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Friday, October 5, 2012

SHIVER ME TIMBERS- Douglas Florian


SHIVER ME TIMBERS! 
Strap on your eye patch and head to your nearest bookstore! 
Douglas Florian has a new book!
And it's one you are definitely going to want to own!

SHIVER ME TIMBERS is pure treasure! Even the scurviest mate in your class/life is going to love this book of 19 poems about pirates!

It's got a little, ok actually a lot, of humor! Take the poem "Pirates Meet," for example:
On Monday we had haddock
On Tuesday tuna fish.
We dined on weakfish Wednesday.
Shark, our Thursday dish.
On Friday we had flounder.
Saturday ate fluke
If we had fish for one more day
Me thinks that I will puke.
It's got lots of interesting and unusual words, put together in ways that make them fun to roll around in your mouth and your brain.
"Names for Pirates"
"Pirates, picaroons, buccaneers
Freebooters, filibusters, privateers,
Raiders, rovers, salt sea-robbers
Avast ye lily-livered landlubbers!"
And then, as you might expect in a book by Doug Florian; there's lots of language play. In the poem, "Pyrates" for example, Florian plays with "rrr."
ARRR!!
…We call our ship a man o' warrr!
We sail to ports both near and farrr!
Perfect for reading and enjoying, but also for teaching concepts like alliteration and repetition.

If you are a Florian follower, you know that he usually does his own collage illustrations. SHIVER ME TIMBERS! is illustrated by Robert Neubecker, who is best known, at least in the world of children's books, for books like WOW! SCHOOL! and WOW! CITY! I always love Florian's collages, but the Neubecker's art works really well with the pirate theme.

I'd walk the plank, eat hardtack for a week, or battle the fiercest buccaneer for this one!

Laura Salas is hosting Poetry Friday this week.

9 comments:

Author Amok said...

"Names for Pirates" -- great concept for a poem. Carol, with so many pirate-themed books on the market, what do you think makes this one stand out? Just curious.

Carol said...

Hmm! Great question! For me, three things stand out:
1) Florian always does an amazing job embedding interesting information into his poems. The poems make kids (and adults) wonder and ask questions. I love that!
2) I always love Douglas Florian's ability to put words together. His poems roll around on your tongue, then stay in your brain even after you stop reading them.That makes them super fun to read, but it also makes them great fluency builders for kids that are struggling readers. The strength of the language just kind of carries them along.
3) I also love the vocabulary Florian uses. Think it pushes kids' language to new levels.
4) Usually Florian's art is also super interesting. He didn't illustrate this one though.

laurasalas said...

Fun--looks like a great companion to David Harrison's Pirates, one of my favorite poetry collections, but a much more menacing, realistic collection.

jama said...

Ahoy, me beauty! We're on the same wave length today. I agree with your assessment of this book -- excellent all around. There's lots of great in pirate information in the poems. I also think the brand of humor between poet and illustrator is a perfect match.

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

I'd buy the book just for 'Prates Meet!' Sounds like a fun book!

Douglas Florian said...

Thanx, Carol! The check is in the mail!
Douglas

Linda B said...

I saw it on Jama's blog too-lots of fun here for lots of kids, who love pirates! I'll have to put in on the library's wish list, Carol.

Mary Lee said...

So excited that this book is on its way to me! My only (tiny) sadness is that it doesn't have Florian illustrations.

Maria said...

Finally have some time today to read Poetry Friday blogs- I missed this new book. What fun ideas and most important the students will be so engaged with them. Thanks for sharing a new title.