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| Author: Paul Fleischman Illustrator: Eric Beddows Published: 1988 John Newbery Medal |
The Moth's Serenade (Brian Holmes)
Joyful Noise reminds me of those books, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. Students are able to practice reading fluently with a partner. Children are able to read poems together and have to work together to read the poems smoothly. I love using this tool to help with my reading lessons.
Joyful Noise is a book of poems told by different types of bugs. You actually learn about the bugs and their lives. It's fun to read and to imagine the bugs saying the poems.
I included links from Paul Fleischman's website of two different versions of the poem, Moth's Serenade. I especially like the Peninsula Girls Chorus because they make the poem sound romantic, as if the moth is in love with a porch light. The parts that are different, but said simultaneously, remind me of the way moths flitter around a light - quickly and in circles. I can hear the frantic flying in that part of the poem. (Frantic moth!)
circling seeking
sighing circling
lovesick sighing
Don't touch
I must
Porch light Porch light
Let's clasp Let's kiss
Let's kiss Let's clasp
I also enjoyed Whirligig Beetles. These seem to be beetles that go around in circles. I found that as I read this poem, I read more and more quickly. I felt dizzy from the swirling of the words even though the bugs themselves never seem to get dizzy. (See a real Whirligig Beetle in motion!)
Book Lice was a love story of two book lice. I tried to get my husband to read it with me, but he wasn't going for it. The lice are opposite in their love of books, but they are attracted to each other. I also read about house crickets and their disregard for the outdoors, they only know of changes in seasons based on the crumbs that fall on the floor. I also read about the loneliness experienced by a butterfly as it transforms in its chrysalis. There were many more too and they were all wonderful.
These stories would be fun to use as we learn in science and practice reading. The children will enjoy reading this book and all of the poems. It might be fun to also try to figure out which bugs are talking based on their experiences.
Check this book out from your library.
1 comment:
Hi: I'm Brian Holmes, composer of one of the two settings of The Moth's Serenade. However, the one you link to under my name isn't the one I wrote! The one I wrote is the second one, performed by the Peninsula Girls Chorus.
In any case, I thank you for your interest in Paul Fleischmann's fine poems, and my musical setting.
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