Friday, September 26, 2014

New Book Alert: Dear Wandering Wildebeest and Other Poems from the Water Hole

I was very excited to get the email from our local library that Dear Wandering Wildebeest had arrived. The timing was perfect, as we are set to begin our Africa unit in another week or so.


Dear Wandering Wildebeest by Irene Latham is a combination poetry and nonfiction resource inspired by a series of photographs taken around a water hole in Kenya. Many of the poems focus on an individual species, and each two-page spread offers gorgeous illustrations of the animal as well as a text book with additional information. The poems themselves range from factual to humorous and cover a wide range of styles and forms.

Irene Latham hosted the Poetry Friday round up last month and shared some of the process behind creating the book. Her post. Poetry Friday ... is Missing!, even contains a poem that was cut from the book, along with the reasoning behind the revision. I am looking forward to talking with students more about the poetry writing (and poetry revision!) process and being able to share a little "inside information" with them about this book.

This week's Poetry Friday Roundup is being curated by Laura at Writing the World for Kids. See the whole list of hosts at Poetry Friday by Kitlitosphere.



As for my students and Poetry Friday, writing alliterative poems has become the runaway hit of the last few weeks. What started as a group of boys sharing a poem nearly entirely brought to you by the letter D has spawned a flurry of letter-based poems, some that their creators find so amusing they can barely share them with the class without howling in laughter. (The alliterative poem craze has also sparked a student-inspired run on using the dictionary to expand their poems, and two other students discovered the rhyming dictionaries last week, which led to some amazing tongue twisters.)

Anyone have good leads for alliterative poems?

8 comments:

  1. This is such a fabulous collection! What a great addition to your Africa unit!

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    1. Thanks, Laura. It really is! My kids are fascinating by animals too, so I know they will love this one.

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  2. It will be interesting to hear about your study of Africa, and Irene's book will be a perfect addition!

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    1. Thanks so much, Mary Lee. Definitely agreed. I have a lot of favorite trickster tales and folktales from Africa, so more poetry is a welcome addition.

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  3. I agree, Katie, it's a wonderful book! Be sure to visit my blog, Today's Little Ditty, for a chance to win your own personal copy! You and your students might also like some of the monthly challenges I offer.

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    1. Thanks, Michelle, just popped over and entered! I think my students would love the idea of "poems of address." May give that a shot later in the year when we start talking about perspective and point of view.

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  4. I whole heartily agree with your enthusiasm of Dear Wandering Wildebeest, Katie! Perfect enrichment text for your Africa unit. I love serendipity. = )

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    1. Thanks, Bridget. Just have to appreciate good timing!

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