Poetry Book Review: Incredible Inventions Compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Incredible Inventions
Poems selected by lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by Julia Sarcone-Roach
Greenwillow, 2009

Incredible Inventions is another fine poetry anthology compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins. What one may find surprising are the subjects written about in this book. Many of the poems aren’t about the kinds of things most kids typically think of as inventions—airplanes, microscopes, automobiles, computers, telephones, elevators. No, in this book, kids will find poems about “inventions” like jigsaw puzzles (1766), blue jeans (1873), drinking straws (1888), Fig Newton cookies (1891), popsicles (1905), band-aids (1920), kitty litter (1947), and modern athletic shoes (1964). That’s part of the fun and attraction of this new anthology. There’s a good possibility that this book could be used to spark children’s curiosity, to encourage them to look at everyday objects around them as inventions—and maybe even to wonder about who might have invented them and why.

Authors of the poems in this anthology include a number of well-known children’s poets—Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Kristine O’Connell George, Joan Bransfield Graham, J. Patrick Lewis, Ann Whitford Paul, Alice Schertle, and Marilyn Singer. There are also selections by some newer voices.

There is a nice variety of poetry contained between the covers of this anthology. John Sullivan’s poem about basketball tells about the sport during the different seasons in a series of four haiku (sweltering night/one player left alone on the court/alone with stars). There are shape poems and free verse. Many of the poems rhyme and are light-hearted in nature—like Brushes Rule by Constance Andrea Keremes. This poem is composed of ten couplets. This is how Keremes begins her poem:

Time was when fingers did the trick.
Pat this, part that, do it quick.

But hair’s no simple thing today.
You have to gel, highlight, spray.

You need a brush to get things right.
(A comb will only tug and bite.)


In Signal’s Lament, Alice Schertle speaks in the voice of a bored traffic signal who longs to “signal” drivers to stop, go, and slow down, with a more artistic palette of colors than red, green and yellow. It imagines doing its job with colors like magenta, maroon, aquamarine, cerulean blue, and cadmium orange. The signal tells us…

I may look like a pole, but I have the soul
Of an artist, a star, a flamingo!
And speaking of pink, that’s a winner, I think.
Add a touch of vermilion and BINGO!



In another mask poem, Maria Fleming’s Velcro sings its own praises while denigrating the quality of other fasteners:

I sneer at snaps,
the lowly lace.
They lack my lock,
my fierce embrace.

Just try to name
a greater gripper.

(Don’t even think
of saying zipper.)


Kids are sure get a kick out of Marilyn Singer’s In Here. Kitty, Kitty. It’s a poem about Edward Lowe, the inventor of Kitty Litter. Here’s the last stanza of the poem:

He wasn’t Edison or Whitney.
Still feline owners didn’t titter.
Oh, to think he banished stink
with tons and tons of Kitty Litter.


Ann Whitford Paul entices readers to think “outside the box” in Inside the Box, her poem about Crayola crayons. She ends it with this thought about using one’s imagination and creativity:

But who says a seed
must be brown?
A field of corn green?
A flat tire black?
As you take crayons
from their box
break out of your own box.

Turn your paper
into a whole new world.



The back matter of the book contains two or more paragraphs of information about each of the inventions and inventors written about in the poems. It also includes a timeline.


Julia Sarcone-Roach’s illustrations serve as an unimposing backdrop for the poems in this anthology. They add just the right touches of color, humor, and whimsy.

Incredible Inventions would be a wonderful anthology to have on hand in an elementary/middle grade classroom. It could be a great stepping off point for a unit on inventors and inventions.


Click here to have a “sneak peek” inside Incredible Inventions.

NOTE: You can read my review of Joyce Sidman’s book Eureka!: Poems about Inventors here: POETRY SATURDAY: Joyce Sidman, Part II

My Reviews of Other Poetry Anthologies Compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins

• Book Review: Sky Magic Compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins
• More School Poems: Review of School Supplies
• Hamsters, Shells, and Spelling Bees: School Poems
• Words...Wonderful Words, Words, Words
• Valentine Hearts: Poetry & A Picture Book in Verse
• More Poetry for Christmas
• Poetry for Hanukkah

Lee Bennett Hopkins is the 15th winner of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Read about Lee and his work here. Read more about Lee at the following blog post written by Sylvia Vardell: More on LBH and the 2009 NCTE Poetry Award.

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have Sunflakes, a children’s poem that was written by Frank Asch.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Carol’s Corner today.

The Small Graces June Auction Is On!!!

This lovely Small Graces painting is on auction NOW!!!

Wouldn't you love to own an original painting by children's author and illustrator Grace Lin? All the proceeds from the Small Graces auctions will benefit The Foundation for Children's Books, a small non-profit organization in Boston that is making a big difference in the lives of young readers by bringing children's book authors and illustrators into under-served schools in the Greater Boston area for visits and residencies..

Small Graces June auction URL:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220434979010

NOTE: Bidding closes Jun-19-09 16:53:53 PDT

Click here to learn more about the Small Graces auctions.

P. S. I was the lucky winner of this painting in the February auction!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Stars Are Shining!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, my friend Grace Lin’s newest book, has been garnering starred reviews—from Kirkus, Booklist, and School Library Journal. It has also been designated one of Booklist’s Top Ten Books for Youth SF/Fantasy. Yippee!

In addition, Grace recently learned that Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a 2009 Parents' Choice Gold Award Winner!

Hooray for Grace!!!

Grace & Alvina Ling at the launch party for

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Click on the links below to find out about last Saturday's launch party for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon--and to see more pictures of Grace, the Blue Rose Girls, and the people who attended the event at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• launch (Blue Rose Girls)
• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon: The Launch Party (Wild Rose Reader)

Book Review: Sky Magic Compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins

SKY MAGIC
Compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrated by Mariusz Starwaski
Dutton Children’s Books, 2009

Sky Magic is a new poetry book compiled by anthologist extraordinaire Lee Bennett Hopkins. I have never counted the poetry books by Hopkins that I have in my collection—but I know they number in the dozens! Name a topic—and it’s likely you’ll find that Hopkins has edited a poetry anthology on the subject: war, famous people, museums, food, school, American history, the sea, animals, insects, geography, sports, weather, pets, space, science, math, holidays, inventions, books and reading, words and language, song and dance. I could go on and on and on.

Hopkins never disappoints poetry lovers like me with his anthologies—whether they are intended for the very youngest of children or for older kids. Sky Magic is definitely another fine compilation that elementary teachers will want to have on hand in the classroom—or available in their school libraries.

In addition to the fine poems included in Sky Magic, I'd like to note that the art by Mariusz Starwaski truly enhances the text and adds an almost ethereal dimension to the selections. I also want to comment on the thoughtful organization of the book. Hopkins arranged the poems he chose about the sun, moon, and stars in a lyrical progression that takes readers from the rising of the sun at dawn, to the setting of our "daystar" and arrival of the moon, to a night sky filled with stars.

I had read a few of the poems in Sky Magic in other collections and/or anthologies before—David McCord’s Orion, Ashley Bryan’s Song, and Carl Sandburg’s Stars. Most of the fourteen selections, however, were new to me. These poems include works written by Hopkins, Avis Harley, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Georgia Heard, Tony Johnston, and Alice Schertle.

The anthology opens with Sarah Hansen’s Rising, a poem in which the Sun rises/Tempting dawn/To break/Her golden crust, and ends with James Guthrie’s Last Song—in which we say a fond farewell to the Sun/Who has shone/All day/To the moon/Who has gone/Away…and To the milk-white/Silk-white/Lily-white Star.

Each poem in Sky Magic is a little gem of words that looks at objects in the heavens with wonder and imagination. In Sun, by Lyn Littlefield Hoopes, the sun speaks to us saying: I come to you/a diamond/on the morning dew. In Set, Sun, Hopkins tells the sun it’s time to go and Take/the/breath/of/day/away. Alice Schertle sets us to wondering about the moon in Who Found the Moon?. She wants to know who picked it up when it tumbled from the sky; who rubbed it with his thumb; who felt its silver coolness on his palm.

One of the most soothing and lyrical poems in the book is Ann Whitford Paul’s Moon’s Poem. Here’s an excerpt from it:

From Moon’s Poem
by Ann Whitford Paul

Moon’s poem
sings soft
round sounds of
breezes shushing
through the leaves,
slow rhythms of
spiders swaying,
snails scribbling…

Mariusz Starwaski’s paintings done mostly in shades of blue, purple, gold, and orange set the perfect artistic tone for this collection of poems about day and night…about the sun, moon, and stars...and about the sky canvas upon which nature paints them.

Sky Magic is indeed a lovely poetry anthology. I highly recommend it!

More about Sky Magic and Lee Bennett Hopkins

• You can read Legends, Avis Harley’s poem from Sky Magic, here at Poetry for Children.


• You can view two of Starwaski’s illustrations from Sky Magic here.


• Check out Tricia’s Interview with Lee Bennett Hopkins at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
  

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by J. Patrick Lewis entitled To a Frustrated Poet.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Critique de Mr. Chompchomp.

An Original Fairy Tale Poem

Here is my submission for this week’s Monday Poetry Stretch - Spinning Tales at the Miss Rumphius Effect. I wrote the following poem in the form of a Q & A. It’s from an unpublished collection entitled Excerpts from the Fairy Tale Files. I did make a few changes to the poem this morning. (You can read more of the poems from the collection here.)



Q: Who was the nemesis of Baby Bear?


A: A girl with curly golden hair.

She ate his porridge, broke his chair,

And took his comforter. Beware!

She did the same thing twice before

To Baby Buck and Baby Boar.

Her parents thought her antics droll.

They let her keep the things she stole.

They let her stay up late at night.

They never taught her wrong from right.

Beware of Goldilocks, that brat—

Don’t let her near your habitat!