Red Sings from Treetops: a year in colors by Joyce Sidman

Red Sings from Treetops: a year in colors by Joyce Sidman

Summary: This book of poems goes through each of the four seasons and describes them using colors. Each poem using a different color from red to yellow to white and the rest. Each color convey a different characteristic of the four seasons. The illustrations, done by Pamela Zagarenski, focuses around each color and uses them in scenes depicting different activities that are typically done during the specific season.

Review: These poems are great fro children in kindergarten and second grade as they learn about the different seasons and also as they are being introduced to poetry. I would love to have this book in my classroom for kids to read as a beginner poetry book.

The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas

The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas

Summary: This book of poems is about celebrating different colors of beauty. Each poem using different kinds of berries to illustrate diversity and the beauty in that diversity. Along with each poem is a two page illustration from Floyd Cooper, who depicts the essence of each poem and uses warm colors for all of them.

Review: This book of Poems beautifully celebrates the diversity in a way that children will understand. It is so important that children are able to see themselves in the books and arts they consume. This book will be great to have in a classroom with ages ranging from 7 to 9, and even older. This would be a great book to go along with African-American History Month or a lesson celebrating different cultures within our schools and communities. This book will be found on a shelf in my future classrooms.

If I Were a Tree, from Poems by Rachel Field

If I Were a Tree by Rachel Field

Summary: With powerful imagery, this poem conveys the desire to be a strong mighty tree instead of a small child. The poems describes the roots, the texture, the twigs, and the leaves.

Review: This poem is great for children of 6 to 7 years old, and would go great as a introduction for living organisms or about the natural world, or maybe even Arbor day! This poem was beautifully written and I it has a place on the shelf in my future classroom.

Mother Goose: A Collection of Nursery Rhymes by Brian Wildsmith.

Mother Goose: A Collection of Nursery Rhymes by Brian Wildsmith

Summary: This collection of books has a variety of the Mother Goose classics from Humpty Dumpty, This Little piggy, and to Oranges and Lemons, and everything in-between. They are all beautifully illustrated by Brian Wild smith, using watercolors as his medium.

Review: Wildsmith's collectin is one I would out into my younger grade classrooms like Pre-K and Kinder. They are great for emerging readers and familiarizing young children with new vocabulary and phonemes.

Jimmy Jet and His TV Set by Shel Silverstein

Jimmy Jet and His TV Set by Shel Silverstein

Summary: In this beautifully imaginative poem by Shel Silverstein there is a boy who watched TV so much that he himself turned into a TV set. His parent's tell the tale of how he watched TV from morning until night , and how his grew into his chair, he face into a TV screen, and he even grew a plug. So, now his parents watch him, instead.

Review: Its so important for a child to keep up their imagination especially in the upper grades of middle school as they begin to encounter more analytic and critical thinking questions. Silverstein's poems also have fun and silly poems that children will enjoy and I will definitely have a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends. This is also great for any Poetry lessons where children are learning to find meaning in poems.