The Belly Button of the Moon and Other Summer Poems

Summer came Saturday -

these poems celebrate this special season.

The colorful illustrations splash and spill over
the pages.
Here's a lesson plan that makes use of this
and other seasonal poetry books by Alarcon

My boy's thoughts (prompted and unprompted)

The Belly Button of the Moon

The book is about Spanish and how to translate it for poems.

There is a cow named Mariposa. Mariposa means butterfly in

Spanish. A cow named “Butterfly” is strange. There are some

things of her that look like a butterfly. Is it funny that there was a waterwheel poem on a waterwheel?

Any person who likes to go to Spanish class would like this book.

It's Raining Pigs and Noodles

Poet Jack Prelutsky and Illustrator James Stevenson 
share an appealing silliness in their collaborations 
(Stevenson also writes/illustrates his own funny books)
and the cavalcade of wackiness in 
It's Raining Pigs and Noodles
includes poems about kid basics:
burping, music practice, and old food in the 
refrigerator.
Concrete poems (poems in the shape of their topic)
include "I'm Stuck Inside a Seashell" 
and
"Boomerang."
And of course, there's plenty of random nonsense
about gnus (so beloved of humorous versifiers)
and the like.
A good selection for rhyme and poem lovers,
and food for thought for all.
My Boy's Thoughts:
The names in Percy's Perfect Pies were so funny.
There's a poem called "Tomorrow's My Unbirthday"
in it. There's another poem about the poet's best
friend and the poet says they're best friends because
they did something bad to him. That's unusual.
They can't be best friends if they did something
bad to him.
Also, there's a poem called "Winding Through
the Maze," and you'll have to follow the maze to 
read the poem.
This post was my last for Poetry Month 2014.
If your child likes this one, check out the other
three poetry books I reviewed this month or my
past posts on poetry (note alliteration). Alliteration,
rhyme, meter, word play - these are elements that
often fascinate children, especially children with
autism who are looking for rules to make sense 
of the world and of the word. 

Exploding Gravy

The fame of poets has steadily declined. 
I trust you've heard of Nash and Lear,*
but X. J. Kennedy I fear,
has fared the worse with his light verse.
Still, he make my boy giggle in utter bliss
with poems like this:
"Babbling baby, left alone,
Punched some buttons on the phone.
Poppa paid for her to coo
All the way to Katmandu."
So check out Kennedy for rhymes and giggles,
and allusions to chivalry, rocs, ice cream phantoms,
dinosaurs, and combustible food stuffs.
*and Will Shakespeare**
**Happy Birthday Will.

The Wonder Book

More Poetry!

I actually haven't seen that much about either autism or poetry

this month. 

This saddens me.

I think both require us to interact with cognitive differences.

And I think we are reluctant to do so, even though

we know that thinking differently enriches us.

Whether you have autism or love someone who does,

every day you encounter someone who thinks very

differently than you do.

And unless you think constantly in rhyme, metaphor,

synecdoche (yeah, I'm going to look it up)*, metonymy

(that too)** and meter, poetry is a different way of 

thinking as well.

I associate The Wonder Book with

a book of mythology, but Amy Krouse Rosenthal 
seems to mean wondering about stuff. And she
wonders about the same kind of stuff my boy
does, and she often wonders in rhyme.
Paul Schmid did the line drawings, including
the two page spread of kids wondering in
a tree:
"I wonder what sheep count when they're
trying to fall asleep . . ."

My Boy's Comments:

According to The Wonder Book, Miss Mary Mack is now
a mother. In the poem "Half Birthday," there were a
lot of half words, and the picture had a half birthday
cake. Eeny Minney and Miney Mo is so funny, 
because it’s about two characters.

*"A synecdoche (/sɪˈnɛkdəkiː/, si-nek-də-kee; from Greek synekdoche (συνεκδοχή), meaning "simultaneous understanding")

is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something, or vice-versa." (Wikipedia)

For the funniest piece ever written about synecdoche, read James Thurber. Read James Thurber anyway. Also Robert Benchley.

**"Metonymy (/mɨˈtɒnɨmi/ mi-tonn-ə-mee)^[1] is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name but 

rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that thing or concept." (Meriam Webster via Wikipedia) 

A Curious Collection of Cats

Once again it's April, and those of us affected by autism 
know why April is important.

Happy Poetry Month!
People with autism often have a special affinity
for poetry and today's books of poems will also
appeal to animal (especially cat) lovers.

Betsy Franco wrote the "concrete poems" in

A Curious Collection of Cats and Michael Wertz

did the illustrations.

In all the poems the shape of the poem relates

directly to its words (concrete poems).
The bright color block illustrations and the poems 
intertwine. Most include rhyme and humor - often
the humor is visual as in "q-tip and rosie" with
a happy cat dangling from a dog's mouth or
in both words and pictures as in the graphic
novel type treatment of "a question for scooter
about squirrels."

My boy's review:

A Curious Collection of Cats

It turned out that there were 34 poems in that book. 
Some were written in funny places. 

In the poem “The Cat Door”, 
there was a cat who tried to squeeze through the door. 

In each picture of the poem, 
some of the letters had gone away from the previous picture. 

"princess" by Franco and Wertz  

Read a Rhyme - Write a Review

I'm very busy, with other writing and other son, so I asked my older son

to write this review for me:

Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme had 10 poemstarts.

“Poemstart” means just the start of the poem.

Prelutsky puts in poemstarts to encourage kids to finish the poem. This has never

happened in my house. I guess I may have to assign one just for fun .  .  .

There was a picture for the poem “Eating Blueberries”.

There was a poem about a dog named Mutterly.

There is a poem about a person’s best friends who did something bad to the person.

There is a poem about a person who met a mayfly at the beginning of April.

The person also met a junebug near the end of July.

Okay, perhaps this is not the most informative review ever. But now you

know what one boy with autism remembered from the book. 

The book combines poems and ideas for writing poems in a bigger,

more inviting format than Prelutsky's Pizza, Pigs and Poetry 
that I featured earlier this month.

Read it and compare your impressions to my son's. 

Or get your kid to send me a review. Really. 

Storied Saturday ahead in Nashville!

Special Story Time 10:30 at Madison Branch!

Garden Tales with Rachel Sumner 10:30

at Cheekwood!

Leo Kennedy's book launch for Devin and the 

Greedy Ferret!

Talent Tuesday - My Boy's Poems

In between studying for the standardized state test,

the Language Arts teacher asked the kids to write

an ode and an elegy. With prompts and leading

questions, this is what my boy wrote.  I am proud of

him. All Rights Reserved. You want to quote his

work somewhere, ask me and I'll ask him.

Ode to the Stream

The stream feels watery,

watery, watery.

Usually the water feels cold as popsicles.

I put my feet in when it’s warm 

in the Summertime.

It’s warm as my comfy blanket.

The algae feels slippery,

slippery, slippery.

The rocks are hard and bumpy.

In the summertime, I feel them on my feet.

Rrsssh, rrsssh goes the water in the stream.

The tall green trees stand still and watch me play.

The stream is my special place.

I like to go there to make a rock go down. I balance on it with my feet.

Its where I like to go and do some special things,

like thinking, thinking, thinking. 

- Spectrum Son

Elegy

My grandad died.

I was sad.

I was sad as grey skies.

He used to call me rascal, and he used to say, “yes sir.”

One day he said, “Run like a deer.”

He was Mr. Wonderful.

When he was in his bedroom, he hugged the bed.

The way it looked made you like the way it felt.

He had a yard. 

A yard of green grass and brown dirt.

His yard had a stream. 

When the stream was all dry I walked through it and came to someone else’s yard.

I couldn’t get back to Grandad’s yard without going through trees. I felt a little scared.

I called to Dad. I wanted to go back to Grandad’s yard and into Grandad’s house. 

And so I did.

When he died his house got torn apart. 

We went to his funeral.

When he was buried his grave was near Aunt Carol’s house.

I think of his body under the ground.

White hair, white hair and how pink he was.

I’m hearing those teardrops, bloop, bloop, bloop.

When is the next time we’ll go to Aunt Carol’s house?

- Spectrum Son

Does your kid with autism write poems 

(with or without prompting)?

Want to share them? Send them to me and I'll do a Talent

Tuesday post. 

- Spectrum Mom

autismreads at gmail dot com

Falling Up

April is busy, but I'll never lack for topics during Poetry month.*
Yesterday my son mentioned the Toy Eater.
"Where's that from?"
"Shel Silverstein."
"Which book?"
"Falling Up."
Many and various are the questions to which he answers,
"I don't know," but he can always identify the source of his
quotes. And how happy I am when he quotes a book rather
than a television show. And if he quotes from a book,
he's usually quoting a poem.
Many kids adore the nonsense of Shel Silverstein.
It strikes an amazingly strong chord with my son.
I don't remember Falling Up, but my son does.
As well as "The Toy Eater," he told me about
"Piggy's Treat" (he rides people-back)
and recited lines from a poem about a monkey
(called, fittingly enough, "The Monkey")
that uses numbers as words. 
"1 little monkey
Was goin’ 2 the store
When he saw a banana 3
He’d never climbed be4.
By 5 o’clock that evenin’
He was 6 with a stomach ache
‘Cause 7 green bananas
Was what that monkey 8 . . ."
You may recall my post on Wumbers,
a recent picture book based on that idea.
Now go out and rhyme, or read, or read
and rhyme, depending on your time.
-Spectrum Mom

You may also enjoy this post I did about poetry
*Just the time to write about them.

Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry

April is not just Autism Awareness and Acceptance month, 
April is Poetry month.
Appropriately, because I think the way poetry structures
language particularly appeals to people looking for predictability.
Not to mention those who love words, weird noises, and
alliteration, a group which definitely includes my son.
Pizza, Pigs and Poetry by Jack Prelutsky tries to tap a liking
for rhythm, rhyme and nonsense and make mini poets out
of kids.
Prelutsky starts each section with a lively introduction,
followed by a poem of his own and finishes with a writing
tip to get kids started on a poem of their own.
So far my son has not written anything based on the book,
though he's fond of "Forty Performing Bananas"
"We're FORTY PERFORMING BANANAS
in bright yellow slippery skins,
our features are rather appealing,
though we've neither shoulders nor chins,"
- Prelutsky
"It's like a sign," says my son.

Halloween Monster Books for All Ages

Two books today that should fit the Halloween needs of most boggarts and ghouls, sorry,  I mean boys and girls.

The Sleepless Little Vampire by Richard Egielski

is an unscary Halloween charmer that should appeal
to fans of simple picture books, onomotapoeia, 
and reversals.

The little vampire listens to the bats flitting, 
"FLAPPITY!-FLAP!” and “the cockroaches crawling

SCRATCHITY-SCRATCH!” and all the other nocturnal creatures wondering if it is the noise keeping him 
awake, until he finally remembers why he cannot sleep 
at night.

Egielski places white text on the left and the picture on the right on black pages. As the creatures increase, the pictures expand across the center until dawn lightens the pages and they all go to sleep. Your little goblins may not comment on this clever design, but the effect is calming and the story

ends with the reassuring message that no matter how

different you are, you are normal for you.

For children who enjoy poetry, rotting heads, and zombies,

I recommend Frankenstein Takes the Cake by Adam Rex.

My twelve year old does too:

“This is funny stuff. The part that made me laugh was 'An Edgar Allen Poem.'”

The book is full of puns and ends with this haiku for 

the monster sticklers among you:

"He knows Frankenstein's

the doctor, not the monster.

Enough already."

If your kid loves this one, check out Rex's website.

Poetry Month in the Library

I missed library week. But it’s still poetry month. 

So here’s a tip for both. Your

library has a whole section devoted to poetry for kids.

Sure, there are a few elsewhere. 

My boy’s enjoyin Snuffles and Snouts

from the Easy Readers section, 

a book of poems about pigs.

He’s fond of the poem on the back cover:

“ ‘Oink!’ the Captain cried. ‘Oink! Oink!

Methinks me ship’s begun to soink!”

He invaded his brother's room again

to get "both A. A. Milne's"

meaning When We Were Very Young

and Now We Are Six, the poetry books

which feature Pooh but many other characters too.

Especially my favorite dormouse in Geraniums red

and Delphiniums blue.

Alas, I am not allowed to read them because

they rhyme. He loves to read them himself.
Back to the library: the Dewey Decimal for
kids poetry is j811. Adult poetry, much of
which is suitable too, is (surprise) 811.
Coincidentally, I think that's the number
to call around here to flag underground 
utilities .  .  .
-Spectrum Mom

Love That Creech

Sharon Creech's two novels in poetry
(upper elementary-middle school reading)
combine elements especially attractive to
my boy with autism
● Poetry
● Dates
● Pages with few words
● Short Chapters
No illustrations, but they're not needed.
Some of the poems are illustrations in 
themselves-the "apple" and "chair"
poems.
Hate That Cat picks up where Love
That Dog left off with the remarkable
teacher Ms. Stretchberry switching
grades along with Jack.
My boy barely noticed the plot
(Jack gets a kitten, Jack learns to be
open about his mother's deafness)
but fastened right on to the discussion
of poetic devices like alliteration (long
one of his favorite thoughts).
I find the best way to share these books

with my son is for me to read the poems

and have my boy read Jack's responses

to them.

The book not only offers a selection of

poetry, but a list of books "from the

class poetry shelf" for further reading.
I'd like another book in the series from
Creech, but I expect she's done.
Unless Jack decides to
"Tolerate That Pigeon" ?
-Spectrum Mom

Reading and Writing Poetry

I'm a little sad to say goodbye to April and poetry month.
Poetry fits so well with my boy's interests and needs. I wish
people talked about poetry all the time.
My boy will read anything poetic (as opposed
to checking which page chapters begin and end)
including Sir Walter Scott's Marmion (recommended for
middle schoolers to high schoolers who will read anything
that rhymes). Asked for favorite poets he cites Walter Dean
Myers and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Another aspect of his love for poetry is that although he
does not usually want to write (unless he's writing his own
version of a story that was written "wrong") 
he will write poetry at the tiniest of prompts. 
He especially likes the haiku and tanka 
forms where you count syllables.
The end of April does bring Nashville the special needs
storytime at Green Hills Library, 10:30 am.
This group is going strong. Everyone is
enjoying the chance to hear stories in a
relaxed and comfortable setting.
Rain falls forever down
go out get wet or stay in
find a book to read
-spectrum mom