Dark emperor and other poems of the night Book Review

Bibliography

Sidman, Joyce. Dark emperor and other poems of the night. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.

ISBN: 978-0547152288

Plot

A collection of 12 poems centered around the topic of a forest at night time. The poems include subjects of insects, animals, the moon, and even mushrooms. Each poem is paired with a brief scientific passage explaining the facts that inspired the poetry. The poems are written in sundry forms and rhyme schemes.

Critical Analysis

As Sidman states in her author’s note, this collection was developed to answer the exploration of what happens at night. The author does this in a beautiful manner, through the poetry as well as background information on the subject of the poem. Each poem occupies two pages of the book, and is set against a background of printmaking illustrations which serve  enhance the imagery of what may occur in the poem. The poems have varying rhythm and rhyme, some with repetitive language. Repetition within the poems, however, works towards the readers understanding of the environment and provokes emotions. Sidman has a canny knack of generating emotions which correspond with the subject of the poetry. The sleepiness of the bats at sunrise, the suspense of the owl stalking a mouse for supper, and the quick, wild scurry of the efts in the moonlight are all feelings invoked by each poem through the rhythm attributed to each. Beautiful, woodsy prints on each page create a design that matches the forest theme and dark, alluring atmosphere of night time.

Personal Response

Reading the poetry in this book inspired me to do further research into many of the subjects mentioned on the pages. The scientific excerpts accompanying the poems invited me to know more, and some of the subjects were new creatures that I had not known of before reading. I enjoyed the varying poetic styles and rhyme schemes, but was partial to the poetry which did have a distinct rhyme, such as Ballad of the Wandering Eft. Speaking of Eft’s, there is a small red one which follows along each page. Readers may also look for the movement of the moon across each page, until the sun rises and the last poem is the moon’s farewell to the night.

Excerpts of Reviews

“The illustrations are bold, richly detailed linoleum prints colored in gouache... Sidman adroitly applies varied poetic forms and rhyme schemes.” School Library Journal

“This picture book combines lyrical poetry and compelling art with science concepts.” Booklist

"The dark lines of Allen's skillful lino cut prints make the perfect accompaniment to a book of night poems, with their subtle colors allowing the reader to seek out the creatures slowly, just as one's eye becomes accustomed to finding things in the dark." - The Horn Book

Connections

1. Listen with students the Author Book Reading of the title found on teachingbooks.net. This can be found: http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=4900&a=1. All rights reserved to TeachingBooks.net. After listening, ask children to write down three idea lists: things they feel emotions about (fear, excitement, sadness, glee, etc.), places they love, and questions they want to find out more information about. They can pick one and write a poem about the topic.
2. Incorporate poetry into a current science unit by having children use a scientific vocabulary word in a poem, like Joyce Sidman does in her poetry in Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night.
3. Share other poetry about animals with children, such as The Waldorf Book of Animal Poetry edited by David Kennedy, Dear Wandering Wildebeest, and other poems from the watering hole by Irene Latham, Poetry for Young People: Animal Poems edited by John Hollander, and Animal Poems by Valerie Worth.
4. Share other poetry collections involving ecosystems, such as, Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman, In the Sea by David Elliot, and Antarctic Antics: a book of penguin poems by Judy Sierra.