Yellow Elephant

Title: Yellow Elephant: A Bright Bestiary 
Author: Julie Larios 
Illustrator: Julie Paschkis  
Publisher: Harcout Children's Books 
Publication Date: April 2006 
Genre/Format: Poetry/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Have you ever seen a yellow elephant, glowing in the jungle sun?
Have you seen a green frog--splash!--turn blue?
Or a red donkey throw a red-hot tantrum?
In this bright bestiary, poet Julie Larios and painter Julie Paschkis cast a menagerie of animals in brilliantly unexpected hues--encouraging us to see the familiar in surprising new ways. 
What I Think: I love the elephant on this cover of this book! The artwork is amazing; very colorful and whimsical. I love the bold colors. Each poem is about a different color and a different animal. My favorites were the donkey and the goose poems. I love how the poems personify the animals. The poems really give the animals personality and bring to life their actions. The rhyming doesn't seem to follow a consistent pattern but there is some rhyming in the poems. Sometimes it seemed to really work and there were a few there were a bit forced for me. Maybe I'm too picky when it comes to poems? I guess I am less familiar with kids' poetry than I thought because I'm really trying to get a handle on what's the range of poetry that is out there. I'm excited that I chose to read more poetry as a goal this year because I'm hoping I will discover some great kidlit poetry.   
Read Together: Grades Pre-K - 4 
Read Alone: Grades 2 - 4 
Read With: Beautiful Blackbird by Bryan Ashley, The Elephant's Child by Rudyard Kipling, adapted by Karen Baicker, Disney Junior Tinga Tinga Tales
Snatch of Text: 

"...Red donkey sits down.

Someone shouts, 'Come!'

But he won't come.

Red donkey tantrum." p.6

"Gray mama goose

in a tizzy,

honk-honk-honking herself dizzy..."

Reading Strategies to Practice: Making Connections, Making Inferences
Writing Strategies to Practice: Point of View, Rhyme, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Personification, Poetry, Word Choice, Descriptive 
Writing Prompts: Choose your own animal and pretend you are in his or her shoes. Bring the animal to life and write a poem about that animal and how it behaves. 
Topics Covered: Animals, Feelings, Behavior, Attititude, Personality, Mood