggly

Higgly

Piggly

Worm.

Watch it wiggle,

Watch it wriggle.

See it squiggle,

See it squirm.

These pieces are just fun pieces that invite singing and movement.  It would be a great opportunity to integrate music into the lesson by using rhythm sticks, Boomwhackers, or Orff instruments to invite children to feel the musical rhythm of the pieces. This provides a great opportunity to link academic learning with musical and kinesthetic opportunities.   

Another great leaning opportunity would be to view the author reading her works in a fun and insightful way.  Hoberman discusses some of her pieces and reads them with enthusiasm and joy highlighting the tongue twister qualities and many of the nonsensical words.  Allow the students to play their instruments along with the author's reading of the poems.  

Click on the link to see Mary Ann Hoberman read from her collection of poetry:
The Llama Who Had No Pajama : Children's Poet Laureate : Video : The Poetry Foundation

YUM! MMMM! QUE RICO! by Pat Moro

Mora, Pat. 2007. YUM! MMMM! QUE RICO!. Ill. by Rafael Lopez. NY: Lee & Low Books. ISBN 978-1-58430-271-1

YUM! MMMM! QUE RICO! By Pat Moro is a delightful journey through the senses featuring a variety of foods along the way.  Each page is brightly illustrated to reflect the featured food.  The pages contain a carefully crafted haiku on one side and an informative paragraph of interesting facts about the featured food on the other page.  With food native to the Americas featured in the book, kids are sure to encounter some old favorites like “gooey” peanut butter and “brown magic” chocolate and connect with the text.  The engaging topics will open them up to the informative passages offering the history and other pertinent facts.

This book offers up layer after layer of cultural diversity.  The pictures and foods have a decisively Hispanic feel, but the informational texts often reveal that the origin of many of these foods is far beyond the boundaries of South America.  The haiku pairings offer insight and exposure to this Japanese poetry form in the context of these seemingly unrelated cultures.  The author masterfully makes the text accessible to younger children by making it about food—most of which they have experienced for themselves.   However, Moro does throw in some more exotic foods such as prickly pear and papaya to build interest and take the opportunity to share a potentially new food with a receptive audience.  The author also sprinkles a number of Spanish words throughout the poetry, such as “luna” and “dulces” giving it a very ethnic and interesting taste. 

One of the stand-out poems of the collection is “Prickly Pear” with its vibrant illustrations underscoring the delightful haiku.

Prickly Pear

Red desert wonder.

Cactus fruit becomes syrup

and dulces.  Surprise!

It would likely be necessary to explain that a prickly pear is a cactus.  By activating prior knowledge with questioning before reading the piece, students will likely show negative perceptions of a cactus plant.  Many may even have first hand experience with its “prickly” qualities.  Kids will be surprised to read the haiku and accompanying informational text to reveal that the cactus fruit is frequently used in sweet treats.  After reading the book, it would be fun to have students brainstorm a list of favorite foods and chose one for a poem.  Depending on the age appropriateness, students could even tackle their own haiku.  Distribute a variety of art supplies and have students to decorate their own haiku.  The next step may be to continue with the study of other Hispanic poetry or explore more traditional Japanese haiku. 

DINOTHESAURUS by Doug Florian

Florian, Douglas. 2009. DINOTHESAURUS. Ill by Douglas Florian. New York: Beach Lane Books. ISBN 978-1416979784.

Dinothesaurus written and illustrated by Doug Florian is a delightful journey through prehistoric time with 20 informative and humorous poems about dinosaurs.  The poetry of Florian is perfectly woven together with his amazing artwork, which just like the poems reveals itself to the audience in layers.  Each of the poems focuses on a specific type of dinosaur and share its story through interesting facts set to a rhythm and rhyme scheme proving to be delightful to the reader and helps connect the audience to the pieces.  Each featured dinosaur is accompanies by a pronunciation and the rhyming patterns also aid in the correct pronunciations of each creature.  The poems are brief enough to hold a young reader’s attention but still packed with standard poetic conventions such as alliteration (We swallow sea reptiles and gobble great fish), the melodic anaphora of “Deinonychus”, or the simile of  “Seismosaurus” (…as big as a lake…).  No matter the readers current knowledge of dinosaurs they are sure to walk away with a new fun fact about these interesting creatures.

As if the poetry of this piece wasn’t enough, the illustrations prove to be just as much of a draw as the words.  From cover to cover, this book is delightfully illustrated using mixed media to add visual interest to each page and connect with the pieces.  The artwork conveys to the reader what the creature may have looked like, but, just like the poems, each page has some hidden visual “nuggets” imbedded in the artwork.  This element of discovering on each page is almost like the readers are on their own archeological dig as they explore the book.

“Brachiosaurus” uses a series of relatable concrete images to develop a deeper understanding in the reader about the size and the habitat of the creature.  With such rich imagery the reader is left with a clear and relatable picture of the Brachiosaurus.  The author plays with words throughout the book to add visual interest and meaning to each piece.  By spacing out "s l o w" this give the reader the rhythm of the piece.  This fun piece will both entertain and educate the audience.

Brachiosaurus
BRAK-ee-oh-SAW-rus (arm lizard)

Longer than a tennis court.
Bigger than a barge.
I never knew a lizard
Could ever be so large.
It moved about within a heard
That roamed across a plain.
With stretched-out neck, high as a bird,
It looked much like a crane.
On massive legs with knobby knees,
It traveled very  s  l  o  w
And ate all day from tops of trees –
Grow, baby, grow!

One of the most exciting aspects of these pieces might be the science and poetry connection.  This book could serve as a great introduction to a unit on dinosaurs and fossils.  Students could follow-up by using a variety of mix media art supplies to construct their own dinosaurs.  They could then write an original piece of poetry for their dinosaur creation.  These could be assembles into a class book of poetry. 

A POCKETFUL OF POEMS by Nikki Grimes

Grimes, Nikki.2001. A Pockeful of Poems. Ill. by Javaka Steptoe. New York: Clarian Books. 0395938686

A Pocket Full of Poems by Nikki Grimes is a collection of children’s poetry pairing the strict structure of haiku with a complimentary free verse poem on each topic. The book follows the story of Tiana, a young girl growing up in an urban setting, from spring to the New Year. The short poems tell the reader of the adventures and the mixed media illustrations compliment the works adding an element of visual interest. 

A favorite pairing in the book is “Pigeon” with its comparison of the words Tiana carries with her pecking at her pocket like this familiar city bird.  

PIGEON
Ouch! This word pecks at my pocket

like some wild thing, anxious to go free.

PIGEON.

Its speckled sister paces along

the windowsill, staring at me.
 
The haiku pairing:
Pigeons masquerade

as wildlife. They can’t fool me.

We’re all city folk.

This work serves to introduce younger children to the endless possibilities of poetry. By offering pairings in an open free verse and then adhering to the structure of haiku, she is able to allow the reader to see both sides of the genre.  A way to introduce the piece may be with a magnetic poetry activity.  Students could arrange words into their own pieces of poetry.  They could begin with a free verse piece and progress into the more challenging haiku structure.  They could later illustrate the original pieces with mixed media materials reflective of the illustration technique used by the illustrator.  

With the inclusion of such bright and magnificent artwork, Grimes boost comprehension and interest with this format. The author gives a fun portrait of the urban experience. By comparing the words in her pocket to common things like pigeon, it allows a wide audience to find commonality with the work. She says, “This word pecks at my pocket like some wild thing anxious to go free.” This work serves as a great introduction to poetry and will allow students to explore the topics and elements in new and unusual ways.

CITY I LOVE by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. CITY I LOVE. Ill. Marcellus Hall. New York: Abrams for Young Readers, 2009. ISBN 9780810983274.

This exciting book of poetry by Lee Bennett Hopkins and Illustrated by Marcellus Hall, chronicles the adventures of a traveling dog as he backpacks through several cities throughout the world.  Each poem focuses on a specific facet of life in each city.  The book is woven together with the illustrations sharing the dog’s adventures and special reflections along the way.  Whether the piece is set in New York, Cairo, or Tokyo the author and illustrator build a book that shows the commonalities we all share throughout the world, while highlighting some of the key elements that allow each of us to be unique.

This theme allows for children to connect with the poetry while tapping into there natural sense of adventure and curiosity.  The pieces are written as individual poems but the order unfolds a plot.  The first piece, “Sing a Song of Cities” gives an overview of what makes cities special throughout the world.  The other pieces highlight some common element such as taxis or noise. 

Through the authors use of figurative language, children will be pulled into the pieces and feel they are there in the city.  The language and images are simple enough that they are accessible to all readers, even if they do not live in a city.   

Poems such as “Sparrow” display some of the unique elements to each city.  This piece looks at the jazz tradition of New Orleans through the eyes of a bird on a balcony. 

SPARROW

Lucky to be born

on this balcony, sparrow

awaits city flight.

This haiku may be brief but blends together with the illustrations of the page to highlight an important part of this city's uniqueness.  The familiar bird used in the piece will help students to connect and think about seeing things through the eyes of this little sparrow on a balcony.  That presents a great opportunity to teach perspective to the students.  This piece could be introduced by asking students to consider what their room may look like to the family pet and what the pet may be thinking as it observes the day to day happening of the home.  This would help students to connect to the piece and begin the critical thinking process.  A nice follow-up may be to write a haiku from the perspective of your pet.  

This book offers a number of great poetry pieces of various form and length to give students a delightful overview of life in the city.  No matter the cultural background, children with find accessible images and situation to allow them to then expand on there thinking. 

STAMPEDE! by Laura Purdie Salas

Salas, Laura Purdie. STAMPEDE. Ill. Steven Salerno. New York: Clarion Books, 2009. ISBN 9780618914883.

With eighteen fun and insightful poems transcending the school year, this delightfully written and illustrated children’s poetry collection truly exemplifies what quality poetry can be to children.  The author uses the familiar subject of animals in each of the pieces and draws parallels in the habits and inclinations of the animals to those of the typical school occurrences. This fun and light-hearted collection will be relatable to the students with such subjects as the confusion of the hallways (“New Mouse”), shyness (“Nesting”), and even ravenous hunger at lunchtime (“Here, Boy”).  Children will be drawn to the fun illustrations with many of the human characters being morphed together with the animals used for comparison.  What child hasn’t wanted to fly in the sky or even dig a deep tunnel to somewhere?  This book allows them to connect with their imagination and build on the knowledge and understandings they already possess. 

A favorite piece from the book is the final poem and the book title’s namesake, “Stampede!”

The last bell rings.

We spill outside,

like captives finally freed.

We’re thundering, fumbling

elephants—

after-school stampede.

The piece connects to the students with the familiarity of the end of the day release from school.   All the stored energy and self-restraint can be released in the mass exodus at the end of the day.  Rich description is build with the simile “like captives finally freed” and metaphor such as, “We’re thundering, fumbling elephants—“ to pull the reader into the piece.

To introduce the piece, students could share their feelings and experiences about the end of school day.  It could then be expanded to include how they feel at the end of the day before spring break and the end of the day on the very last day of school.  This will offer students an opportunity to access prior knowledge and allow for a deeper connection to piece.  Each of the pieces contains strong poetic elements such as repetition, rhyme scheme, simile, metaphor, and personification.  This is a great opportunity for the teacher to integrate these elements into the lesson and begin building the foundations for increased critical analysis and close reading strategies.  A fun follow-up activity may be to give students a variety of scenarios and have them brainstorm animals they are similar to in those situations.  They could then pick a favorite and write a poem about the scenario complete with there own illustration of themselves as the animals.