Perfect Picture Books for Friday and Every Other Day!
Book Title: If This Bird Had Pockets: A Poem in Your Pocket Celebration
Author: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Illustrations: Emma J. Virján
Publisher & Year: Wordsong, 2022
Intended Age: 4-8 years
Topic/Themes: Poetry, Animals, & Imagination
Opening Line: “Tomorrow I will carry/ a poem in my pocket.”
Enjoy a poem from the book read by the author here.
Synopsis/What I Love:
This engaging collection of poetry with appealing illustrations will not stay on the shelf. You’ll want to celebrate “Poem in Your Pocket” Day all year long! The book gives readers a history of “Poem in Your Pocket Day” (April 29th, 2024-2028), and begins with a child at home looking to find or write a poem for PIYP Day. Looking out the window, the child wonders what poem “creatures everywhere” would carry or share. What follows is 19 poems “authored” by a variety of animals that both charm and educate.
A fantastic book for read-aloud and also as a mentor text for writing to inspire students to observe and research animals in their own backyard and further afield, before creating their own poems using a variety of poetic devices.
Writer’s Corner:
This collection (along with helpful feedback from Rebecca Davis, Wordsong editor and teacher at a recent Highlights retreat: The Art and Craft of Writing Poetry for Children) inspired me revisit and revise a collection of endangered animal riddle poems I’m writing. Maybe I don’t want to make them riddles. Maybe I want to have the endangered animals “speak” directly to the reader. Instead of the title being “Who Am I?,” perhaps giving a title to the mask poem will allow me to add another layer of meaning. Which poem do you like more and why?
Who Am I?
I lay eggs under flower moonlight
and feed red knots on a 10,000 mile flight.
Your nets and warm seas are a danger to me
while my blood keeps vaccines bacteria-free.
I roamed next to dinosaurs and survived.
Compared to me, you’ve just arrived.
While I’m here, I’m a link to the past;
When I’m gone, your loss will be vast.
Answer (Horseshoe crab) would be shown in visual and written clues in the border. Or….
Not as Invincible as I Look
by Horseshoe Crab
I lay eggs under flower moonlight
and feed red knots on a 10,000 mile flight.
Your nets and warm seas are a big threat to me
while my blood keeps your vaccines bacteria-free.
I’ve roamed next to dinosaurs and survived.
Compared to me, you’ve barely arrived.
I’m a link to a 445 million year past.
If Earth loses me, your loss will be vast.
One Response
Nicely written!