I love picture books. Like crazy, unofficial librarian in my own mind, love picture books. You may have noticed I often recommend books to go with various projects and recipes, I have a whole section devoted to books I love by topic, and include extensive reading lists in all of my books. I also love writing lessons and curriculum and am constantly have discussions with other authors about how I’d love to write a lesson for their book. So I decided to stop talking about it and start doing it! Introducing Picture Book Buds, where I will share some of my favorite picture books and pair them with a craft or lesson and an easy snack. (Check out Picture Book Hikes too which was a an offshoot of Picture Books Buds as I started making lists of books I wanted to feature!)
When the World is Dreaming
By Rita Gray & Illustrated by Kenard Pak
This book is adorable, and i often use it during hibernation lessons even though it is not set during the winter. It is a series of poetic texts about different animals dreaming. (This is why we talk about it during hibernation.) It opens with a haiku poem written by the 18th-century Japanese poet Fukuda Chiyo-ni which is a nice way to talk about the history of the haiku and this interesting, historical female poet and master of the haiku. Fun fact– I can still remember the haiku I wrote in 2nd grade. Or 1st grade? I remember nothing about the circumstances that led to me writing a haiku, but I remember the poem so vividly that it must have been extremely important to my young mind. (Scroll to the end if you want to be dazzled by my 2nd grade mind at work…) I mention this to say, don’t assume that your kiddo is too young for poetry. It’s a great way to synthesize information. (And Chiyo-ni started at 7!) And, to be clear, I am not a big poetry person, I generally find rhyme and meter intimidating, but it seems more doable in haiku form.
Dreaming Animal Haiku Poems
First read “When the World is Dreaming.”
Next, decide what animal you want to feature in your poem. It might be an animal you saw in your yard on on a hike (So technically this could be a Picture Book Hike too!) or just an animal you are interested in. You can use the graphic organizer below to do some research about your animal– what does it eat, where does it live etc? (Check out non fiction books from the library about your animal.) I especially like to find interesting or unusual facts! Once you have done some research and have some good base knowledge about the animal, use that information to brainstorm what it might dream about. This is where you can get really creative. You can think about the facts you recorded as a jumping off point– for instance– raccoons wash their food before they eat it. So maybe they dream about water? Maybe they dream about pirate ships or sea voyages? Maybe they dream about bobbing for apples! Write down a few ideas and pick you favorite.
Once you have decided what you animal dreams about, learn a little more about how to write a haiku;
haiku: /ˈhīˌko͞o/ noun a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world.
syllable: /ˈsiləb(ə)l/ noun a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word; e.g., there are two syllables in water and three in inferno.
A haiku is arranged like so:
5 syllables
7 syllables
5 syllables
If kids are having trouble figuring out syllables try tapping them out with your hand– it makes it much easier to hear and count syllables. Now think about the most important parts of the animal’s dream, haikus are short so you won’t be able to include all of the information you wrote down in your research, instead you will have to pick out the just most important things. Once you have the a finished haiku, write it in the dream bubble on the sheet below and add a drawing of the sleeping animal below!
Vegetable Animals
In the book rabbit dreams about carrots and peas and cabbage wings. This immediately made me think about a vegetable fairy or butterfly. You can make any animal that strikes you fancy out of vegetables, even if they don’t dream about carrots like rabbit does.
Ingredients:
- Assorted vegetables (carrots, peas, tint tomatoes, sliced radishes, sweet peppers, lettuce, anything colorful that you like to eat!)
- Dip or dressing (optional- for eating!)
Method:
Play with your food! Arrange your vegetables to make different animal shapes. Once you are happy with your masterpiece, eat it!!