Bibliography Florian, Douglas. 2009. Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings. Ill. by Douglas Florian. New York: Antheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9781416979784 Review & Critical Analysis Douglas Florian’s Dinothesaurus is a funny and factual collection of poetry about a subject near and dear to the hearts of children (and adults) everywhere; dinosaurs! Through these twenty poems, Florian brings different dinosaurs to life, highlighting their unique qualities and characteristics in humorous and engaging ways. The twenty poems included in this collection are silly and entertaining, yet also contain enough factual information to be educational in quality. All of the poems are short and rhyme, which is perfect for the attention span of young children. Each poem highlights a different dinosaur and contains elements of fact and elements of fun. Some poems are downright silly to read out loud, but nonetheless contain interesting information about the dinosaur. The illustrations add to this feeling. Florian uses mixed media to create the dinosaur and adds whimsical details including silly hats, jewelry, construction machines (to demonstrate size), and even people into the scenes. The natural rhythm of each poem is appealing to young readers, as is the short format and expression included in many poems. Florian does a wonderful job of using punctuation and bold words to help the reader emphasize certain phrases and create feeling in each poem. He also uses advanced vocabulary, like stupendous, tremendous, colossal, titanic, etc., which builds vocabulary and helps stimulate the imagination of the reader. The topic of dinosaurs is, of course, appealing, and the use of illustrations, rhythm, silliness, etc. enriches the reader’s experience. The overall quality of the poems is consistent and creates a wonderful collection readers are sure to love. The poems are arranged one per each two-page spread, and each poem includes a guide on how to pronounce the dinosaur’s name and the name’s origin. The collection begins with an introductory poem, The Age of Dinosaurs, and ends with a poem titled The End of Dinosaurs. These two bookend poems are the logical beginning and end with a mixture of poems relating to specific dinosaurs sandwiched in between. Florian includes a table of contents, as well as a “glossarysaurus,” which includes a brief summary about each poem/dinosaur. He also includes a guide to dinosaur museums and fossil sites and a selected bibliography for further reading. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this title aloud with my young children. They repeatedly asked me to go back and read specific poems again and again. This is a great title to introduce young children to engaging, interesting poems on a specific topic. This is a title I will continue to return to and share with my students in the future. Spotlight Poem Barosaurus BAR-oh-SAW-rus (heavy lizard) I’m higher than five elephants. I’m longer than most whales. My giant neck is balanced by My forty-three-foot tail. A tail that is my weapon. It swings from side to side. From nose to tail I’m ninety-feet-- Hey kid, ya wanna ride? This poem, found on pages 22 and 23, is accompanied by an amazing mixed media representation of a barosaurus with a child riding on its tail. Florian even included a ladder to the dinosaur’s back in the illustration! This poem was one that my children especially loved due to its ability to convey the characteristics of the barosaurus clearly in a very visual way. The quantifiable dimensions are ones that even young children can envision, creating a realistic picture of a barosaurus for the reader. I would introduce this poem to students by reading it aloud and having them visualize the barosaurus in their minds. After reading, I would ask them to recall some of the words that helped create that image. This book would be a great resource to use as an introduction to a science unit on dinosaurs. Students could research a dinosaur, use mixed media art supplies to create an image of the dinosaur, and then write an original poem about it. These poems could be used as a way to share the students’ learning on a variety of dinosaurs with the school community.
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AuthoRMy name is Mrs. Scott and I'm a secondary Media Resource Specialist (librarian) in Texas. This blog was created as part of my graduate coursework at Texas Woman's University. All reviews and opinions are my own. Archives
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