Friday, February 2, 2007
Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry by Joyce Sidman
A little tan dog zooms out of the front door of his home; a white kitten is pushed from a car by the side of the road. Through the magic of concrete poetry, their stories meet and merge in the park during a thunderstorm. The poet and the illustrator/designer combine talents to create a book full of verbal and pictorial imagery that is charming and inventive. Spiky-topped green letters form the grass in the park and read "PATCHWORK, RABBIT-NIBBLED, MOWER-CROPPED, WIND-WHISPERED GRASS". On the "nosetrail" of the cat, the dog's singlemindedness is momentarily waylaid: "catcatcatcatcat...catcatcatcatCHIPMUNK! The clouds grow from "WISP" to closely layered "SNOW-WHITE ROLLS AND DOLLOPS STUPENDOUSLY SWELLING". The multiple fonts and perfect color palette make this digitally-created book a treat. The poet has had experience teaching children how to write concrete poetry; this amazing little book will inspire others to creativity.
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3 comments:
I concur - this is an amazing book. There's a simple plot with a beginning middle and end while the illustrations are built with words. Even the small ladybug has a poem: "lady bugs/but really beetles/and not all ladies" It's a book for individuals to linger with and teachers to use for a writing/art model.
The text at the bottom of each page, in the grass, is very hard to read. Maybe it's just my old eyes, but I wish there were more contrast between letters and background.
Yes, pretty amazing. There is so much going on throughout this little gem. Animal (food chain) relationships; cloud identification; design concepts; and SO MUCH POETRY. So cool!
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