LS 5663 Spring 2012 Mod 3 Poetic Form

Module 3



Kinds of Poetry-Poetic Form


Bibliographic information:

Clements, Andrew, and Tim Bowers. Dogku. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2007. ISBN: 9780689858239

Review:

Andrew Clements is a well-known author of children’s literature. Although he is not as well known for his poetry, he has a tremendous talent for writing Haiku. Having published over fifty books for children, Clements wrote fifteen well-crafted Haikus just for this publication. In Dogku, readers learn what the world can look like to a lonely, stray dog. Clements’ use of influential, descriptive and emotional language allows readers some insight into Mooch’s perspective of homelessness. The result is a funny, hopeful and heartwarming story to which readers can relate. Events that we see as ordinary and necessary to daily human life are strange, confusing and a little scary to the little stray looking for a family. Arranged to flow as a single story of events spanning a few days, two page illustrations surround one poem in this traditional thirty two page picture book format. Tim Bowers’ oil on canvas illustrations add warmth and specific detail to the meager Haiku style. There is no table of contents, index or pagination. However, the author’s note teaches, models and encourages Haiku writing as Clements explains how he got “hooked on Haiku” years ago.



Highlighted Poem:

Nose out the window,

Ears flapping, hair pushed straight back.

Adventures in smell.

Possible emotional reactions: active, excited, curious

Categorized as: Thought provoking or intriguing


Introduction/Activity:

6th grade: connecting with literature/vocabulary development

Working in small groups and using resources such as dictionaries and thesauri, have students choose words to describe different emotional reactions they might have to a story or poem. Allow each group to share and discuss the meanings and synonyms for their words with the whole class. Read Dogku and allow students to describe the images and emotions that are strongest for them overall. In small groups have students categorize five of the Haikus from the book in regards to the descriptive words they discovered while working in small groups or during another group’s share out.