Picture Book Surprises, part 3: Poetry Friday

Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Water Hole
by Irene Latham
illustrated by Anna Wadham
Millbrook Press, August 1. 2014
review copy provided by the publisher

What a surprise to visit an African Water Hole with Irene Latham!

The fifteen poems in this picture book introduce us to the importance of the water hole to the African grassland ecosystem. Each poem is accompanied by a short bit of nonfiction text that tells more about the water hole or the animal featured in the poem.

Working alone or in small groups, I can imagine students using this book (and others like it that combine poetry and nonfiction) as a mentor text for their own writing about an ecosystem, their neighborhood, or the cultures they are studying in social studies.

The other two rhyming/poetry books in this week's Picture Book Surprises series:

Picture Book Surprise #1 -- THE GREAT BIG GREEN by Peggy Gifford

Picture Book Surprise #2 -- JOY IN MUDVILLE by Bob Raczka


Jone has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Check it Out.

Poetry Friday Roundup host/hostesses are still needed in July, August, November and December. Sign up here.

The Market Bowl

The Market Bowl
by Jim Averbeck
Charlesbridge, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

Jim Averbeck (of In a Blue Room fame -- my review here) was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa.  Drawing on that experience, he has created an original folktale of Cameroon with a theme that will resonate with children (and, perhaps some adults, heh) who occasionally get in a hurry instead of taking all the steps to do something right.

In this story, Yoyo ignores the directions for making bitterleaf stew correctly. Luckily, she's creative enough to make things right in the end.

For a taste of Cameroon, there's a recipe for bitterleaf stew in the endmatter.