Module 2: Poetry Book by Douglas Florian

 

Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars

Bibliography

Florian, Douglas. (2007). Comets, stars, the moon, and mars. Harcourt, Inc. ISBN: 9780152053727

 

Summary

Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars is a collection of poetry and paintings by Douglas Florian and a Cybils Award nominee.  Florian combines facts and information about space within his rhyming and rhythmic poems about the planets, stars, black holes and many more space related items.  The use of paintings to accompany the poetry gives the pages not only vibrant color, but a feeling of texture.  Each poem has a two-page spread, which leaves lots of room for the paintings and the text doesn’t feel overwhelming.  There are small cut outs on each page, which will keep the reader’s attention throughout the book.  The book includes a table of contents with poem titles and their corresponding page numbers as well as a glossary at the end of the book which gives additional information about each of the space terms used as titles.  The book also includes a list of books and websites for further reading on space.

 

Analysis

The focus of the collection seems to be to deliver information and meaning to the reader.  The poet does this with the use of rhythm and rhyme throughout the poems.  However, Florian makes each sound and look different.  The rhyming lines are different and the number of lines and stanzas changes throughout the book as well.  Sometimes the poet has the even lines rhyming and sometimes it is back to back lines that rhymes. 

The poet includes poems with stanzas of two lines, four lines, or the poem is one stanza by itself.  The poet even includes the poem “A Galaxy” which is written in a spiral.  Florian keeps the vocabulary appropriate for elementary aged students, but some younger students may need further instruction on some words like galore, crescent, and frigid.  The poet also uses figurative language to help readers visualize these space objects, like when he describes a comet as “a dirty snowball.”

This collection is a great way to get elementary students excited about space.  I can see students coming back to the library to learn more about each of these space items after getting a small taste of them from this book.  His mention of the planet names being based on Greek and Roman gods and goddesses may even trigger students to check out books on mythology as well.

 

Poem

Mercury

Speedy, nimble, quick, and fast,

Round the sun it rushes past.

Always racing, on the run…

You’d run, too, so near the sun.

 

Activity

This book would be a great review at the end of a unit on space in elementary school (my district does this unit in fifth grade).  The teacher could read 1-2 of the poems aloud to the students to show them the rhythm and rhyme of the poems.  Then the teacher could split them up into groups of 2-3 and assign each group a planet poem.  The group can read through the poem a couple times and then write down a fact about their planet they learned from the poem.  Groups can then share their poems and facts with the whole class.