April 2008
Poetry
Books To the Ceiling
Books to the ceiling
Books to the sky
My piles of books are a mile high
How I love them
How I need them
I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them
Arnold Lobel
Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry
Written by Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Michelle Berg
Joyce Sidman is the author of many books of poetry for children. In Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry a cat is lost and meets a neighborhood dog on the loose, they are caught in a rain storm and the result is a story of friendship. The book is similar to a play in that different characters have different thoughts and lines that adds to the entire story. The result is that the book can be read as a single poem or the reader can follow one character, such as the crow, or the clouds. Either way this is a fabulous book. Concrete poetry allows the writer to play with shapes and placement of the words, and Sidman made use of every possible surface to tell the story. I can see this book being an example that leads into a language arts and art project. This is a great book that shows poetry in a different format.
Order Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry from Bookshop Santa Cruz