Eureka!: Poems about Inventors

Bibliography

Sidman, J. 2002. Eureka!: Poems about Inventors. Ill. by K. Bennett Chavez. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press. ISBN 978-0761316657.

Review

These sixteen biographical poems are divided into sections titled “The Tapestry of the Past”, “The Age of Invention”, “A Light Interlude”, and “Dawn of the Modern Age”. Celebrating creativity and determination, the poems each tell a short narrative of how an idea was conceived and born. From the first person to mold clay into a bowl to the new age of the World Wide Web, each poem will spark curiosity and encourage students to learn more about the inventors and their life changing inventions. Each illustration that accompanies the poem brings the inventor and his or her invention to life in a detailed portrait. Students can learn more about the inventors by reading the short biographical notes that conclude each section. 

Classroom/Library Connection

Recommended audience: upper elementary to middle school students

Read the poem “Walt Tells it Like it is” about Walter Morrison the inventor of the Frisbee.

It wasn’t a new idea.

People have been tossing lids

around for years.

I just did a little design work.

Aerodynamics.

Before the war, the ex-wife and I

would hit the beach

with a few cake pans and throw ‘em around—

called ‘em Pluto Platters.

We were deadly.

Someone would get between us

& we’d lift their hat off.

One day, a guy from Wham-O comes along,

likes what he sees.

Helps me get a patent.

The rest is history.

Sure, I came up with some other stuff:

a water-filled bowling ball, for one.

Never took off.

But that Frisbee, man!

The dough keeps rolling in.

I’m just sitting back, enjoying it.

When you’re poor, you start thinking of things.

When you don’t need it, you relax.

I’m just like anyone else.

Except I always liked throwing rocks.

After reading: Put students into groups of 3-4. Have several lids, plastic plates, and cake pans available. Have them hypothesize which one they think may go the furthest when thrown. Have them test the hypothesis by throwing each object and measuring the distance. Then after they have found their answer, let students throw Frisbees just to have some fun!

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars: And other School Poems for Two Voices

Bibliography

Franco, B. 2009. Messing around on the Monkey Bars: And other School Poems for Two Voices. Ill. by Jessie Hartland. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0763631741.

Review

This book is a collection of nineteen school poems with topics ranging from classroom lessons to fun at recess. In the introduction, Franco explains to students how to read the individual parts as well as the parts that should be read in unison. Each part is shown in a different font boldness and size. The poems are best read aloud with partners, but they could also be enjoyed by an individual reader or as a class. Students will relate to the school situations and will enjoy the rhythmic beat of the poems. Many of the poems encourage movement such as bouncing a basketball along to “Backboard Rap” or tapping out a rhythm to “Jenny’s Pencil”. Students will enjoy interacting with these creative poems.

Classroom/Library Connection

Recommended audience: elementary students

Before reading: Have students tap out a rhythm on their desk with a pencil.

During reading: Choose one student to read the bolded words as you read the tap, tap of the pencil. All of the other students should be tapping their pencils on the desk. Here is the first half of the poem:

Tap, tap

Tap, tap

Tap, tap

Tap, tap

Tap, tap                       While we’re reading

Tap, tap                       and we’re writing,

Tap, tap

Tap, tap

Tap, tap                       multiplying

Tap, tap                       or dividing,

Tap, tap

Tap, tap

Tap, tap                       Jenny’s pencil

Tap, tap                       can’t keep quiet.

Tap, tap

Tap, tap

After reading: After reading through the poem once, divide the room into three groups. The first group reads the lines “tap, tap”, the second group reads the words in bold, and the third group keeps the beat with their tapping pencils.

Is this Forever, or What?: Poems and Paintings from Texas

Bibliography

Nye, N.S. (2004). Is this forever, or what?: Poems & paintings from Texas. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN 0060511788.

Review

In the introduction to this anthology, Naomi Shihab Nye explains that the poets and the painters that contributed to it “represent the beautiful diversity, the multiplicity of our state”.  This rings true in multicultural poems by poets such as Pat Mora and Sandra Cisneros. Many of the poems are nostalgic, reflecting life in small Texas towns such as “And Every Town it’s Dairy Queen” and “El Ice-Creenero/The Ice-Cream Man”. The topics and poetic formats are also diverse. Some poems are written using rhyming stanzas while others are strictly free verse. “At Sixteen” is written in four line stanzas where the second and fourth line of a stanza become the first and third line of the following stanza creating a playful repetition. The paintings also celebrate diversity showing Texas landscapes as well as abstract pieces. Readers can learn more about the artists that contributed to the book by reading the epilogue.

Classroom/Library Connection

Recommended audience: High school students

Before reading: Discuss the term imagery and how it relates to poetry.

During reading: Read the poem “Earl’s” by Andrea Greimel aloud. Put the poem on the document camera so that students may re-read it to themselves. Here are the first three stanzas:

The blue-haired ladies

mash at the crust

of their red cherry pie

with the backs of forks

sip at watery Sanka

all dolled up

with NutraSweet

talk over the gravest faults

of their daughter-in-law

out of the sides

of latticed lips

After reading: Give students art materials such as charcoal pencils, oil pastels, or watercolors and allow them to create this scene as they see it.