Animal poems, by Valerie Worth and Steve Jenkins, ill. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007.

ISBN: 978-0374380571

Annotation: A collection of poems on 23 different animals. Worth evokes the essence of each creature with her powerful, vivid language.

Use of Metaphor: Worth makes extensive use of metaphor; for example, the bat is a “grim flake of flint”; the snake is “spilled to a liquid silt.” “Wasp” has a particularly lovely example of the poet’s unusual comparisons: she describes the insect as “a dab of dull/Earth, grown/ Lively and deadly/As the sun.”

Illustrations: paper-cut collage

Curricular Use: 6^th-8^th grade; Poetry, Language Arts

4Q/4P

DM 6/27/09

Worth, V. (2007). Animal poems. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins.  New York: Farrar Straus   & Giroux. ISBN: 0374380570

5Q/4P

This collection of twenty-three poems by the late Valerie Worth reflects upon twenty-three creatures that make up our wild world. Poetry utilizing a variety of devices, from alliteration to simile, is playfully paired with creatures rendered in a variety of papers.

Media: "cut-paper illustrations."

Alliteration:

This book by the late Valerie Worth reflects upon the many creatures that make up our wild world in a most creative fashion. Her use of alliteration accentuates the flapping wings of the Bat: “…Flake of Flint / or Flings Out / Like a Surly / Stone thrown / After the Sun.”  With the Snake, arrangement of the text follows along in a serpentine flow, where more alliteration appears: “Loosed / From / Limbs to / Run like / Water, / Spilled to / A liquid / Silt, a / Slurry / Of scales....” The Snake poem, with text and design, perfectly capture the characteristics of the serpent.

Simile:

This collection of twenty-three poems by the late Valerie Worth reflects upon twenty-three creatures that make up our wild world in a most creative whimsical style. Worth effectively uses simile in the description of the camel: “They can afford to be ugly / And ungainly, to stand / About munching and belching / Like smug old maids.” Jenkins’ cut-paper illustrations further improve the comparison, showing a fuzzy-bearded, cud-chewing camel that could be similar to an old maid with more facial hair than she would want, but is still contented.

TK 4/29/08

Worth’s poetry is exemplary for demonstrating the many devices of poetry, like alliteration, onomatopoeia, and simile, that would be well received in a English literature classroom. Alternatively, the book can be used in a visual arts class where students can find inspiration from Jenkin’s cut paper illustrations to make their own designs with paper. To promote recycling, the paper could be found, handmade, recycled before being used in artwork. Students may also want to accompany the artwork with poetry that they wrote in a creative writing environment.

TK 4/29/08