BOOKSPEAK!: POEMS ABOUT BOOKS by Laura Purdie Salas

Author Laura Salas

Salas, Laura Purdie. 2011. BOOKSPEAK!: POEMS ABOUT BOOKS. Ill. by Josee Bisaillon. New York: Clarion. ISBN 9780547223001

Review

Bookspeak! is a whimsical and artistic approach to explain in fun poetry what the books on the shelf are saying.  A call to readers to look at their book jackets, pick them off the shelf, engage in their stories and take them along on vacations.  The mood of the book easily transitions between playful and serious.  LIGHTS OUT AT THE BOOKSTORE describes the party going on after hours among the books, while IF A TREE FALLS compares unread books to a story trapped inside of a cage.      Rhyme is used throughout including the first poem CALLING ALL READERS with I’ll tell you a story/I’ll spin you a rhyme/I’ll spill some ideas/and we’ll travel through time.  SKYWRITING uses alliteration with line after line/black birds/forming the flocks/page after page/and singing a story.  Salas also incorporates an acrostic in TOP SECRET, assonance in CALLING ALL READERS and PICTURE THIS by starting each line with “I’ll” or “I’m.”  For example, I’m the belle of the ball/I’m the star of the show!  Simple, but abstract, younger readers may have difficulty applying the personification.  For young adults, the clever poems accompanied by choppy, yet clean, and colorful illustrations will motivate readers to open a book! 

Poetry in Action:

Introducing the Poem:  This would be a fun activity to do before school lets out for summer to encourage kids to read over the summer.  Have your reading area set up like a beach with beach balls hanging, paper mache fish hanging, seaweed across the books and a relaxing spot with a chair and an umbrella.  Play the game, “I’m going on a vacation and I’m taking _______.”  Students of all ages like this game.  You go through the alphabet letters filling in the blanks with what you will take on a vacation.  For example, for the letter A, a student might say, “I’m going on vacation and I’m taking antibiotics/apple/ac adapter/air mattress.”  Just one answer will do.  Go around the room and through the alphabet. 

Follow up Activity:  Discuss with students why they might enjoy reading over their summer vacation.  For younger students, pull stories about summer and vacations for them to see.  For age appropriate students, pull verse novels (for TWU students, use Dr. Vardell’s A SAMPLING OF POPULAR VERSE NOVELS).  Between this meeting and the next, have students write a few sentences about a book they read during the school year that was their favorite.  Then, compile the book list and short paragraph summaries and distribute to the class as recommendations for them to read during the summer. 

VACATION TIME

Whenever I’m checked out, it’s like a vacation.

I’m scanned and I’m packed for a new destination!

I’ve floated in airplanes. I’ve lain on the beach.

I’ve hidden in bunk beds – just out of your reach.

Been stained by spaghetti, been splashed at the lake.

I’ve shared your adventures.  I’ve kept you awake.

At night in your sleeping bag – too dark to see –

You whipped out a flashlight to keep reading me.

I never quite know where my reader is bound,

and hundreds of times I’ve been lost and then found.

It’s good to get home, look around, see what’s new,

But before long I’m antsy… A trip’s overdue!