I love poems about animals.
JooHee Yoon must too, because she has compiled a fun, innovative book of poems called Beastly Verse.
Her bright illustrations in yellows, oranges, reds, and greens make the poems jump off the page. (Good thing the animals don't jump off--they only seem to.)
Some of the poems are long. Some are short. Some are serious. Some are silly. Some rhyme. Some don't. All celebrate the wonderfulness that is the animal world.
Do you like to write verse about beasts? Try using one of these poems as a model:
The Friendly Hen by Arthur Waugh
Some birds lay eggs in towering trees,
And some in fens conceal them;
The hen seeks friendlier haunts than these,
Where every child can steal them.
Or if caterpillars are more your thing, here's a poem for you:
Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry,
Take your walk
To the shady leaf, or stalk,
Or what not,
Which may be the chosen spot.
No toad spy you,
Hovering bird of prey pass by you;
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.
Let your poem squawk like a hen or crawl like a caterpillar. Invent your own beast--a henpillar or caterhen. Whether your verse is beastly or ghastly or ghostly, have fun!
