Florian Poetry

COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS

Photo Retrieved from Amazon.com

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Florian, Douglas. COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS: SPACE POEMS AND PAINTINGS.  Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2007. ISBN 9780152053727

B.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND REVIEW

This collection of poetry by Douglas Florian is presented in a picture book format for young and older readers to enjoy.  This collection of twenty poems are centered around astronomy, and provide a fun and exciting twist on the subject.   They begin with sky watching, travel through universe, the galaxy, the solar system and the planets.  This natural progression may enhance a child's understanding of distance and the vastness of space.  He also includes poems about some of the other tidbits in the universe, such as comets.  His poetic formats vary throughout the book, and include free verse, rhyming, and shape poetry.  His poems seem to interact with the poetic format, and make for a wonderful visual experience.  While his collection is scientific in subject matter, Florian demonstrates his ability to use humor within his poetry and the context.  Florian does not refrain from introducing more advanced vocabulary, however, this does not take away from it child-like appeal.  

This collection features an interactive feel with cut-out circles and shapes in between pages that act like peek-holes into the next page. Each cut-out provides a small hint of what illustration and structure is to come.   The illustrations, illustrated by Florian, spread across the two pages and are fun to inspect and wonder about.  The dark colors and use of different media make for a great book gazing session.

Florian  includes a table of contents, a glossary of terms at the end of the book, and a bibliography. Each of these components adds an instructional value to the collection, as they each can be used for teaching parts of a book to young ones.  Florian also incorporates a touch of other languages.  In The Sun, young ones can have fun while they learn how to say "sun" in a variety of other languages! With this wonderful collection of poems about space, young children are likely to be excited about learning more about our solar system and universe.  

C.  HIGHLIGHT POEM 

Galaxy (This poem is presented in a spiral shape in the book)

A galaxy has stars galore:

a million, a billion,

billion, even more.

Some galaxies are round,

some flat.

Some form spirals.

Some seem far.

Some are egg shaped.

Some have bars.

All have stars, 

and stars, and stars.

During a science unit with elementary students, the librarian or teacher will read this collection of poems.  After the reading, the teacher or librarian will focus on this shape poem for the lesson.  The words on the accompanying page will be studied more carefully: spiral, flattened, irregular, ball-shaped, elliptical,  egg shaped, and barred.   How do the illustrations help the reader understand what those shapes look like?  The teacher or librarian will provide each table with a different word, and students will use clay to mold the shape they have.  Words like smooth, sharp, edges, round, and circles could be words incorporated from math.  

Once each table has created their shapes, each group will present their shapes and talk about what makes their shape special and unique.  Their "artwork" can then be shown off next to a copy of the poem at a parent teacher conference night or other event.

Note:  The book I reviewed had tears on some of the cut-outs, most likely from young hands poking though the holes.  Teachers and librarians may want to be cautious with very little ones!