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Friday, July 3, 2015

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. 



12 comments:

Keri said...

I love how these clerihews humanize the presidents with humor!

Linda B said...

I suspect I will love this book, Carol. Thanks for sharing the Fillmore one. I too am organizing as you know-yikes, so many decisions as to what to keep & how to organize what I keep.

Rebecca Gomez said...

I've never heard of a clerihew before!

Mary Lee said...

I can't wait to see this one! I'm a big Bob Raczka fan!

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

I had a look at this when I was doing clerihew month on TLD (last April)– it's a terrifically fun book!

Author Amok said...

What a cool book! I bet young history books will love this one. Presidential Librarian -- that sounds like an amazing job.

Cathy said...

This book looks like a lot of fun. I can't wait to check it out.

Cathy

Robyn Hood Black said...

Thanks for this timely peek into this new book! Love the concept.
Happy Fourth to you and yours... :0)

Donna Smith said...

Oh, that is such a fun book. I should think that would be a great way to start to build some interest in a research or biography writing project with kids.

Bridget Magee said...

Love the humanization of each president. This is going on my TBR list ASAP! Thanks for reminding me to check this book out and to share it with my kids, Carol. =)

Catherine said...

This looks like a lot of fun. Thanks so much for sharing it today!

Carol Varsalona said...

Michelle Barnes introduced me online to Bob Raczka and I purchased his book. Thanks for the news of the recent edition to the Faczka book list.