The first time I visited Africa I was bowled over by the beauty of the place and loved watching the wild animals. I saw a giraffe as my plane touched down in Nairobi, and there were bush babies in the backyard of the house that I was staying in. For a zoologist, which I was, this was sheer heaven. Today's poetry title will take readers to Africa, and they will get to spend a little time hanging out at a water hole where they will meet all kinds of wonderful creatures.
Dear Wandering Wildebeest and other poems from the water hole
Irene Latham
Illustrated by Anna Wadham
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 6 to 8
Lerner, 2014, 978-1-4677-1232-3
If you visit an African savanna and want to see some of
the grassland animals, the best place to go is to a water hole. All the animals
need water at some point, and they often travel long distances to get to a
water hole, where they gather during the day or night. Bush willow trees are
often found growing near or around the water hole and they provide animals with
shade, a place to rest, and even a source of food.
The voice of the
bush willow is heard in one of the poems in this book. It tells us how its
“buffet never closes” for animals like giraffes, which feed on its leaves. We
hear about how rhinos doze in its shade, and baboons “scramble up and down my
trunk.” On its branches and truck animals such as owls, skinks, and ants make
their homes and go about their business.
We also read
poems about some of the creatures that come to the water hole. There are
several deadly snake species that may pay a visit, including the deadly and
fast moving black mamba, the tree-living boomslang, the cape cobra, the
saw-scaled viper, and the puff adder, which “rarely misses.”
Here we see the
fast and elegant impala, a deer that can leap great distances and whose
“flawless flight” is a “dancer’s delight.” Elegance is not the way of the
elephants who come to the water hole. They bathe and drink and then they have a
wonderful “red-grit shower” rolling in the dust. The dust coats their skin and
it protects them from the sun and biting insects. The rhino, another large
animal, also comes to the water hole, though it only comes when the stars are
high in the sky and when “moonshine” touches the land. The rhino, a solitary
creature, “charges like a bull / at the rodeo” if it hears or smells danger.
On the pages of
this memorable poetry book readers will find poems that beautifully capture the
sounds, sights, and smells of Africa. Readers will meet some of the animal
characters who live in this captivating place. Accompanying every poem there is
a section of text that gives readers further information about the animals (or
plants) mentioned in the poem. The poems come in many forms and use different ‘voices’
so that readers are kept guessing. Who will come next? Will we get to read
about a meerkat or a giraffe? What about lions? Will we get to meet them too?
No comments:
Post a Comment