Bibliographic information:
Asch, Frank, and Ted Levin. Cactus poems. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1998. ISBN 0152006761
Review:
The nineteen poems Asch and Levin include in Catus Poems teach readers about the desert. Through rhyme, repetition, personification and other figurative language readers understand the food web, the habitats and the animals that are unique to desert climates. If the animals aren’t familiar to the reader, the poems provide enough intrigue to draw readers in and make the unfamiliar more memorable. These poems will inspire every reader to learn more about these distinctive locations and may even persuade them to travel to the deserts and experience these unusual places for themselves.
Each poem is carefully crafted to uncover how plants and animals have adapted to thrive in a desert setting. The secrets of animal behaviors and plants’ functions are all revealed to readers. Levine’s photography illustrates this collection of imaginative portrayals of the Sonora, Mojave, Great Basin and the Chihuahua deserts perfectly.
Although there is only one poem per page there may be several photos used to illustrate it. There is no table of contents or index to help readers locate specific poems but the introduction shares the author’s inspiration for the poetry he included in this book. Also, each poem is accompanied with notes offering information about the topic and the photos used to illustrate it.
Highlighted Poem:
Bobcat Watching
I thought
I was tracking
a bobcat.
I was
sure of
his prints
in the mud.
I felt so smart,
so quiet
and sly.
Hoping to
catch a
glimpse of him,
I hid behind
a tree. Then suddenly
I turned and saw
him
calmly
watching
me.
Introduction/Activity:
2nd grade: point of view
After reading the whole book, reread Bobcat Watching and ask students to write a poem describing the human behaviors the bobcat may have been observing the whole time the writer was looking for the bobcat.
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