Review: World Rat Day by J. Patrick Lewis

Lewis, J.P. 2013. WORLD RAT DAY: POEMS BOUT REAL HOLIDAYS YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763654023.

Lewis, J.P. 2013. WORLD RAT DAY: POEMS BOUT REAL HOLIDAYS YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF. Ill. By Anna Raff. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 978076365402. 

For parents, teachers and librarians already familiar with award-winning author J. Patrick Lewis, his whimsical World Rat Day: Poems about real holidays you’ve never heard of is a lighthearted look anyone will enjoy. When paired with Anna Raff’s fun and quirky illustrations, young readers are sure to enjoy this book of poetry.

Since the poems in this book are all written by award-winning author J. Patrick Lewis, the quality of the poems is consistent. The twenty-six poems focus on twenty-two different holidays most people may not be familiar with. Like the title suggests, the poems focus on holidays that celebrate animals.  Out of the collection, there is one poem that may cause some parents, teachers and librarians to skip over it- “Jack A.”. While most of the other poems contain lively rhyme schemes, this poem unfortunately sticks out like a sore thumb in the collection.

The layout of the book will appeal to most readers because the poems bring the reader through holidays, from January to December. For the most part Lewis has dedicated one poem to each holiday. The one exception to this is that the five limericks celebrating Limerick Day, April 12. Sharing these poems with a young group of students will give a simple introduction into a fun, whimsical type of poem, the limerick.

Anna Raff’s illustrations in this book use bright, fun colors. The way Raff shows the various animals doing things humans do will spark the reader’s imagination. From a hippo reading a book called Hippo Drones to the rat listening to an IPod, to the sheep dressed up like a diva singing, young readers are sure to love seeing all the silly antics of the rats and other animals.

The poem “Bats” is a great example of how Lewis uses sensory images to capture a simple nocturnal creature. The bats are described as “sweepers of twilight”. The second stanza is as follows:

            Black sacks in the morning

            Airmailed at night

            Dispatchers of insects

            In boomerang flight

This poem and the others in it could be used in conjunction with other animal poetry books, other holiday poetry books or even in a science unit on animals. A fun activity to do with students with this book would be to have the types of animals featured in the poems written on posters, displayed around the room. Then the parent, teacher, or librarian could instruct students to choose a particular animal station to begin at. At each station there will be copies of the poem about that particular animal/holiday.

As the students read through the poems aloud with each other, they could talk about what they like about the poem (and what they don’t like) and record favorite lines in their writer’s notebooks. In addition, there could even be photographs or poster illustrations of the animals. A fun way to get the kids moving would be to play some upbeat music and have the kids rotate to the different stations so that everyone is able to read each poem, preferably with a partner. This activity could be done as a morning wake-up activity or in the afternoon ‘slump’ of the day after lunch!

World Rat Day book cover. JPEG. Retrieved from http://candlewick.com/cat.asp?browse=Title&mode=book&isbn=0763654027&pix=n

I Am the Book: Poems Review

Bibliographic citation: 

Lee, B.H. 2011. I AM THE BOOK: POEMS. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 9780823421190 (hardcover).

Lee, B.H. 2011. I AM THE BOOK: POEMS. Ill. By Yayo. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 9780823421190 (hardcover).

I Am the Book: Poems features thirteen poems by thirteen different authors, including one by Lee Bennett Hopkins. The theme of the poems in the collection is clear from the title of the book: the poems focus on reading books! The book’s level of quality is evident through the variety of poets included in the anthology. The poets include award winning poets, poets who are also illustrators and more well-known poets like Jane Yolen. The book's beautiful acrylic illustrations are by Yayo. The book features a helpful table of contents listing all of the poems, as well as information about the authors at the end of the book.

The poems throughout the book represent the various moods that reading and books can bring to children. The thirteen poems featured in this book evoke in the reader different emotions about the reading experience, including: adventure, tranquility, escape and imagination. Throughout the book the different poems also contain varied use of sound elements, such as alliteration, sensory imagery such as the taste of salt water, the feeling of the wind, and different types of figurative devices such as simile, metaphor and personification. These different poetic elements keep the reader engaged and excited to discover what the next poem contains.

The poem “Don’t Need a Window Seat” by Kristine O'Connell George gives the reader the sense of adventure and escape that reading provides. The poems range from point of view, including from the view of the reader, the book or a third-party narrator. The poem “When I Read” by Beverly McLoughland was a favorite of the second graders with whom I shared this book. Since the poem is written from the point of view of a child, the students were able to share their feelings about reading with the class. 

 I currently substitute teach, so I introduced this book as one of my favorite new poetry books to a group of second graders. The students enjoyed many of the poems, but one of their favorite poems was “Paperback Plunder” by Michele Krueger. The students liked that the illustration showed a seagull reading the book. The poem features the figurative devices of simile and personification. 

The first stanza of the poem reads as follows:

            Like a sunken treasure

            long forgotten,

            I lie half buried under sand.  

            (Hopkins, 15) 

The beautiful use of simile to describe the book as a “sunken treasure” immediately hooked the second graders as we read and re-read the poem together. The language used in this poem highlight the sense of wonder, excitement and discovery that can be found through reading. 

I Am the Book: Poems makes a great addition to a poetry collection for parents, teachers and librarians working with students in grades Kindergarten through third grade. The bright, colorful illustrations work in harmony with the text of the poems, making the layout of the book one that is inviting to the reader. By including poets from different backgrounds and with different writing styles, the book will help the reader to appreciate the power of words in many different ways. 

I am the book. JPEG. Retrieved from http://www.holidayhouse.com/title_display.php?ISBN=9780823421190