Florian, Douglas. 2007. COMETS, STARS, THE MOON, AND MARS. Florida: Harcourt. ISBN 9780152053727
Review
Vivid and striking paintings with geometric cut-outs capture the audience’s attention and lead the reader into a glowing collection of space-inspired, educational poems. Florian uses his writing to teach knowledge of planets and all things space including size, purpose, and color.
Rhyme is a constant pattern throughout the book, hence Skywatch,
you might try/the starry sky
and
good to sight/very bright.
Some poems also use pattern as in Pluto, which uses “Pluto was a planet” for every other line.
Sense imagery is used throughout the book as Florian describes the planets in ways the reader can visualize. Mercury uses movement words like speed, quick, fast, rush, and racing. A Galaxy uses descriptive words such as round, flat, and spiral. This poem is written in a swirl shape to resemble the swirling galaxy movement to enhance the written word.
Other worthy notes include the use of metaphor in The Minor Planets to compare the small planets to breakfast buns. This fun use might make you hungry! His poem, Martians, uses alliteration as it repeats the terms Mars and Martians in the lines. Whether for educational purposes or just for fun, this book is one you will want in your child’s collection.
Poetry in Action:
Introducing the Poem: Show students real life pictures from NASA’s website: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/?s=1
which includes sand, ice caps, and even some unexplained things.
Follow up Activity: Give each student a balloon to blow up and have them use markers to illustrate the description of Mars on the balloon. Attach a string and piece of paper to the balloon and have students write a Martian-tale for Mars. Then have students pass the balloons around so that everyone gets to see others’ illustrations and read their tales.
Mars
Mars is red,
And Mars is rusty,
Sandy, rocky,
Very dusty.
Mars has ice caps.
Once had streams.
Mars has Martians…
In your dreams!
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