A Planet is a Poem

 

This book is the perfect fusion of poetry, planetary facts, and illustrations, with a bonus fold out feature on every page. It will speak to all types of readers, and be a source of inspiration for teachers looking for ways to introduce poetry.  Each poem is a different style; the book includes a sonnet, ode, villanelle, ballad, concrete poem, and an acrostic, to name a few. The first is a sonnet for the solar system, followed by an ode to the Sun. Then,  each planet poem is introduced in order of how it appears in the solar system, a clever way to structure the collection. I particularly enjoyed reading each poem and then opening the foldout to learn more about each planet, including facts I didn’t know.  Did you know that we named craters on Mercury in honor of Earth’s artists, musicians, writers and dancers, like Shakespeare, Picasso and Dr. Seuss? Or, that Venus spins in the opposite direction as Earth? Or that Uranus is a sideways planet, making scientists believe that a rock the size of Earth knocked it sideways billions of years ago, causing it to spin like a barrel? I don’t love that the foldout pages don’t tuck back in very easily; I’ve already bent one page. Readers will need to be reminded to be careful. Overall, a very accessible, inspirational book, whether you want to read all the poems/facts, or choose one poem for a library/classroom lesson. Highly recommended. 

 

Telephone of the Tree

This upper elementary/middle grade novel is perfect for anyone navigating loss and grief, especially early stages of this circuitous journey. 10 year old Ayla uses various coping strategies, including denial, to deal with the loss of her nonbinary best friend, Kiri. Ayla’s neighborhood plants trees for people when they’re born or when they die. The tree metaphor is woven throughout the story, how roots reach for each other across distances, how trees share resources. Readers, even younger ones, will easily see how we are also like trees.  Early on, a rotary phone is placed in a tree and neighbors take turns calling and talking to loved ones who’ve passed on. (This book is inspired by a phone booth in Japan nicknamed “phone of the wind”, detailed in the author’s note.) Who hasn’t wished they could talk to a loved one, just one more time?  One of the characters, a 5 year old, calls his gecko, which young readers will relate to if they’ve lost a pet.  Ayla’s family and neighbors give her space to move toward a place of acceptance. This is a sparse, heartfelt story about a community watching out for each other. Ayla takes the time that she needs to accept her friend’s passing, while bearing witness to how others around her deal with their grief. The author dedicates this book to “all readers missing the voices of their loved ones.” It’ll speak to readers of all ages. Highly recommended.