Friday, October 3, 2014

Switching on the Moon {Poetry Friday}

Switching on the Moon  A Very First Book of Bedtime Poems collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters is new to me and one I think every home should have.  When the girls were younger we found poetry to be a quick fun read on those nights were bedtime started a bit late or when they were exhausted.  In the classroom, we have been using Owl Moon as a mentor text to write narrative stories and one of my students came bouncing in one morning filled with excitement to share with me she had a poetry book at home by Jane Yolen.  We've had the book on loan for a week now and my students are asking daily for a poem to be read aloud.

The book is organized into three sections; Going to Bed, Sweet Dreams, and In the Night.  In very small print in the back I found the authors gathered poems from various English speaking countries and on purpose they kept spellings and word usage in their original format.  This will open doors for vocabulary/language discussions.  The topic of the poems selected are often topics students will have background knowledge for; snuggles, teddy bears, nighttime, stars, moon, night lights, and bats.  The illustrations are beautiful!  G. Brian Karas creates warm, inviting, and caring illustrations using gouache, acrylic, and pencil.  I wish this was around when my own girls were smaller, I know we would of loved it.

Poetry Friday is being held at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Thanks Jama!


6 comments:

  1. Oh, so excited you featured this book, Mandy! Several years ago, when I served as a Cybils judge, this was one of the books that made it to the second round. Definitely a lovely collection :).

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  2. Jane Yolen writes the most beautiful bedtime verses, doesn't she?? Thank you for sharing about this collection... wish it had been around when my boys were wee as well. But. It's never too late! Happy day!

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  3. I know this book & it is really wonderful, perhaps especially for young children, Mandy. Thanks for reminding me!

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  4. Wish I had read your post earlier today. I was just at the bookstore looking for a baby gift. I had forgotten this title. I'm adding it to my list.

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  5. I just finished reading this book myself. You can tell because of all the post-its marking favorites!

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