Picture Book - A Poem in Your Pocket by Margaret McNamara

Illustrated by G. Brian Karas
2015 Schwartz & Wade Books

HC $16.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.94 - 355 ratings

My rating:  5, It's a terrific book

Endpapers:  Deinm blue with denim pockets with slips of papers (with words) sticking out of each
  

1^st line/s:  "Mr. Tiffin's class had never had an author visit them before."

My comments: This is a terrific book, telling both the story of a teacher and his class and the cool way he teaches them about poetry - including similes, metaphor, concrete poetry,  acrostic poetry, and haiku.  And, so importantly, that poetry doesn't have to rhyme!  There's a bit of a theme about not trying to be perfect, as one of the clever kids in the class never writes a poem because she doesn't think it's good enough.  (Funny that no one's ever written a book about kids writing really bad poems...)

Goodreads:  Usher in National Poetry Month with Mr. Tiffin and his students, stars of the hugely popular How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? and The Apple Orchard Riddle. 
          Once again, Margaret McNamara sets her playful, child-friendly story in the classroom, and this time, poetry—from metaphors to acrostics to haiku—is the name of the game. The focus here is on Elinor, whose confidence falters as she tries to write something "perfect" for Poem in Your Pocket Day and impress a visiting poet. G. Brian Karas's accessible, adorable illustrations add to the fun.
          Includes a list of Mr. Tiffin's tips for celebrating Poem in Your Pocket Day.
          "A nimble introduction to poetry as well as a sensitive look at the perils of perfectionism." —The New York Times
          "Pair this book with the works of Shel Silverstein, Paul B. Janeczko, Jack Prelutsky, Douglas Florian, or Robert Louis Stevenson." —School Library Journal, Starred

Migrant – Maxine Trottier

Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault

2011, Groundwood Books

32 pages

Rating:  4

Endpapers:  Flying Goose quilt, red/pink background

Title Page:  White with flying goose triangles flying…

Illustrations:  simple, watercolors or watercolor pencils?

Setting:  Contemporary America, places where migrant farm workers live and shop.

1^st sentence/s:  “There are times when Anna feels like a bird.  It is the birds, after all, that fly north in the spring and south every fall, chasing the sun, following the warmth.”

OSS:  Anna and her large German-speaking Mennonite family live in Mexico, but travel north each year when it is time to labor on the farms.

The story uses a lot of “snazzy” figurative language…perhaps even a tiny, tiny bit too much.  Filled with metaphor, similes, and lovely descriptions, the story definitely does appeal to the senses and the imagination.

I will definitely use this book in my classroom when teaching figurative language, especially similes and metaphors.

“At night Anna is a kitten sharing a bed with her sisters, all of them under one blanket when the nights are cool.  A kitten is a good thing to be, a safe thing, curled there with your sisters by your side.”

When you look at the illustrations, you know that the characters are not Hispanic.  After the halfway point, you see the family lined up to go into a store, and you see the kerchiefs covering the female heads, the overalls, simple shirts, and hats covering the males heads. Then she mentions them speaking German, “….the good plain German rolling off their tongues as sweetly as sugar.”  But it’s not until the two-page afterward that you learn the particulars about the Mennonite workers that moved to Mexico in the 1920’s to become migrant workers, keeping their Canadian citizenship. 

Really interesting!  A great book to share when teaching about Mexico.  This was all totally new to me!

About the author:  a writer from Newfoundland, she wrote this story after meeting Mennonites from Mexico when she was visiting in Ontario.

The Toughest Cowboy - John Frank

(or How the Wild West Was Tamed)
Illustrator: Zachary Pullen
For: Kids and adults - just plain fun
Published: 2004
Rating: 4.5/5
Endpapers: Burlap

Four very tough cowboys work together herding cattle in the wild west. Grizz Brickbottom drank a quart of Tabasco every day. Chuck Wagon cooked and was great with his guitar. Lariat was the fastest rope in the west. Bald Mountain was the biggest bronco-buster this side of the Rockies. They were "nose-pickin' card playin', bath-fearin' tough guys." But Grizz decided they needed another kind of companionship - someone with silky hair and a pleasant smell. The needed ------a dog. And oh, what a dog they find!

Wordplay, creative similes,humor, and great storytelling make this book a BLAST. The full-page oil paintinga go perfectly with the story - just plain fun with every turn of the page.