by Joyce Sidman, Illustrated by Pamela ZagarenskiSidman, Joyce, and Pamela Zagarenski. 2009. Red sings from treetops: a year in colors. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN 0-547-01494-5.
Red Sings from Treetops is a poem picture book, where poet Joyce Sidman shares the colors and senses she associates with each season. Illustrations and poem come together to create a fanciful display and expression of sight, sound and imagination. In spring, “green is new” and “yellow shouts with light!” In summer, “yellow melts everything it touches…smells like butter, tastes like salt. In fall, “brown rustles and whispers underfoot” and in winter, “In the winter woods, gray and brown hold hands.”
The poet uses a poetic style that incorporates the combination of rhyming rhythm with that of free verse For example, page one reads, “Red sings from treetops: cheer-cheer-cheer, each note dropping like a cherry into my ear. Red turns the maples feathery, sprouts in rhubarb spears; Red squirms on the road after the rain.” The combination of both styles may cause the rhythmic flow of the poem to appear unnatural; especially with children, who are exposed more often than not to rhyming schemes alone. I would agree, especially in reference to this poem picture book, with Professor Vardell, where in our text she suggest, “reading the poem aloud yourself so children can hear how the words and rhythm sound”, prior to inviting them to participate. I do believe that the arrangement of lines and verses was a decision by the poet and used primarily to create a rhythmic flow with just the right amount of cadence.
The poet incorporates rhyming schemes through various methods. She uses rhyming words at the end of lines and also uses the same word within the lines. For example, “Black holds secrets in summer: night-sky Black, underneath-stones Black.” This method gives the color greater emphasis. Another example can be heard when the poet expresses the color orange in fall, “Orange ripens in full, heavy moons, thick with pulp and seed. Orange flickers, all smoke and candles. Orange eyes. Orange cheeks. Orange teeth.” The sound of the poem is a mixture of repeated words, as the previous example illustrates and also evident in the example, “cheer- cheer- cheer,” and onomatopoeia words like; “BOOM”, “Snap!”, and “crunch!” I would most surely agree that these unique styles add drama to the poem.
The language of the poem is bursting with a variety of elements. There are similes and metaphors; “Yellow smells like butter, taste like salt.” “White sounds like storms:” There are descriptive phrases and words; “snapped twigs and bouncing hail,” “delicate petals” and there is also the use of personifications; “Red whispers along my finger with little beetle feet.” The integration of all these elements brings to life all the meaningful relations within the poem. They all work together much like the systems within a human’s body. I can hear the strong thump, thump, thump of the heartbeat within the poem.
This imaginative and exceptional use of language provides an imagery of the poem which extends beyond one’s imagination. In combination with the sensational artistic illustrations, poet and illustrator come together to create a play of the senses. The illustrations are intricate images in vivid color, packed with collaged fragments of decorative pattern and texture. The t.p. verso of the book reads, “The illustrations are mixed media paintings on wood and computer illustrations.” The details of the illustrations are so exceptional that one can hear “red singing from the treetops.” I do believe that the poet is sharing with us her perceptions of the seasons as she experiences them. Through the poets use of various styles; she does a marvelous job in capturing those moments and allowing the reader to feel and share in her wonderment. The feeling grows naturally through the poem’s language and the poet’s use of poetic tools.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS:
Caldecott Honor Book , 2010
Winner of Bank Street Claudia Lewis Award
Winner of the 2007 Cybils Award
A Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Book
A School Library Journal Best Book
New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
Texas Bluebonnet Master List
A Booklinks Lasting Connection
EDITORIAL REVIEWS:
"It's wonderfully strange to read of colors with sounds, smells and tastes." --New York Times Book Review
Red Sings from Treetops is a poem picture book, where poet Joyce Sidman shares the colors and senses she associates with each season. Illustrations and poem come together to create a fanciful display and expression of sight, sound and imagination. In spring, “green is new” and “yellow shouts with light!” In summer, “yellow melts everything it touches…smells like butter, tastes like salt. In fall, “brown rustles and whispers underfoot” and in winter, “In the winter woods, gray and brown hold hands.”
The poet uses a poetic style that incorporates the combination of rhyming rhythm with that of free verse For example, page one reads, “Red sings from treetops: cheer-cheer-cheer, each note dropping like a cherry into my ear. Red turns the maples feathery, sprouts in rhubarb spears; Red squirms on the road after the rain.” The combination of both styles may cause the rhythmic flow of the poem to appear unnatural; especially with children, who are exposed more often than not to rhyming schemes alone. I would agree, especially in reference to this poem picture book, with Professor Vardell, where in our text she suggest, “reading the poem aloud yourself so children can hear how the words and rhythm sound”, prior to inviting them to participate. I do believe that the arrangement of lines and verses was a decision by the poet and used primarily to create a rhythmic flow with just the right amount of cadence.
The poet incorporates rhyming schemes through various methods. She uses rhyming words at the end of lines and also uses the same word within the lines. For example, “Black holds secrets in summer: night-sky Black, underneath-stones Black.” This method gives the color greater emphasis. Another example can be heard when the poet expresses the color orange in fall, “Orange ripens in full, heavy moons, thick with pulp and seed. Orange flickers, all smoke and candles. Orange eyes. Orange cheeks. Orange teeth.” The sound of the poem is a mixture of repeated words, as the previous example illustrates and also evident in the example, “cheer- cheer- cheer,” and onomatopoeia words like; “BOOM”, “Snap!”, and “crunch!” I would most surely agree that these unique styles add drama to the poem.
The language of the poem is bursting with a variety of elements. There are similes and metaphors; “Yellow smells like butter, taste like salt.” “White sounds like storms:” There are descriptive phrases and words; “snapped twigs and bouncing hail,” “delicate petals” and there is also the use of personifications; “Red whispers along my finger with little beetle feet.” The integration of all these elements brings to life all the meaningful relations within the poem. They all work together much like the systems within a human’s body. I can hear the strong thump, thump, thump of the heartbeat within the poem.
This imaginative and exceptional use of language provides an imagery of the poem which extends beyond one’s imagination. In combination with the sensational artistic illustrations, poet and illustrator come together to create a play of the senses. The illustrations are intricate images in vivid color, packed with collaged fragments of decorative pattern and texture. The t.p. verso of the book reads, “The illustrations are mixed media paintings on wood and computer illustrations.” The details of the illustrations are so exceptional that one can hear “red singing from the treetops.” I do believe that the poet is sharing with us her perceptions of the seasons as she experiences them. Through the poets use of various styles; she does a marvelous job in capturing those moments and allowing the reader to feel and share in her wonderment. The feeling grows naturally through the poem’s language and the poet’s use of poetic tools.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS:
Caldecott Honor Book , 2010
Winner of Bank Street Claudia Lewis Award
Winner of the 2007 Cybils Award
A Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Book
A School Library Journal Best Book
New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
Texas Bluebonnet Master List
A Booklinks Lasting Connection
EDITORIAL REVIEWS:
"It's wonderfully strange to read of colors with sounds, smells and tastes." --New York Times Book Review
"A charming inspiration to notice colors and correlate emotions" --Kirkus Reviews
"Sustaining the playfulness of the text and its sense of awe, mystery, and beauty, the illustrations contribute gracefully to the celebration." --Horn Book
"As the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page, do sing." --Booklist
CONNECTIONS –Activities
Have a discussion with the children allowing them to express which colors they associate with each season and why.
Have each child draw a picture of their favorite season using the color(s) they associate with that picture. On the back of the picture they can write which smells and sounds they associate with that season.
"As the title implies, the colors that surprise on every page, do sing." --Booklist
CONNECTIONS –Activities
Have a discussion with the children allowing them to express which colors they associate with each season and why.
Have each child draw a picture of their favorite season using the color(s) they associate with that picture. On the back of the picture they can write which smells and sounds they associate with that season.
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