Water Sing Blue: Ocean Poems is written by Kate Coombs and illustrated by Meilo So. This book of poetry is about the ocean. It contains poems about fish and things that live in the ocean, things that live in the air, and other things that relate to the ocean. It contains 23 poems that have their own names. However, this poetry book does not contain a table of contents. This book would contain experiences and topics familiar to those who have been to the ocean or have some knowledge of the ocean. This would be a great book for those who are not familiar with the ocean because it contains good descriptions of ocean life. There are some words that would not be familiar to those whom this book is intended for. This book would benefit from a short glossary or author notes about the information that might not be familiar to the reader.
The author uses rhyming, imagery and figurative language, and haikus. The author uses imagery and figurative language to describe the ocean. For example, in Prayer of the Little Fish, the author describes the air as “breathless air” (Coombs and So 2012). Another example is in Shark the author describes a shark’s teeth as a “broken-glass grin” (Coombs and So 2012). There are many other examples in the book to note. The author uses rhyming in some of the poetry. For example in What the Waves Say, the author uses words that rhyme within the line such as “run” and “sun” and “thin” and “wind” (Coombs and So 2012).
The illustrations are rendered in watercolors. I think that this is the best way to show the colorful and beautiful ocean. The illustrations show what is being talked about in the different poems around them. Not every poem gets its own page or pages. Some pages contain more than one poem. So, each illustration contains more than one poem. The illustrations are colorful and inviting. The illustrations contain blank spots where the poetry is written.
What the Waves Say
Shimmer and run, catch the sun.
Ripple thin, catch the wind.
Shift and splash, drift and dash.
Slow and gray, foggy day.
Whisper hush, mummer shush.
Swell and sigh. Otter lullaby.
Journey on with a yawn.
Swirl and swish, play with a fish.
Roll green, rise and lean –
Wake and roar and strike the shore!
(Coombs and So 2012)
This poem, it would be great for an outdoor water program for summer reading. I would introduce this poem by asking if anyone has been to the beach and then creating a discussion around that. For an activity, I would do something with water and maybe sand. It might be fun to make small water tables would with cake pans or something bigger such as a baby pool. It might be fun to add sand into the pool and give them sand toys to make things such as sandcastles. This would be a fun sensory activity especially if someone has not been around sand before.
References:
Coombs, Kate, and Meilo So. 2012. Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Comments
Post a Comment