MODULE 5: FREE CHOICE

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sidman, Joyce. 2009. RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS: A YEAR IN COLORS. ill. Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780547014944

2. BOOK REVIEW
This book of poems by Joyce Sidman introduces each season of the year by using colors. Some of the poems in this book rhyme, some have consonance, and all of the poems are full of sensory images. Each poem allows the reader to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch color in a whole new way. The reader can see as "Red squirms on the road after rain", hear as "White sounds like storms", smell and taste as "Yellow melts everything it touches...smells like butter, tastes like salt", and feel as "Pink prickles warm fingers against cold cheeks."

Onomatopoeia is also used to add to these sensory images as "Red swells on branches bent low. Red: crisp, juicy, crunch!" Personification is found throughout this book as each color is made into a being of its own. "Black holds secrets in summer", blue is "humming, shimmering, snoozing in the lazy haze", and "In the winter woods, Gray and Brown hold hands."

The poems have a rhythm that is pleasing to the ear when read aloud. Many of the poems are abstract and may not be understood by younger children. This book would appeal to readers of all ages, even the youngest children, with the proper adult guidance. Children of all ages will delight in Sidman's unique and imaginative choices of words mixed with color, used to illustrate each season of the year.

The richly painted illustrations add to the appeal of the book. Each color is emphasized in the picture next to the poem describing that particular color. Each color word is also highlighted in the appropriate color each time it appears in the poem. The scenery and animals illustrated by Zagarenski are beautiful and detailed. Examples of this are the detail and motion of the falling leaves depicted in the picture for the "green" poem about the fall and the frog's webbed feet and curled tongue in the "gray" poem about the summer. The only criticism I have about this book is Zagarenski's illustrations of the people. I did not find the young girl depicted in each scene or any of the other human characters appealing. Instead, I found them to be just the opposite, looking almost creepy.

3. SELECTED POEM
The poem I selected is the second poem of the poems in the book about summer, depicting the color, red. I chose this poem because it is a wonderful example of Sidman's ability to evoke sensory images along with personification, so that the reader is able to experience the color, red, in a unique and imaginative way. This book could be used as an introduction to writing poems about colors. The book could be read aloud to the class. After reading, the students could practice writing their own poems about colors.

Red darts, jags,
hovers;
a blur of wings,
a sequined throat.

Red whispers
along my finger
with little
beetle feet.