Poetry/Verse
books where rhymes and verses are used to create the story
The Dumpster Diver by Janet Wong
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Anyone can dive for treasure in the ocean, but Steve dives for it in his neighborhood dumpster. As he delves into the trash each weekend, Steve encourages his young neighbors to see the potential in what other people throw away. He would go out and pick everything and anything that he saw of interest to him no matter what it was. One day Steve gets hurt and goes to the hospital, where his friends visit him. Slowly they throw away the little things that he doesn't need in his apartment to make his place less cluttered. This takes into account what really matters in life and what doesn't. It also helps children realize about friendships and how important they are to each other.
Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex
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Being a monster doesn't mean they are all out frightening villagers and sucking their blood. Monsters have their issues and bad times too. Poor Frankenstein's cupboard is bare, Wolf man is in need of some household help, and Dracula has hygiene issues. In this book the readers can go through a bunch of scary monsters and read on their lives and see what they go through everyday in their life, and get their point of these stories.
Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex
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Goodnight Goon is a spin off of Good Night Moon. In Good Night Goon it focuses on a creepy little monster's bedroom tomb, where little monster is just getting settled for bed, when a mischievous goon comes in, ready to keep everyone up all night. The story lists all the elements in the room, including a gravestone, a black lagoon, pictures of Martians taking over the Moon, and little Mummies rubbing their tummies, and etc. Once Goon enters through a window, he starts chewing on the pictures. Goon rides on ghosts, wears the witch's hat and chases the bat with a broom. As the bat becomes a vampire, Goon wears the shoe, which is retrieved by a Frankenstein-like creature. Finally little monster makes Goon stop and sleep under the bed and peace reigns, for the moment.
Mrs. McNosh Hangs up Her Wash by Sarah Weeks
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This is a cute and funny story with rhyming stanzas on each page. After hanging up her wash, Mrs. McNosh proceeds to hang up everything else in sight, wash or not wash. This book has cute pictures along with bright and cheerful colors to catch children's eyes. This story is good for the younger ages and will be a fun read for the children to learn their rhymes and also new words that they may not have known before.
Possum Come a-Knockin by Nancy Can Laan
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While Granny is a-rockin' and a-knittin' and Ma's a-cookin' and Pa's a-fixin' in the house. Meanwhile outside there is an old possum in his top hat and vest that just keeps on knocking on their door. The narrator, a redheaded boy, tries to tell family members about the possum, but they do not believe him because whenever they go to check the possum is never there. The possum hides anytime the family comes near him outside, so they don't see him.
The Spider and Fly by Tony Diterlizzi
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This is the story of a crafty spider trying to entice a fly into his parlor, but the fly knows the fact that no one makes it out of the spider’s parlor alive. The persistent spider does not give up when told no by the fly. He continues to pursue the fly by inviting her back to dinner. This story teaches the lesson of the consequences faced by falling for flattering words of strangers that do not have your best interest at heart.
Something Big Has Been Here by Jack Prelutsky
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There is about 100 poems in this book, most of which are short and entertaining to read. The poems are about topics that children are typically interested in such as animals. There are also a lot of poems that children would be able to relate to from everyday situations to also having most of the poems be silly and written with humor. I particularly liked "I am a Ghost Who's Lost His Boo." I thought that one would be fun to read around Halloween. Most poems are short and easy to understand. I would use this book when learning about poetry and have students write their own poems using similar style and technique. The illustrations are all done in black and white but still very visually appealing and helps to make the poem more understandable as well as entertaining.
Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O'Connell
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Based on a similar style of 8 Silly Monkeys, this book starts with 10 ghosts that leave due to a witch that wanted the house for her own. One by one she gets them to leave by doing something that one particular ghost does not like or that scares them enough to make them leave the house. This book can be used to write number sentences and for a subtraction lesson or read the book backwards to show addition problems.