Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

Author and Illustrator: Bill Martin Jr, Eric Carle
Genre:Poetry
Awards:American Bookseller Pick of the Lists; Redbook Children's Picture Book Award; School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.
Grade Level: Prekindergarten- 1st grade


This book is simple poetry about zoo animals and their sounds. It begins with a polar bear hearing a roaring lion, the lion hearing a hippopotamus, the hippopotamus hearing a flamingo, the flamingo hearing a boa constrictor, the boa constrictor hearing an elephant, the elephant hearing a leopard, the leopard hearing a peacock, the peacock hearing a walrus, the walrus hearing a zookeeper, and the zookeeper hearing children. 

This book introduces poetry with simplicity; it is not overwhelming. It is repetitive and easy to read. I would have this book in my classroom. This book could be used as a class read aloud and independent reading. I would use this book as a way to introduce different types of animals or in a lesson plan about zoo animals. 

Children's Classic Poetry

Author and Illustrator: 28 Authors some include Lewis Carroll, Thomas Hardy, Wilfred Owen, Walt Whitman, and Ebenezer Jones.
Genre: Poetry
Awards:
Grade Level: Kinder - 2nd grade.

This book is a collection of classic poetry within six subtopics. The six subtopics are birds and beasts, wind and weather, mystery and magic, love and bunny, laughter and tears, and people and places. Some of the poems are Mary's Lamb, Jabberwocky, from The Little Mermaid, and I Eat my Peas with Honey. There are a total of 28 authors whose poems are in this poetry book. The illustrator is unlisted, yet the illustrations are beautiful and compliment the poem. There are cultural poems, humorous poems, and narrative poems.

The cover is appealing to the eye as well as the illustrations. I would use this in my classroom and read aloud the poems to my students. Depending on the unit and lesson, I would choose a poem and correlate it with an activity after a read aloud, discussion, or role play. This collection of poetry books has many topics that would be beneficial to discuss with the students.

Cricket Songs

Author/Translator: Harry Behn
Genre: Poetry
Awards:
Grade Level: 2nd - 5th Grade 

This book is a translation of many Japanese haiku, some written by the translator, Harry Behn, along with other authors. Haiku is a poem with three lines, the first and third line with 5 syllables, and the second line with 7 syllables. Although the haiku does not perfectly flow, they are correlated in sequence all relating to nature. 

These Japanese haiku are simple and to the point. I would not use this book in my classroom, however an educator can use this poetry book to introduce haiku, study haiku, and analyze. Students can analyze Japanese haiku, and understand the perspective of the authors. Students can also create their own types of haiku relating to a certain theme. 

The World of Christopher Robin

Author and Illustrator: A.A Milne, E.B Shepard

Genre: Poetry

Awards:

Grade Level: Kinder - 5th

The World of Christopher Robin opens up with an author's note. Milne briefly provides insight of the process and understanding of his poetry. This book is the collection of When We Were Very Young, The World Of Christopher Robin, and Now We Are Six. This book tells of the story of Christopher Robin and his friends as well as funny shenanigans with poems such as; The Four Friends, Growing Up, Busy, Us Two, and The End. 

I would potentially use this book in my classroom to start the day off with a short reading. This book could be applied to many grades; the application would differ. For Kindergarten, an educator could read a poem every morning to introduce creativity or a topic. It would also be beneficial to do read-aloud poetry. For older grades, an educator could have students choose a poem to analyze the format, the type, and meaning of the poem. 

It Doesn't Always Have To Rhyme

Author and Illustrator: Eve Merriam, Malcom Spooner

Genre:Poetry

Awards:
Grades: 2nd-6th

This poetry book consist of different types of poems written by Eve Merriam. This poetry book begins with the poem, Inside a poem.This poem coneys the message of unconventional poems; it does not have to rhyme, or be structured. This poem also touches on the imagination of what poetry could bring. The poems, Onomatopoeia and Onomatopoeia II, are free verse poems. They have the exact same text except Onomatopoeia II is not in the typical stanza; the words are scattered down the page. 

This book would be beneficial to an educator teaching a unit plan on poetry. Although all of these poems are written by the same author, there is a variety of poetry forms. An educator could use this poetry book to provide examples of different types of poetry. I would not personally use this book as I hope to teach Pre-K or Kindergarten.