Introduction: Ask who has seen pizza made. Try to think of all the steps needed to make a pizza. Reorder the list so that each step is in order.

Pizza in Motion
By Laura Purdie Salas

Pizza making must be fun
Knead and pound, the dough is done
Make a whipping, spinning toss
Splash on tons of pizza sauce
Add sausage and some bacon, please
And extra, extra, extra cheese!

From: Salas, Laura Purdie. 2009. LETTUCE INTRODUCE YOU: POEMS ABOUT FOOD. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone Press. ISBN 1-4296-1703-9

Extension: Compare the directions the class made with the poem. Have cookbooks available on a table. Let everyone look through a cookbook to find a recipe they like. Everyone can then try to change the directions into a poem that gives a picture of how the good is created.

For another new poetry book on food, try Pat Mora’s book of haiku. Every double page has a haiku and an informational paragraph on a food native to Mexico or the southwest.

Mora, Pat. 2007. YUM! MMMM! QUE RICO! AMERICA’S SPROUTINGS. Pictures by Rafael Lopez. New York: Lee & Low Books. ISBN 978-1-58430-271-1

Lujan, Jorge. 2008. COLORS! COLORES! Illustrated by Piet Grobler. Translated by John Oliver Simion and Rebecca Parfitt. Berkeley, California: Groundwood Books / Libros Tigrillo. ISBN 0-88899-863-5

There are only eleven brief poems in this collection. Each poem is written in both English and Spanish on a double page painted with gentle watercolor illustrations. The poems and paintings work together to create a mood on each page. Rather than limiting the scope of the poems to the primary colors, these poems show the colors of nature starting with beige for sand and including pink, violet, black, white and pink as well as the more usual red, blue, orange and green.

Often English Spanish children’s books are criticized for their Spanish translations. In this collection, the poems were written in Spanish by Lujan. Lujan was raised in Argentina and now lives in Mexico. Therefore, the Spanish is unimpeachable. However, in May 2008, a School Library Journal Reviewer commented that something was lost in the English translation, “the alliterative wordplay of Vio un lago,/vio una flor,/vio el ocaso,/violeta ! becomes "I saw a lake./I saw a flower./I saw the twilight./…Violet!" Even with this minor quibble, the free-verse poems are lyrical wonders that evoke pictures in the mind.

Into a tiny seed / fits clover, fits a tree, / fits the whole jungle… / fits green.
The illustration that accompanies this poem seems to be an explosion of life, just as one imagines the spread of green, of life from the words in the poem. Similarly, the poem about black makes the darkness filled with twinkling stars seem immediate:
Night has put on / her black gown, / so the eyes of the universe / can shine more brightly.

The book also succeeds visually. In both Spanish and English the color names within the poems are written in a larger font and in the appropriate color. Also each page contains a small painting of an antelope in varying positions, so that readers can have the fun of spotting the antelope and seeing how he changes. The paintings are somewhat sophisticated for young children, but despite the simplicity of the topic and the brevity of the poems, the language and images are mature. For example, the poem about yellow describes the sun:
Yellow / rolls / through / the / sky / like / a / warm / gold / coin. This is only ten words, all of them one syllable, yet it is an image that will appeal more to readers who are teenagers or adults than to young children. Nevertheless, the illustrations and brief discussions will make the meaning accessible to them.

COLORS! COLORES! will appeal to readers of all ages and should definitely be included when reading to bilingual groups.

Introduction: Take a poll and find out how many in the audience like lizards, dislike or fear them, or have no opinion. Of those with an opinion, find out what their feeling is based on. Then take a second poll to learn how many in the audience have used each of the five senses while observing lizards. That is, how many have looked at a lizard, listened to one, smelled one, touched one or tasted one? Then read this poem that gives one unusual view of lizards. Ask everyone to read the chorus along with you.

Song of the Lizard Lovers
By Jack Prelutsky

Chorus:
Lizard, oh lizard, we love you, we do.
There’s no finer reptile to nibble or chew.
No toad ever tickled our taste buds like you.
Lizard, oh lizard, we love you, we do.

We love eating lizard, so savory and sweet.
A meal without lizard is quite incomplete.
We love lizard in onion and oil,
we love lizard simmered, or brought to a boil.

Chorus:
Lizard, oh lizard, we love you, we do.
There’s no finer reptile to nibble or chew.
No toad ever tickled our taste buds like you.
Lizard, oh lizard, we love you, we do.

We love lizard gizzard, we love lizard legs,
we love lizard pickled, or scrambled with eggs.
We love lizard casserole, lizard on rye,
tongue of raw lizard still stuck to a fly.

Chorus:
Lizard, oh lizard, we love you, we do.
There’s no finer reptile to nibble or chew.
No toad ever tickled our taste buds like you.
Lizard, oh lizard, we love you, we do.

We love munching lizard with carrots and peas,
slathered with ketchup, or dripping with cheese.
We love lizard dumplings, and lizard flambe…
there’s nothing like lizard to brighten our day.

Chorus:
Lizard, oh lizard, we love you, we do.
There’s no finer reptile to nibble or chew.
No toad ever tickled our taste buds like you.
Lizard, oh lizard, we love you, we do.

From: Prelutsky, Jack. 2008. MY DOG MAY BE A GENIUS. Illustrated by James Stevenson. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN 978-0-06-623862-3

Extension:
After reading this poem aloud with the audience joining in during the chorus, someone is sure to notice that the poem could be made into a song. Have the children divide into groups and give different stanzas to each group. Have them try to find a tune that fits the words of the stanza. Several groups might work on the poem’s chorus. Let each group sing their portion of the poem.

A Year of Reading: Poetry Friday: What I Believe

Introduction:

Show pictures of snowy, icy winter weather. Then ask what signs might tell that spring is near. What sounds might you hear? Would there be different smells? How would things start to look? What colors would you see?

“Do You Know Green?”
by Anna Grossnickle Hines

Green sleeps in winter
waiting
quiet
still
beneath the snow
and last year’s stems
and old dead leaves
resting up for spring
and then…
Green comes…
tickling the tips
of twiggy tree fingers
Psst!
Psst! Psst!
Poking up as tiny
Slips of baby grass
Ping!
Ping! Ping!
springing up as coiled
skunk cabbage leaves
Pop!
Pop! Pop!
bursting out on bare
brown branches
Pow!
Pow! Pow!
Brand new baby yellow green
bright bold biting busy green
until it seems
everywhere one goes
green grows.

From: Hines, Anna Grossnickle. 2001. PIECES: A YEAR IN POEMS & QUILTS. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Extension: Have a box filled with pictures of springtime (baby birds, lambs, calves and foals, daffodils, lilacs, buds on trees, etc.) Let each person choose one picture. Ask them each to make a list of words or phrases that describe their chosen picture. When the lists are ready, ask them to write a brief what-am-I riddle-poem about their object.

Lewis, J. Patrick. 2004. SCIEN-TRICKERY: RIDDLES IN SCIENCE. Illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz. New York: Harcourt. ISBN0-15-216681-5

SCIEN-TRICKERY contains 18 riddle poems about science. Each one is on its own two-page spread with a full-color illustration of cartoon-like characters that help readers solve the riddles. The riddles cover a wide range of science related topics: scientists (Einstein and Darwin), physics (lasers, magnets, gravity, electricity, sound), chemistry (water’s formula, rust), astronomy (Neptune, constellations, eclipse), earth science (humidity, maps, oceans), mathematics (zero), paleontology (dinosaurs), and microbiology (germs). These are sophisticated topics, but the riddles themselves are simple and funny. Young children should easily guess the answers with the help of the illustrations. And, if they cannot guess, the answers are written upside-down on each page. In addition, there is a page of notes at the end that gives a brief explanation of each topic for children who want to learn more.

The riddles are scientifically accurate, but each has a child’s point of view. For example, the poem “Gee.”

It keeps you from flying
Off into space.
It’s what makes you fall
Flat on your face.
And if it could talk
like you and I do,
I think it would say,
“I’m pulling for you.”

Children may not understand the pun in the final line, but they will thoroughly enjoy the images of flying off into space and, even more, falling flat on one’s face. Besides introducing gravity in a memorable way, this is also an excellent poem to act out. Listeners can jump, fall and pull as they hear the poem. After hearing it a few times, they may even be able to recite it.

The poem “Shhhhhhhhh!” is not only a funny riddle and poem; it is also the easiest way to make decibels comprehensible to children that I have ever seen.

I am expressible
Only by decibel:

10 is a whisper
30 is crisper,
60, in relation,
Is normal conversation.
80 is traffic and telephones.
120? The Rolling Stones.
130 is a cannon shot!

150 is…what?!

Readers may enjoy sitting down and reading the entire book just for fun. But it is also a useful collection for a classroom teacher to use to introduce a science topic. Or, a teacher might use this book as a way to build excitement about science lessons and get the class to focus right away. Each day one of the poems from this book would be showing as the class walked in. Students would have just two minutes to submit an answer to the riddle on poem and drop it into a bowl. At the end of the class, one lucky winner would be chosen from the correct answers. The winner would be allowed to check the answers on the next day and draw from the correct entries.

After this book is finished you may want to continue with more science-related poems through Jon Scieszka’s SCIENCE VERSE.

Nelson, Marilyn. 2001. CARVER: A LIFE IN POEMS. Asheville, North Carolina: Front Street.

George Washington Carver was born in 1864 and died in 1943; that life span took him from the Civil War to World War II, from slavery to citizenship and a place in the armed forces, if not equality, for his people. In Nelson’s biography, Carver’s story is told in a series of free-verse poems. The narrator or the poems’ varies, they use the viewpoint of a slave-hunter, Carver’s owner, his friends and mentors, as well as the author’s and Carver’s own voices. Liberally illustrated with photographs from Carver’s life and pictures of his prized possessions, this biography gives a beautifully written glimpse into Carver’s life.
Each poem deals with one aspect or episode of Carver’s life. We learn of the hardships faced by an African American born in the nineteenth century—the roadblocks placed before him when he wanted an education, the social slights he had to endure, and the horrifying, terrifying lynching he witnessed. But we also learn of the whites who helped him—most won over by his obvious brilliance and intense work ethic. Some poems describe his education, others the way he spread the knowledge he learned. We read of his skills as a botanist, an artist, a teacher, inventor and agronomist. Other poems tell of friendships he made or honors he won.
This biography does not provide detailed information, but it does give us a picture of Carver. For example, the poem “Watkins Laundry and Apothecary”:
He was sweet with the neighbor children. / Taught the girls to crochet. / Showed the boys / a seed he said held a worm / cupped hands warmed so it wriggled and set / the seed to twitching. / Gave them skills and wonder. / Knelt with me at bedtime.
This brief stanza shows us a child already skilled with his hands, already knowledgeable about plants, and already teaching.
Without describing him as a philanthropist, the poem “1905” shows us how he worked to help others:
He outfits an open truck / with shelves for his jars / of canned fruit and compost, / bins for his croker sacks of seeds. / He travels roads barely discernible / on the county map, / teaching former field-slaves / how to weave ditch weeds / into pretty place mats, / how to keep their sweet potatoes from rotting / before winter hunger sets in…
Some of the poems have just a few words on each line; others are longer and tell more of a story. Individually, and as a book, the poems leave you eager to learn more about George Washington Carver. They also leave you eager to read more written by Marilyn Nelson.