Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Michelle Berg.

A more organized blogger would save this one for a Poetry Friday entry, but I am just so excited by this book that I can’t wait!  This is one of my favorite books so far this year.  It is a must-see book.  Booklist starred it, and I resoundingly agree.

It is the story of a cat and dog who start out chasing each other but everything changes when they are caught in a rainstorm.  The entire landscape and all of the characters are created out of poetry.  Just reading across the pavement and the grass is amazing.  The changing cloud poems really capture the essence of being a cloud.  But my favorite has to be the tree poems that are so similar but so different.  Lovely!

And this is one poetry book that truly invites children in.  They probably will not recognize it as poetry at first, but that is part of its unique quality.  There is a rhythm to the words that matches so well the illustrations.  I was actually amazed after reading the book to find that it was done by two people rather than one.  Share this with kids!

Enjoy!

The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips by Michael Morpurgo. 

This book is framed by a modern story, but the heart of the book is the story of a girl living in Britain during World War II.  The girl, Lily, has a cat named Tips who she adores and lives in a small village with her grandfather and her mother.  Her father is off fighting in the War.  Then her village is evacuated so that the Allies can practice their training for D-Day.  When they evacuate, Lily loses Tips.  But a wonderful American soldier is there to try to help her find the cat.  The story has a great old-fashioned feel to it, combined with a spunky girl who never gives up.  It captures a fascinating moment in history in a child-friendly way. 

This would make a great read-aloud in classrooms that are studying World War II.  It is appropriate for third through sixth graders.  Recommend it to children interested in history or animal stories.