Popcorn:  Poems by James Stevenson.  New York:  Greenwillow Books, 1998.

ISBN-10:  0688152619

Illustrator:  James Stevenson

Media:  Watercolor, pen and ink

4Q/4P

Curricular connection:  Poetry. Poetry can be used at any grade as a writing exercise in self-expression.  Visual representation can be used as a curricular connection to incorporate art into the lesson plan.  Books that can be used to teach visual poetry include: Blue Lipstick Concrete Poems, A River of Words, Walt Whitman:  Words for America, Wabi Sabi, Poke in the I and Popcorn.

Reading level:  5^th grade

Alliteration defined by Dictionary.com is the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, as in apt alliteration’s artful aid.  An example of alliteration is evident in James Stevenson’s poem using the repetition of “dge” in the lines and verses.

The dredge dredges sludge:

Sludge like fudge,

Sludge that won’t budge,

Sludge you wouldn’t care to tudge.

Annotation:  This fun sixty-four-page book of poems titled Popcorn focuses on the daily poetry of life, such as the popcorn kernels at the bottom of the bag.  Popcorn is a good book to introduce young children to poetry.  The book is easy to read with nice illustration.

KRF 7/25/09