Kids Lit
Books and More for Children and Teens

Shape Me a Rhyme: Nature's Forms in Poetry by Jane Yolen, photographs by Jason Stemple.

Following in the tradition of their first two books of poetry and photos (Color Me a Rhyme and Count Me a Rhyme), Jane Yolen and her son focus this time on shapes.  Each poem focuses on a specific shape with the corresponding photograph.  As always, Yolen's poetry manages to be both simple and deep.  Her words are accessible, but each poem will have children thinking more deeply than they may have expected.  What a testimony to her gift as a poet.  Stemple's photographs offer a real visual treat.  From the fiery ball of the sun with grassy silhouettes before it to the arch of a sand dollar half hidden in the sand, his photographs add another dimension to the poems. 

My favorite poem is that of the rectangle where readers will find rectangles reflected in the strands of a spider web.  Made me want to immediately head outdoors and find shapes in my local spider webs.  Just lovely.

Recommended to add a little poetry to a mathematics class looking at shapes.  It will also be a welcome addition to kindergarten classrooms where it may inspire an outdoor expedition for shapes in nature. 

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