Module 9 Poetry/Short Stories

Module 9 Short/ Stories

July 28 - August 3, 2014

Comets, Stars, The Moon, And Mars
By Douglas Florian

Image Found Here

Bibliography: 

 Florian, D. (2007). Comets, stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space poems and paintings. Orlando: Harcourt.

Summary:

This book is a collections of poems on planets, stars, the moon and other entities such as a Black Hole and Comets. The poem gives information such as how far they are from the sun, what it is made of and what it looks like. Some poems even tell what they are named after. The illustrations really add to the poems and adds additional information. 

Impressions: 

This is an excellent book of poems. The illustrations are well done and it is informative and humorous at the same time. I really loved this book. My favorite is the poem on Pluto and how it deals with it not being considered a planet any more.

Reviews:

 Accomplished poet Florian turns his attention to the heavens in twenty new poems, Subjects, include the planets and ex-planet ("Pluto was a planet/Till one day it got fired") as well as a host of other heavenly bodies and phenomena. Though they're leavened with humor, the compact verses are genuinely informative rather than jocular, providing and enticing introduction to astronomy for kids fonder of language arts than science and offering the science-inclined some gems for recitation. Florian's in absolute top form in his celestial illustrations: his watercolors are simply luminous, each spread shimmering with a predominant color (gleaming deep blue a recurring favorite); interpolated collage elements from antique images.

Stevenson, D.(2007). Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings (review). 
       Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 60(10), 413-414. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 
       Retrieved August 5,2014, from Project MUSE database.

Suggestions for Use:

 This book can be used when students study space as a research book and a fun introduction to poetry as an information resource. The students can make their own poems about their particular space project and add it in the display to add a literacy element.