Title: Opening Days Sports Poems
Author: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrator: Scott Medlock
Publisher & Year of Publication: Harcourt, 1996
Genre: Poetry; Sports
Recommended Audience: Ages 8-12
Summary: This book includes a wide range of sports related poems. It is not gender bias and includes many poems that discuss females and males doing athletic activities. This book is unique because it focuses primarily on sports; which would entice and motivate many students to learn.
Evaluation/Reflection: What I appreciate most about this book, from a librarian perspective, is that it is multifaceted. It offers a range of sporting activities and emotions.
Memorable Literary Moment: These poems vary in how they are composed, ranging from rhyming to free verse. This would be an excellent book to explain how poems can vary in structure and tone.
Illustrations: Each poem is beautifully illustrated with water color paintings.
Review: The vitality of the language and the verve of Scott Medlock’s illustrations truly echo the energy and joy of participating in athletics in this unique collection of sports poems by a first-string team of beloved poets, including Jane Yolen, Walt Whitman, and Gary Soto. “A handsome addition to the expanding trove of sports anthologies.”-The Horn Book
Promotion Idea: April is national poetry month, and many spring sports are beginning. Librarians could pick a few poems to read from this book each week to students.
Acquisition: Public library or online retailers.
Author: Lee Bennett Hopkins
Illustrator: Scott Medlock
Publisher & Year of Publication: Harcourt, 1996
Genre: Poetry; Sports
Recommended Audience: Ages 8-12
Summary: This book includes a wide range of sports related poems. It is not gender bias and includes many poems that discuss females and males doing athletic activities. This book is unique because it focuses primarily on sports; which would entice and motivate many students to learn.
Evaluation/Reflection: What I appreciate most about this book, from a librarian perspective, is that it is multifaceted. It offers a range of sporting activities and emotions.
Memorable Literary Moment: These poems vary in how they are composed, ranging from rhyming to free verse. This would be an excellent book to explain how poems can vary in structure and tone.
Illustrations: Each poem is beautifully illustrated with water color paintings.
Review: The vitality of the language and the verve of Scott Medlock’s illustrations truly echo the energy and joy of participating in athletics in this unique collection of sports poems by a first-string team of beloved poets, including Jane Yolen, Walt Whitman, and Gary Soto. “A handsome addition to the expanding trove of sports anthologies.”-The Horn Book
Promotion Idea: April is national poetry month, and many spring sports are beginning. Librarians could pick a few poems to read from this book each week to students.
Acquisition: Public library or online retailers.