I'm always looking for poetry that kids will enjoy. Usually humor, sports, or animals are the key ingredients. This collection has humor and animals - so it's twice as likely to be a hit. Franco has written poems that not only showcase several types of poetry (concrete, haiku, cinquain, etc.), she also works in cool facts about the various fish. Fans of Nemo will love the poem, "Why clown fish hang out in the anemones." Those readers who are more interested in the visual elements will enjoy the poem's words being placed along the spines of the spiny puffer, or creating the stripes on the Moorish Idol. The acrostic poem carries an environmental message about endangered reefs and there is even a poem about reef food chains. The vibrant colors evoke a sense of summer beach fun that includes snorkelers appearing in the illustrations and then seen tucked into their beds beneath fishy quilts at the end of the book. There is a list of books and websites to check for further information, but this book on its own could introduce a unit on sea life, or on poetic forms. I would love to see a class create a similar book as their final assessment piece to conclude a unit on the ocean.
I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley. The scheduled publication date is October 1, 2015.
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