Lemonade: and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word

Raczka, B. (2011). Lemonade:
and other poems squeezed
from a single word. New
York: Roaring Books Press.

Lemonade: and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word

By Bob Raczka

Illustrated by Nancy Doniger

Roaring Books Press

New York, New York

2011

48 pages

This is a fantastic book with endless possibilities for classroom use. It consists of anagrams, rebus (uses pictures to represent words), and concrete poetry, making it a versatile, whimsical adventure. The books will enrapture all readers and inspire them to create poems of their own. The poems are simple enough that most readers third grade and up will understand them and be able to use them to create their own poems. Every poem is created off of just one word. For example: 

Moonlight

hot

night

thin

light

moth

in

motion

Each word's poem is written in two styles: one more concrete and one more traditional. (Buy the book here to check it out and see what I mean.) I had never heard of this book before and only came across it when I did a Google search for "great poetry books for kids" and this is one that came up. I checked it out from the local library and fell in love with it's simplicity and capacity to inspire. 

Questions, Suggestions, and Follow-Up Activities

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade

Sweet, M. (2011). Balloons over
Broadway: the true story of the
puppeteer of Macy's Parade. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. 

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade

Written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Boston, Mass.

2011

40 pages

Winner of the 2012 Robert F. Sibert Medal and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award

Meet Tony Sarg, the puppeteer extraordinaire who first invented the "upside-down puppets" that have graced the streets of New York every Thanksgiving morning since 1924. Sarg started to build movable contraptions at a young age and eventually taught himself to build and perform marionettes. Macy's caught wind of his miraculous talents and brought him aboard to create huge inflatable puppets that would become the staple of today's infamous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

All of the illustrations are whimsical and somewhat chaotic. There are a mix of diagrams, sketches, photos, illustrations, and collages that brilliantly contrast the organized layout of the informational text. The two mesh together to make the book work perfectly. The "messy", seemingly chaotic illustrations are sure to enrapture readers. In the middle of the book there is even a two-page spread that requires the reader to turn the book sideways in order to see and read the entire thing. 

This book would be perfect to read during a Thanksgiving unit, maybe on the last day before Thanksgiving break as students are getting excited for all of their families' Thanksgiving festivities.

 Purchase the book here. 

Discussion Questions, Vocabulary Chart, and Extensions

book trailer

Macy's Parade - 1930s

Behind the scenes of making the Macy's Parade balloons (2008)