Stampede!: Poetry Review
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Salas, Laura Purdie. Stampede!:
Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School. New York, NY: Clarion Books.
ISBN-13: 978-0618914883
Salerno, Steven. Stampede!:
Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School. Laura Purdie Salas. New York,
NY: Clarion Books. ISBN-13: 978-0618914883
SUMMARY/ANALYSIS
This book contains a collection of 18 poems that share
different school experiences, written by Laura Purdie Salas and illustrated by
Steven Salerno. These poems bring to life several aspects of school life,
whether it is the confusion of walking between classes, picture day at school,
the embarrassment of having the tummy rumbles during class, dealing with grade
school crushes, and many other humorous, relatable school happenings. Salas
uses repetitious rhyme and rhythm throughout the poems, allowing readers to
catch on to the flow of the poems in this collection, creating an
easy-to-follow style of reading. Each poem revolves around a different aspect of
school/school experiences but are all similar in one way; all of these poems serve
to showcase the “wild side” of school by tying in animalistic imagery,
comparing the students to a variety of wildlife.
Paired with each poem is a unique illustration, perfectly
fitting each individual poem in its school aspect description. These
illustrations are colorful, quirky cartoon-style interpretations of each poem, and
(similar to the book collection’s poems) also tie in to the “wild side” of
school theme by ensuring that some type of wildlife makes it into each poem’s
drawing. These drawings serve to complement the poems, bringing the poetic words
to life through the illustrations created by Steven Salerno. In this way, the creatively
worded poems and amusing artistry match up perfectly.
One such example of perfectly paired poem and illustration
can be found in the poem called “Prickly”. This short poem speaks of a student who
is in a grouchy mood and does not want to be bothered, describing their mood as
follows:
When I’m feeling
Porcupine-y,
I get nasty,
I get whiny.
Stay away or
I might stick you.
My sharp words are
quills to prick you.
The poem immediately sets up the imagery in the reader’s
mind to revolve around the themed wildlife animal that is the porcupine. Words that
help to build upon this image are prick(ly), stick, sharp, quills, and of
course porcupine-y. From this poem the reader can clearly imagine a grouchy,
defensive student who does not wish to be spoken to, carrying themselves in
such a way as to warn other to stay away or beware. The illustration accompanying
this poem matches up perfectly. The cartoon drawing for “Prickly” shows a
little girl standing outside of a school window where other students stare out
timidly. Her arms are crossed over her chest, she has a clearly unamused face
in place, a strong stance with her legs spread apart, and prickly hair that
seems to stand on age. Her shadow casts an image that looks just like a
porcupine, making her spiky hair stand out as the animal’s body. This drawing
pairs perfectly with the poem and serves to strengthen the animalistic imagery
of the porcupine.
The same is done all throughout the book, presenting
various wildlife animal themes in the school poems, incorporating fun artwork
along side them. This was such a fun, humorous read and I highly recommend it
for grade-school children, as they can relate to the situations presented
within the collection.
POEM PLUS “TAKE 5” ACTIVITIES
One of my favorite poems from Laura Purdie Salas’s book is
one called “Playground Sparrows”. This wonderful, full-of-life poem is a
perfect example of the book collection’s animalistic imagery. The words and
phrases in this poem serve to create imagery of the school children at play as
if they are sparrows, freely flying around. It is a lighthearted, fun poem,
cleverly pairing words associated with birds, schools, and is paired with a beautiful
illustration of kids in flight around the school playground.
Playground
Sparrows
By Laura Purdie Salas
In one wave, we fly the coop.
We flood the field, we slide and loop.
We flock together, shout and whoop.
Then school bell rings and, --
No
more
group!
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRing!
Take 5
Activities
1. Use your hands and voice to
make bird-like gestures and noises while you read the poem aloud to the group,
making sure to show the illustration.
2. Have the children read
along as you all reread the poem aloud together, having the students shout out “RRRRRRRRING!”
together at the end of the poem.
3. With the children, do a
quick internet search to see what sparrows look like. With the children pick
out which words reminded them of sparrows.
4. Pair this poem with the picture
book Monsters Love School by Mike
Austin (HarperCollins, 2014) and talk about common school experiences and how
monsters and animals can both be “wild”.
5. Connect this poem with
another poem about the playground, “The Swing: A Children’s Poem on the
Playground” by Kimberlee Conway Ireton (TweetSpeakPoetry.com). Discuss
similarities in the two poems and talk about favorite playground activities
with the group.
Comments
Post a Comment