I’ve been gathering the poetry books not yet nominated for Cybils in an effort to decide what to use my nomination on! I figured I’d share a little about the books when I have time (ha!).
This morning, I read Polar Bear, Arctic Hare: Poems of the Frozen North, by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes (Wordsong, 2007).
Each poem in this collection of 24 focuses on an Arctic plant or animal. The poems are mostly short and make good use of repetition and imagery.
Most of the poems are rhythmic and humorous.
Snow Flea
Tiny, wingless snow flea freezes
overnight as stiff as tin.
Does he mind or even notice
just what sort of state he’s in?
Things warm up and?leaping lizards!?
snow flea’s jumping as before,
none the worse for being frozen
on the icy Arctic shore.
But a few are haunting and ethereal–and those are usually my favorites!
Choir Lobo
Wolf howls,
gathering the scattered pack.
Parents, offspring
race across a treeless track.
Aunts and uncles
join the group to croon,
starkly silhouetted by
a silvered Arctic moon.
Two endmatter spreads give a couple of extra nifty facts about the subject of each poem.
Did you read and enjoy this book? If so, please consider nominating it for a Cybils award. It is not nominated at this time.