Skip to main content

Hello, Earth! Poems to our Planet By Joyce Sidman

 


    Hello, Earth! Poems to our Planet is a book of poems written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Miren Asiain Lora. It contains 22 poems from humanity to the earth. The book does not contain a table of contents. The poems describe different aspects of the earth. The poems come across as letters to the earth. The poems contain information about the topic they are describing. At the end of the book, the author added more scientific information about the earth and additional resources that people can access. The book uses language that the reader should be able to understand. The poems describe ways that we might be better citizens of the earth. This book would be a great addition to early earth sciences classes.

    The author uses the mostly free verse in the poems. The author uses repeating words and figurative language. The author repeats words such as “and”. In Noisy the author lists things that we are doing to the earth and before the next thing uses the word “and” (Sidman 2021). In Giants, the author uses figurative language to describe the water coming from the whale’s spout. It is described as “wet, streaming mountains” (Sidman 2021). A lot of the language that the author uses to describe the earth is compared to something else.

    The illustrations are created from watercolor and acrylic. The illustrations describe what each poem is talking about clearly. The illustrations are captivating and will keep the interest of the reader. Each poem takes up at least two pages with words and illustrations. There are a couple of poems that take up multiple pages and it is a little confusing upon reading them for the first time. The illustrations take up whole pages but do not interfere with the words of the poems. 

Hello, Earth! (excerpt)

It’s your children.
Some of your children –
the human ones.
We have been studying you, Earth,
but we long to learn more.
(Sidman 2021)

    For this book of poems, it might be fun to do a poetry program with older children. I would introduce the poems by reading one of my own. Then I would go on to read the whole book of poems. For the activity, I would have the children break up into small groups and have them come up with ideas about what they could do to help the earth such as recycling or walking to school. I would then have a larger discussion as a group. Then I would invite them to talk to their parents about possible changes they could do at home.

References:

Sidman, Joyce. 2021. Hello, Earth! Eerdmans Young Readers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

     Long Way Down is a novel in verse written by Jason Reynolds. The audiobook is also narrated by the author. It is about a boy named Will whose brother has been shot and killed in his neighborhood. In his world, there are three rules and one of them is revenge. Most of the story happens while he takes the elevator down from his apartment to seek revenge and has an unexpected ending.       This novel uses repetition, sound, figurative language, and emotional impact to draw the reader in and to keep reading. The words bring the reader into the feelings of Will to help the reader understand the world that he lives in. As a white woman who has only lived in suburbs, I would never fully understand the life that Will lives in a city. This gives others that are in his situation a window into his world and those that are a mirror to show they are not alone. Windows show another world that is different from the reader and mirrors show a world that the reade...
Post a Comment
Read more

Poetry Video

 
Post a Comment
Read more

Did You Hear What I Heard? by Kay Winters

  Did You Hear What I Heard?  was written by Kay Winters and illustrated by Patrice Barton. It is a collection of poems that are all written by Winters. There are 35 poems in this collection that are themed around schools. The topics of the poems include the new kid, math, recess, and fire drills just to name a few. The topics are relatable to children that have been to or are currently going to school. The illustrations suggest a public school setting however the topics could be relatable to private schools as well. The illustrations show diversity in the students, teachers, and other adult figures. There is no table of contents nor is there an index. Each poem is titled at the top of the page or one of the pages that have the poem. The titles are in colored print and different text from the contents of the poem. The poems are catchy and most include some rhyming. There are some poems that contain words that are repeated. In the poem  In the Music Room  the sounds c...
Post a Comment
Read more