POETRY FRIDAY

Fourth of July seems like a perfect time to share Bob Raczka's newest book, PRESIDENTIAL MISADVENTURES.  This time, Raczka, author of LEMONADE and SANTA CLAUSES, has turned his attention to all things presidential, writing a clerihew (four lines, focused on a person, person's name mentioned in first line, AABB rhyme scheme) with a little known fact about each person. One that fits my life perfectly, given that I started a book reorganizing project this week…

"Book collector Millard Fillmore
Owned a ton but wanted still more
Believing that books make us less barbarian
Millard became the first White House librarian." 

And given that my Spanish efforts are limping along…

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hoover
were known as eavesdropping disapprovers
To keep folks from listening to what they said
They spoke not in English but Chinese instead.

Illustrations are black and white, almost political cartoon style. An author's note in the front explains the history of the clerihew, then author's notes in the back give a little more background about each poem. 

These would be fun to try as part of a multi-genre research project. 

Donna at MAINELY WRITE is hosting POETRY FRIDAY today.