Underneath My Bed

November 1, 2016

Gr 2-5-With polish and wit, Cleary has come up with a title for educators, homeschoolers, and young poets on how to create and read a list poem. Clustered around topics that would be of interest to the elementary set, poems take on home, school, sports, and camp. The school-themed poems tackle subjects such as the lost and found and the school microwave. Jump rope skippers will appreciate the iambic beat of "Alison's a chatterbox. Ben is always crying./Chloe smells like chicken soup, and Dylan's often lying." The themes of the pieces on home and family include the discovery of forgotten and unusual items from under the bed, the glove box, and the pockets of cargo shorts. One poem, "Yellow," has an accompanying yellow illustration and the rhyme "Butterscotch and bumblebees, /ears of corn and mac and cheese." There are many embellishments on the poetic form, such as rhyming couplets, internal rhymes, and alliteration. This selection will have students writing list poems in no time. Cute, cartoon-style illustrations support the images within each poem. VERDICT Appropriately sized for independent readers, this fun and imaginative volume is a go-to poetry handbook for the elementary crowd.-Teresa Pfeifer, The Springfield Renaissance School, MA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2016
Grades 2-4 With this sixth addition to the Poetry Adventures series, Cleary is on his way to being an expert at introducing children to types of poems they would otherwise have no idea about. This entry presents list poems, which are exactly what they sound like lyrical lists. Although the idea sounds simple enough, the poems are surprisingly rich, including an ode to a teacher's ties, the woes of phlegm, and an alphabetical classroom. A list of everything yellow reads, Butterscotch and bumblebees / ears of corn and mac and cheese / pet canaries, dandelions / those silly shoes of Uncle Brian's, while the accompanying illustration on the page is just as delightful. Watson's cartoon illustrations are colorful and bright, featuring diverse and comically expressive people with round faces. In one, a mischievous-looking student has scrunched up in the class pet's cage, while in another, a child looks positively green from what lives in the school microwave. The combination of the poems and illustrations will provoke a laugh in even the most devout of poem dislikers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)