Poem definitions

Here’s something different:
a poetry collection presented as a sly dictionary of 51 challenging vocabulary words with clever poem definitions. From “aggregate” to “gregarious” to “lugubrious” to “refute” to “wistful,” poet and teacher Michael Salinger personifies each word in ways that suggest attributes and defining characteristics—making the word memorable and visual for kids (especially tweens and teens) who want to expand their word knowledge.

A table of contents (with the part of speech for each word designated) lists all the featured words, and an introduction by the author provides a bit of overall context. The small (5 X 7) trim size is appealingly pocket-sized and cartoonist Sam Henderson offers doodly pen and ink elliptical people for many of the poems.

Each poem begins with the vocabulary word in bold and then includes a description or list that gives the highlighted word a personality all its own. They're light on rhyme, but strong on structure, and built upon personification. Many of the poems end with a pair of clever end lines with a twist or surprise. A one-line straight definition of each word appears at the bottom of the page in small print. Here’s one example:

Obsolete is absolutely useless
although in the past
he was reasonably handy
time—it kept on ticking and he
just never bothered to adapt
so now he gets passed over
sits in the corner collecting dust
his colors are fading
his chrome has started to rust
but don’t feel too bad for obsolete
his future is not completely bleak
as long as he keeps hanging on
eventually he’ll become an antique.

[obsolete: no longer useful; outmoded]

Salinger, Michael. 2009. Well Defined; Vocabulary in Rhyme. Ill. by Sam Henderson. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 46.

I think it would be fun to use this as an example for a class project with kids working alone or in pairs on a designated word, creating vocab-poems that can then be combined in a class book. Challenge them to cover the alphabet with words from A to Z. What a great way to prepare or review for vocabulary tests or the SAT or ACT exams!

Image credit: http://www.michaelsalinger.com/

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2009. All rights reserved.

National Library Week: A new Pat Lewis library poem

This week is also National Library Week (April 13-19)! First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association. And of course, I have to share a library poem (perhaps my favorite topic of all). This time, I’m lucky enough to have a new, original poem to share from the always generous and prolific, J. Pat Lewis. Enjoy!



The Librarian
by J. Patrick Lewis

After school one day I was talking to Mr.
Butterwinkle, the school librarian.
"Can you
Define ABECEDARIAN?" I asked.
"Easy," he said. "But
First I think you should
Go to Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, and...
Hmm, here's one," he said. "Now,
Isabelle, when you're looking for sparkling word
Jewels, try to
Keep them spit-shined, ready to go. A dictionary's
Like a trap, an irresistible
Mind trap.
Nobody can discover
One beaut without two more
Popping up-fifty-cent
Quality words-in
Rapid
Succession,
Totally
Unexpected
Verbal
Whizbangs.
Xerox them. Hang them in your locker. Now
You're in the
Zone. Oh, I forgot. ABECEDARIAN. Look it up."

Used with permission from J. Patrick Lewis.

I love this ABC connection, don’t you? Paul Janeczko writes about this poetic form in Poetry from A to Z: A Guide for Young Writers (New York: Bradbury, 1994). I have posted about the link between the ABCs and poetry before on April 21, 2007, last year. Just as a refresher, here are some poetry collections that are organized alphabetically ala the dictionary.

Ada, Alma Flor. 1997. Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English. Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard.
Bryan, Ashley. 1997. Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry. Atheneum.
Harley, Avis. 2000. Fly with Poetry; An ABC of Poetry. Wordsong/Boyds Mills.
Harley, Avis. 2001. Leap into Poetry: More ABCs of Poetry. Wordsong/Boyds Mills.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2003. Alphathoughts. Boyds Mills Press.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 1994. April Bubbles Chocolate. Simon & Schuster.
Janeczko. Paul, comp. 1994. Poetry from A to Z: A Guide for Young Writers. Bradbury.
Merriam, Eve. 1995. Halloween ABC. Aladdin.
Schnur, Steven. 1997. Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic. Clarion. (See also: Winter: An Alphabet Acrostic; Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic; and Summer: An Alphabet Acrostic all by Steven Schnur)
Sierra, Judy. 2004. There's a Zoo in Room 22. Voyager.
Wilbur, Richard. 2001. The Disappearing Alphabet. Voyager.

Do you know of any other alpha-poems or alpha-poem collections? Visit your library during library week and let me know if you find any!

Picture credit: talking-dog.com

Dictionaries, ABCs, and poetry

On this day in 1828, Noah Webster published his first American Dictionary of the English Language. According to the Merriam-Webster web site (who knew?), Noah Webster “learned 26 languages, including Anglo-Saxon and Sanskrit, in order to research the origins of his own country's tongue. This book, published in 1828, embodied a new standard of lexicography; it was a dictionary with 70,000 entries that was felt by many to have surpassed Samuel Johnson's 1755 British masterpiece not only in scope but in authority as well…. He was the first to document distinctively American vocabulary such as skunk, hickory, and chowder.”

I thought it might be fun to look around and see if I could find any poetry collections that were organized alphabetically ala the dictionary. Several readily came to mind, but when I dug further, I was surprised at just how many I found. Here’s my list so far:

Ada, Alma Flor. 1997. Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English. Lothrop, Lee, & Shepard.
Bryan, Ashley. 1997. Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry. Atheneum.
Harley, Avis. 2000. Fly with Poetry; An ABC of Poetry. Wordsong/Boyds Mills.
Harley, Avis. 2001. Leap into Poetry: More ABCs of Poetry. Wordsong/Boyds Mills .
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2003. Alphathoughts. Boyds Mills Press.
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 1994. April Bubbles Chocolate. Simon & Schuster.
Janeczko. Paul, comp. 1994. Poetry from A to Z: A Guide for Young Writers. Bradbury.
Merriam, Eve. 1995. Halloween ABC. Aladdin.
Schnur, Steven. 1997. Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic. Clarion. (See also: Winter, Spring and Summer all by Steven Schnur)
Sierra, Judy. 2004. There's a Zoo in Room 22. Voyager.
Wilbur, Richard. 2001. The Disappearing Alphabet. Voyager.
Young, Judy. 2006. R Is for Rhyme: A Poetry Alphabet. Sleeping Bear Press.

If you work with children, the alphabet comes up a lot-- obviously. With younger children, it’s a subject for mastery. But even as children are growing up, they refer to it constantly as they alphabetize, research, and organize information. So, using the alphabet as a framework for creative activities is a natural. One of my favorite, sure-fire ways to approach class projects as a teacher was to produce group alphabet books, with each individual student taking one letter and creating one page for that letter. Why not use this framework for creating and organizing poetry with kids?

Picture credit: blogs.ipswitch.com