This poetry picture book is written by Karen Jo Shapiro and is illustrated by Matt Faulkner. Shapiro rewrites famous poems from English and American Literature from poets such as Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare, Sir John Suckling, Walt Whitman, and Edgar Allen Poe among others. Shapiro's creative spin on the classics is very entertaining. She apologizes to each well-known poet and the original poetry before beginning her silly poems on daily blunders fashioned after the classics.
Shapiro shows a lot of creativity in her writing and each poem can be read with a smooth rhyme and rhythm just like the originals. The illustrations are unique. They creatively express the poem and are vivid and detailed. The poems are supposed to be funny, but I wasn't sure if I found them that hilarious. They seem to focus primarily on day-today issues and dilemmas yet they are not hilarious. I'm not sure if kids would get into them or not. The poems are a little bland, but the idea behind the book is wonderful. My favorite poem from the poetry book is titled Where My Feet Go.
Where my feet go, there goes me.
But one day we did not agree.
I thought we'd go to the library,
But my feet wanted to climb a tree.
"Dear feet," I said, "oh, please be fair."
My feet said they'd be glad to share.
So now we all go EVERYWHERE.
I think this poem is clever and the illustration of a girl hanging by her feet high above the library in a tree reading a book perfectly captures the essence of the poem. All of the poems are appropriate and cute, but they're not very funny/they don't have that WOW factor like a lot of other poetry books for children I have read. However, they're all great for beginner poets and they all feature rhyme and are appropriate for students of all ages. I would keep this book in my classroom.
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