A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems

"Popsicle" is a shape poem in the shape of a popsicle. It's about a person licking a popsicle that's gradually melting on his hands and they get sticky. "Tennis Anyone?" is a poem about watching tennis and as you read the poem you must read one word at a time from the right side to the left side

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like your watching a tennis match.

This book of poems is fun to read because the shape of the poem goes along with the story of it. It's exciting to look at the poem and try to figure out what it will be about. All of the poems are unique and interesting.

I would have the students write thier own shape poem using curvey lines. Some of the poems could be used for different units such as summer.

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This was a VERY creative book of concrete poems that use even one word or number poems to create an illustration behind the meaning of the poem. The designs of the poems and the witty illustrations to complete the poems will make children love reading the poetry.

So fun! This collection of concrete poems would be a wonderful invitation for children to talk about words and to create their own concrete poems. Raschka's illustrative interpretation of each poem is brilliant, leaving white space for the pictures that the words create to take precedent. This is a

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must have book for any classroom or home in which writing is valued and encouraged.

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A Poke in the I is a collection of concrete poems. The words written on the page are in the shape of the item being talked about in the poem. Concrete poems are meant to be seen as well as heard. “I Need Contacts” is written like the eye exam chart you would see in the dr. office.

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“Popsicle” is a descriptive poem written about eating a popsicle and the messes that accompany it.

I enjoyed this book and how the shapes that the poems were written in caught my attention. I normally shy away from poetry as it is not my favorite type of reading but this book helped to show me that poetry can be interesting. The illustrations that accompanied the poems are wonderful.

I would use this book as an introduction to poetry to help show the kids that poetry can come in many different forms and that poetry can be fun. Also, this could book could be a great opener for a writing project or even an art project.

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A Poke in the I is a collection of "concrete" poems, which are arranged in clever, often playful, ways on the page. Oftentimes the shape of the poem is more evocative than the word or words in the poem. Some poems are silly, some are sweet, some are beautiful, but they are all complemented

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wonderfully by Chris Raschka's artwork.

This book is appropriate for people of all ages. Across the thirty poems, some are fun to read aloud for small children, some have subjects that will be understood more completely by adults, and the pictures will delight across the board. A good book, especially, to illustrate that poetry can be widely variable and can actually be fun. I would use this book to introduce poetry at a young age, before children have had a chance to form misconceptions about it.

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My favorite poems from A Poke in the I are the salmon and giraffe. The salmon poem uses vivid words to illustrate the salmon swimming in a stream. The giraffe poem cleverly describes the appearance of a giraffe.

I really found this book of concrete poetry fun and exciting. I also loved the colors

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and patterns used in the illustrations.

Extension Ideas
1. I would incorporate the salmon poem into my English unit on verbs.

2. Use pictures of different animals in an activity to teach similes. Example: A tiger can roar as loud as a lion.

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This poetry collection is tons of fun to read and a visual treat! The poems come alive with creative illustrations throughout the book. For example, in 'Anyone Tennis?' the poem is arranged in 2 spread out pages so you read from the left page and bounce to the right one and then back to the left

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and so on---the way your eyes follow the ball in the tennis court! Great collection, and very creative.

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A Poke in the I is a collection of thrity concrete poems. In these concrete poems the words are arranged into shapes that reflect what the poem is about. This collection of poems is unusual but fun. Children tend to be amazed by the placement of words and the illustrations in this book.

I thought

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this book was great. I loved the arrangemtent of words inot the different shapes. It's something that I was not used to reading which made it more fun and interesting to me. I think that children would definately love this book however younger children may not grasp the concept of the arrangement of words. I would recommend this book to children over the age of 8. Younger children would still enjoy the poems being read to them though.

Classroom Extension #1: For older children, I would have them create their own concrete poems. I would have them write it in the shape of whatever their poem was about. Once they are finished they could present it to the class.

Classroom Extension #2: For younger children I would probably just have a class discussion about a few of the poems. I would have them tell me which one was their favorite and why. We would also discuss the arrangement of the words for the poems. Once we finished talking about it, we could create a short silly concrete poem as a class. I would have the children tell me what they want it to be about and I would write the poem on a posterboard in the shape of what it was about.

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this week, week #4, our discussion was about the importance of design. And in my opinion this would be a great example. I love how the illustrations are collage like. but most of all I love the layout of the text. The way they are arranged makes these poems come alive off of each page.

A Poke in the I has thirty fun and odd concrete poems. The words from these poems are displayed in ways that reflect what the poem is about, for example one poem uses the shapes of crows that fly off the page.

This book was extremely fun to read, although there were some poems I had to read more

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than once to see the poem at all. The illustrations were more of a collage of art, which I felt increased the level of imagination.

This book would be great in teaching how to create a concrete poem, they could look at the illustrations for inspiration for their own work.

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A Poke in the I is a very fun collection of poems.

According to dicitonary.com a concrete poem is "a poem whose meaning is conveyed through its graphic shape or pattern on the printed page." This is exactly what this book is full of. The poem "Tennis Anyone?" makes you move your eyes back and forth

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to read it correctly, imitating the action of a tennis, a poem about a giraffe is shaped like a giraffe,the poem merging traffic merges the words "merge" and "traffic".

This book is a lot of fun and very creative. It has been filled with bright, colourful, and abstract illustrations to accompany each poem. It won the British Fantasy Award in 2001 and has been highly praised by teachers, and newspapers alike.

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Summary:
This book is full of concrete poems, which are poems arranged on the page in a shape. My favorite was the one about a Popsicle in the shape of a popsicle.

Personal Reaction:
I really liked this book, I enjoy poems. The visual aspects of this book makes it ideal for children.

Classroom

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Extension:
1. Have the students write their own concrete poems.

2. Have the students have a discussion about why they like poetry or why they do not like poetry.

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This is a collection of 30 concrete poems. Concrete poems are described by the editor of the book as being playful with unique positioning of letters and words creating a unique format. The poems are written by a variety of authors and each one is illustrated with simple drawings, paintings, and/or

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collages. The poems themselves illustrate the message of the poem depending on how it is written. For example, the poem, "Easy Diver," is written in a way that the text looks like an arrow pointing downwards. I especially liked the "Tennis Anyone?" poem that spans two pages and makes you bounce back and forth between the pages to read the poem, just like watching a tennis match. This is a fun and creative book that makes us realize how creative and non-threatening poetry can be. I would definitely recommend this book, especially for a poetry unit. Children could have fun creating their own concrete poems based on what this book shows us. I never enjoyed poetry as a child because it seemed to have so many rules and parameters, but this book opened up my eyes to a new look on poetry.

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Majority of the poems are concrete poems. It may be difficult for students to read these poems on their own since the poems are vertical, sideways, curvy, varies in font sizes. May be fun for tag students to work on individually. The author seems to focus more on making the page look exciting than

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giving a meaningful message to the reader. The author does a great job with the illustrations and making each page interactive and engaging.

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This book is a book of poems. I thought it was a great book because it happened to be a book of concrete poems. I loved how the poems made a picture. THis might be fun for young children to read. The poems are written in a variety of different ways.

This is an awesome book filled with creative poetry styles. From visual sound poems to pattern poems, these brightly colored pages and laid out letters will have the reader laughing and enjoying short creative poems.

Concrete poems are a great way to draw pictures with words. These poems do not necessarily rhyme but the formation of the words create great pictures for the readers.

This book is perfect for helping children understand the reasons why people pass away and help children deal with grief. Death is a difficult subject that is handled differently. Raschka uses balloons instead of humans to capture the child’s attention. It is a well written book and very creative.

A creative collection of concrete poems to inspire a careful and unusual look at topics, items. Readers love the surprising, creative poems.

My VOYA Ratings: 5Q,5P
This collection of poems was a visual delight. The reading experience encompassed ore than verse, it included a visual literacy. I thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend for all ages.
Quote:
Cat Chair (7)

I think that this is an excellent book! I love how the poems in the book truly portray and even resemble the central message. The central message of this book is that concrete poems are eye-catching and come in different shapes and sizes. The author and illustrator portray this central message

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simply by combining text and illustrations to make poems come alive on the page. For example, the text in the poem written about a lightbulb is written in the shape of a lightbulb.I think that gives readers a deeper understanding of the poem because they can visualize what the poem is actually about through the text. Also, I like how the illlustrations tie into the poems. For example, on the lightbulb poem there is an illustration of a boy thinking. I think that by including an illustration of a boy thinking and shaping the text in the poem to that of a lightbulb, the reader's mind can truly grasp what the poem is about, or at least visualize it. I also like how the type and size of the font throughout the text changes. By having the text be different size and type font, the author keeps the reader interested and creates a book that has variety, spunk, and creativity.

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Awesome layout of the poems, really fun to read and see how each was designed. This also made the poem a lot more interesting and adds emphasis to them.

I am not particularly fond of concrete poems, as I find them difficult to read aloud, so maybe I'm not the best person to review this book... but I found it lacking. It, most certainly, would be important to include concrete poems in any unit or study of poetry, but would be better used for an

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independent exploration.

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Summary: This is a collection of concrete poetry from a page full to just one worded concrete poems.

Personal Reaction: I didn't like this book because it did not make sense! The emphasis was focused on how it looked rather than what it is saying which I do not like.

Classroom Extensions: The

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students will create their very own unique concrete poem.
2. The students could also draw a silly illustration with it.

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