Comments on: Review of the Day: Won Ton by Lee Wardlaw

By: Linky goodness « Shelf Elf: read, write, rave.

Linky goodness « Shelf Elf: read, write, rave. — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 18:34:59 +0000

[...] Fuse #8 teases me with a cat tale told in haiku. I want. [...]

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:26:53 +0000

I’m a sucker for poetry (and especially haiku)! I’ll have to check this out, thanks for the recommendation.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:50:00 +0000

I think Mark Reibstein’s WABI SABI is a terrific introduction, not just to haiku, but also to Japanese aesthetics. It takes children a few tries to find things in their world that are “wabi sabi”–because the American aesthetic is so driven by the appreciation of the bright, new, flawless and sharp-edged. Once they grasp the concept, they are intrigued by it. WABI SABI is also a cat book, of course, and each double paged spread has at least one haiku.

I think it’s worth pointing out to children that the five-seven-five pattern of haiku is one that is natural in Japanese speech, and less so in English, where (of all things!) iambic pentameter more closely approximates the rhythms of everyday speech.

By: Elizabeth Bird

Elizabeth Bird — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:24:48 +0000

Sometimes I can locate SLJ reviews online. I couldn’t with this book, unfortunately and Booklist, sadly, has yet to allow such things. Glad you liked the review, though!

By: Ms. Lee Wardlaw

Ms. Lee Wardlaw — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:27:34 +0000

Ooops! I meant only a few ‘words’ not ‘worlds’. It’s early here in California!

By: Ms. Lee Wardlaw

Ms. Lee Wardlaw — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:26:28 +0000

Thanks for the purr-fectly delightful review. I am honored.

RE: writing haiku with students. Don’t worry about the number of syllables. What’s most important is having children learn how to quiet themselves enough to observe a specific moment – - and then distill that moment into a poem of only a few worlds. An excellent book for teaching haiku to children is ‘Haiku’ by Patricia Donegan. I highly recommend it.

BTW, Won Ton has also received starred reviews from Booklist and SLJ!

By: Chris Kramer

Chris Kramer — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:11:11 +0000

Don’t forget Dogku by Andrew Clements!

By: Tandy

Tandy — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:02:40 +0000

How many kids write senryu? I’ve never known a teacher (though I’m sure there are plenty, but not in my experience as teacher or parent) who distinguish between haiku and senryu with their students, so my guess is that many, many students have written senryu. Most teachers are just happy to get the kids to write the correct number of syllables.