Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku

Despite the dry subtitle, this is actually a lively guide to poetry forms both familiar and obscure. In a picture-book format, Janeczko uses examples and informative language to illustrate a wide variety of poems.

In this creative collection, words are used as objects to create images — both on the page and in the reader’s mind. These literal representations make poetry and imagery accessible even to very young children.

Each lively rhyme or riddle about everyday things actually asks a math question; some easy, some more difficult, all playfully involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Humorous spins on recognizable situations are enhanced by comical illustrations.

Blackbeard’s story is “a tale to billow a pirate’s sail!” Told here in a series of poems, including brief bits of factual information and dramatic images, this is a book that will capture the imagination of any pirate enthusiast. An author’s note provides additional information, a timeline and sources for what we know about this fierce pirate.

Well-known poems are recast as puzzlers that can only be solved by using math. From easy to difficult, math and poems are sure to delight both mathematicians and poetry lovers.

Seasons are celebrated from spring when “Rain beats down,/roots stretch up…” to a cold winter night as “A welcome mat of moonlight/on the floor…” entices a child to snuggle in a warm bed. Accessible, jewel-toned illustrations add setting and movement to a wide range of appealing and very short poems.

The team who created A Kick in the Head (opens in a new window) presents another appealing collection of poems in varied forms and from different time periods. All these poems shout to be shared aloud while illustrations deserve multiple looks.

Former children’s poet laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, allows the polar bear tell us what he’s called in different cultures — White Bear, Ice Bear, Sea Bear, Sailor of the Icebergs, the Ever-wandering One. The Inuit’s say “I am Nanuk”). The devastating ending shows the polar bear adrift on a shrinking bit of ice, “losing hold” — a reference to how this Arctic animal is threatened by extinction and in need of human protection.

The watermelon seed that skitters across the page becomes a concrete poem and  is just one of the funny poetic forms in this collection. The humor in each short poem (from riddles to haiku) is heightened by comic black/white illustrations.

Thirteen classic poems by poets such as Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, and David McCord are paired with parodies written by J. Patrick Lewis that honor and play off of the original poems in a range of ways. This playful introduction to classics will inspire imagination and wonder even as it tickles funny bones.

They’re all gone now but a group of dinosaurs comes back to life even if only while reading funny epitaphs. Equally comic illustrations and a smattering of factual information are included on the pages of this clever collection.

Stunning color photographs and poems combine to pay homage to some of the “world’s enduring man-made constructions” while introducing a range of poetic forms. The result is a memorable collection of visual art, information, and literary art sure to stand up to multiple examinations.

Funny, engaging poems and pictures worth poring over offer readers delightful details about some really crazy cars! Ready for a ride in the Dragonwagon? How about an Eel-ectric Car? You really auto take these poems out for a spin.

Short rhymes are riddles, asking readers to figure which books are being described while additional clues are presented in animated illustrations. From Click, Clack, Moo to traditional folktales, young readers (and their adults) will enjoy this interactive book.

An introduction presents an overview of the collection’s unique perspective: poetry from different historical periods connected by poems about objects. A range of poets and places are presented, each illustrated by loose watercolor illustrations. An opening poem by Eloise Greenfield entitled “Things” provides a lively start to this appealing collection.

The townspeople are flummoxed when a new store mysteriously appears. But Benny Penny examines its mysterious stock — from the flying toaster to a walking teapot. Surreal illustrations correspond with the story revealed rebus-style, with words and pictures. The truly fantastic tale is told in complete words at the end.

An August day on the national Mall has been made famous by the powerful “I Have a Dream” speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. But many others were there, too. Real and imagined voices from that day are presented in varied poems, bringing it into focus and reminding young readers that they “…can make a difference…[they] have a voice.”

Unique observances for everything from rats to limericks are celebrated in a variety of poems and poetic forms. When combined with comic illustrations, the lighthearted collection is sure to keep readers chuckling from cover to cover.