The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects

Meh. ?�Overly ambitious, as Janeczko wanted 1. 50 Objects 2. Historical eras 3. Women 4. Non-Euro/ American. ?áObjects" turns out to mean grass at least twice, not to mention a grainfield, and the moon, a wildgoose, etc...

I normally do not like Raschka at all, but I do admit that his style fit

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*some* of these poems fairly well. ?áThe introduction is moderately interesting, and the introductory and closing poems (both by women of color) are rich yet accessible.

Strong poems, imo, included Things by Eloise Greenfield, In Praise of a Sword Given Him by His Prince by Colman mac Lenini (trs Richard O'Connell), A Burnt Ship by John Donne, ?áThe Summer Day by Mary Oliver, and Famous by Naomi Shibab Nye.?á

Overall, I'm not thrilled andam not recommending this. ?áI especially don't recommend it for younger or less-interested readers."

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A quick tour of poets through the ages.

In this collection of poems, it goes through the history of poetry with different examples from each time period.

I loved this book because no only was their beautiful poetry, there was also history. Children who read this will get a taste of both. It was very interesting to read and notice the

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changes throughout history and the different subject matter. The illustrations were very lovely as well, and helped with visualizing the poetry.

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I enjoyed the mix of poetry and history that this story brought about. It was interesting to read in simple poems about the history of the world as it sees poetry. Each poem is unique and the thoughtful and consistent illustrations made it thoroughly enjoyable. I think this would be a great set for

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the early reader.

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The Death of the Hat is an anthology of poems dating back to the year 400 A.D. The author of the book selected poems specifically about objects, and used them to tell the history of poetry by breaking the book up into different literary periods of the past, leading up to the present. The

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illustrations are beautifully done in watercolor, I believe, and reflect the mood of each poem.

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This book was quite interesting, as you go into the book each poem is in time period order. The book starts in 400 A.D.-presesnt days. It was quite interesting as well you get to see how the language develops as time goes along. I enjoyed this book because it came with more if a historical

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background.

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I really enjoyed the previous poetry collaborations of Janeczko and Raschka. This one is an ambitious addition. As many have noted, this collection is probably for older kids than A Kick in the Head et al.- more middle school than elementary, and probably for those who are already interested in

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poetry (and not just Silverstein and Prelutsky). I enjoyed the poems, although I'm not enough of a poetry reader to comment on the selection. I love the illustrations; Raschka's impressionistic and abstract watercolors are just made for poetry. I really wish that the introductory information had been incorporated into the body of the book, linking each poem together. I think many readers will skip over the four pages of small type and skip to the poems, thereby missing the point of the collection.

Poetry for children tends to be either A Child's Garden of Verses or funny rhymes. There's nothing wrong with either, but young readers who are interested in poetry often have no choice but to dive into adult collections. I think this book might provide a helpful bridge.

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