Book Spine Poetry

Last year I came across a post about book spine poetry. It looked like fun. Ever since then I have wanted to give it a try. At 100 Scope Notes, readers are invited to submit book spine poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month. This year I decided to create a poem. I challenged myself to use titles from my personal collection which contains way too many books about knitting and a growing collection of humorous picture books. Coming up with something was not all that easy despite several interesting titles in my collection. However once I started I came up with most of my "poem" fairly quickly. I just needed one "line" to tie it together. Earlier in the week some books I had ordered arrived. One of the titles turned out to be just what I needed to complete the "poem" in a way that made sense (at least to me). The photo below shows my book spine poem.

This was fun to do. Give it a try. You will end up looking at book titles in a new way.

Shel Silverstein's "Snowball"

Shel Silverstein's "Snowball" was the subject of a recent Flannel Friday post from Miss Alison Is Blogging.  I thought it would be fun to end Monday's Winter Family Story Time program with his irreverent humor.  (I am also using "Snowball, Snowball" from so tomorrow.  Thank you Flannel Friday!)  Instead of making it a board story, I decided to make some illustrations and glue them on to construction paper.

I made the pajamas and bedspread with scrap book paper to add a little pattern to my very basic drawings.  The puddle is leftover laminating film colored with marker.  I couldn't resist making bunny slippers though I did manage to refrain from using some of my newly acquired glitter glue on the snowball.

Title

First illustration

I pasted the lines to read on the back.

Second illustration - Keeping it simple

Third illustration - Bunny slippers!

Fourth illustration - Uh, Oh!

This week's Flannel Friday roundup is being hosted by Anne of so tomorrow.  Everything you want to know about Flannel Friday can be found on her Flannel Friday page.

Rhymes That Are New - Just For You!

One of the things I enjoy doing as a children's librarian is looking at the new books as they come in. It's always useful to know what's been added to the collection. Recently I found several that I would like to share with you.

Suse MacDonald has adapted Edward Lear's A Was Once an Apple Pie. One of the skills a child needs to develop before learning to read is "phonological awareness" which is the ability to hear distinct sounds within words. Reading or reciting rhymes to a young child will help that child understand that words are made up of separate sounds. This alphabet poem is full of wordplay such as

D was once a little dog,
doggy, moggy, oggy, noggy,
waggy, woggy, little dog!

MacDonald's delightful illustrations nicely complement the text.

Once I Ate a Pie is a book of poems about dogs written by Patricia MacLachlan (who won the Newbery Medal for Sarah Plain and Tall) and her daughter Emily MacLachlan Charest. This book will appeal to dog lovers of all ages for not only do the poems capture the essence of doggieness but the illustrations are outstanding. Various breeds of dogs are featured throughout the book. I loved this book and I have two cats!

No Boys Allowed: Poems about Brothers and Sisters is a collection compiled by John Micklos, Jr. The poems in this book feature a wide variety of sibling emotions. Parents will also appreciate these verses.

Two books that will appeal to older children are Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku by Paul B. Janeczko and Patrick Lewis and Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art by Diane Siebert. Wing Nuts is a humorous collection of poetry called senryu. Illustrator Stephen T. Johnson uses a variety of media to depict the famous American landmarks featured in Tour America (New Jersey, my home state, is represented by Lucy the Elephant).

April is National Poetry Month so celebrate it by browsing through your library's collection of poetry books. To get started go to 811 in the children's non-fiction section. Play rhymes and Mother Goose books can be found in 398.8.