TWOSOMES by Marilyn Singer

Poetry Tag continues with a book review of a new book of poetry connected to yesterday's book review.

Today’s tagline: Poems about animals in pairs

Guest Reviewer: Sarah Razer

Featured Book: Singer, Marilyn. Ills. by Lee Wildish. Twosomes. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 9780375867101

Sarah writes: These fifteen poems may be only two lines long each, but they are sweet and specific to the animal the poem describes. Whether adding an animal trait, such as chameleons changing color, or a word pun ("Come leap with me and be my wife. You're the porpoise of my life" in "Dolphins"), these short poems are fun for children and adults alike, so the book appeals to all ages. While younger audiences will enjoy the funny rhymes that focus on love, the adults will catch the wittiness and puns. Poems have a natural flow with short, simple rhymes that are still clever. It evokes silliness and happiness in what appears as childlike rhymes, but are actually clever and knowledgeable rhymes. These love poems are consistent for each animal from around the animal kingdom and it will certainly put anyone in a loving mood, and possibly lead someone to spend some extra time with a pet.



The illustrations are cute and colorful, small and comical. It's a sweet little book that could be given to anyone of any age as a Valentine's present or simply for the love of poetry. 



Sample Poem
 


Porcupines

by Marilyn Singer

"Hugging you takes some practice.

So I'll start out with a cactus."



Connections

The poems are only two lines long which provides young children an example of poetry on a level that they can grasp. It also offers examples a child could mimic. Five year olds can think of rhyming words and would possibly be able to take a trait from an animal they like and create a brief poem. It centers on the emotion of love, but also on the popular topic of animals. Both of these are elements a child can understand. Sometimes the explanations can be short and direct and the poems in Twosomes are short and clear examples of a type of poetry that all ages can understand.

Tomorrow’s tagline: Poems about a pair of sisters

[You can still purchase your own copy of PoetryTagTime, an e-book with 30 poems, all connected, by 30 poets, all connected and downloadable right now at Amazon for your Kindle or Kindle app for your computer, iPad or phone. Just 99 cents. Don’t miss it.]

Image credit: Knopf, PoetryTagTime

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell and students © 2011. All rights reserved.