Poetry Book Review #8 - Science

Hollander, John. ed. 2004. Poetry for Young People: Animal Poems. Illus. by Simona Mulazzani. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.



Reviews—
School Library Journal
Grades 3-6–William Blake's "The Tyger" and Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" are just 2 of the 33 classic children's poems included in this collection, which is similar in style and format to earlier series titles. The book opens with an interesting five-page essay about different types of animal poems. Each offering is prefaced by information about the background of the poem or poet and some of the imagery used. The paragraphs are informative, but tend to overpower the shorter poems. Many of the pages contain a full-color illustration without borders or white space. The poems are superimposed on the art in small font, sometimes black on light, other times white on dark, which makes some of the entries difficult to read. However, Mulazzani's painterly style does a good job of mirroring the mood of each piece.

Booklist
Grades 5-7. Although animal poetry anthologies for young people abound, this one from the Poetry for Young People series sets itself apart by featuring a number of writers more commonly encountered in high-school and college literature courses than in elementary and middle-school classrooms. …….. Each poem is preceded by a short introduction commenting on the poet and the verse, and most are accompanied by brief notes defining words and phrases. Handsome, stylized paintings fill the pages with color. Varying widely in the accessibility of their language, the poems are occasionally difficult to read in a mechanical sense because they are superimposed on a patterned illustration.

Animal Poems is an exhilarating entry to an impressive lyrical menagerie. The poems are about natural animals, some common others rare, large and small, wild or tame found in zoos, the wild and everyday life. The whimsical paintings by the Italian children’s book artist Simona Mulazanni make every page a delight to see and read. The poets include classical and modern Dickinson, Frost, Tennyson, Whitman and Keats, Belloc and Swenson. The conglomeration of verse is energetic, real, mythical, playful, amusing and intriguing and is sure to capture young people and adults. The short and witty quatrain, The Elephant is accompanied by a whimsical picture of the creature sitting on a small stool. Holland in his introduction writes “poetry can be very careful in its observations, and yet report in strange ways on what has been seen. Emily Dickinson’s poem A Narrow Fellow about a snake suggests that a small snake slithering in the grass looks like comb as it separates the blades of grass/The grass divides as with a comb/A spotted shaft is seen. A Haiku from the sixteenth century poet Moritake has the reader thinking the poem is about fallen summer leaves and then realizes it is about butterflies/ Fallen flowers now/To their branch returning I/See—the butterflies!

The haiku, ballad, sonnet, fragment, and lyrical poetry in this book is a great introduction to any zoology or living science lesson!