Doodle Dandies: Poems That Take Shape by J. Patrick Lewis

Lewis, J. Patrick. Doodle Dandies: Poems That Take Shape. Ill. by Lisa Desimini. New York, NY: Scholatic Inc., 1998. ISBN: 0-439-08723-6.

SUMMARY
J. Patrick Lewis creates a fun-filled book of concrete poems in Doodle Dandies: Poems that Take Shape. Eye-pleasing poetry fills each page and entertains the reader with poems about animals, weather, sports, and nature. Lewis' cleverly shaped poems and Lisa Desimini's artwork will surely entertain even the most reluctant poetry reader, and perhaps inspire a reader or two to try writing their own shape poetry!

ANALYSIS

Doodle Dandies: Poems that Take Shape features poems in a visually pleasing and rhythmically delightful collection of J. Patrick Lewis's shape poetry. The poems' shapes reveal the images of their topics, yet retain their poetic devices so when read aloud, the poetry stands true to a poetic format. An example of this clever interplay between vision and sound is shown in his poem "Dachsund":  "Here comes the lady with the diamond ring/Walking a dog like a sausage on a string/There goes the dog with his nose in the air!/Walking the lady with the purple hair." The combined rhythm and rhyme of the poem almost sound like a song for jumping rope! Yet when viewed, the words in the poem take on the shape of a dachshund. To add to the image of the dog walking with a lady, Lisa Desimini uses photographs of a lady's hand with a huge diamond ring holding a leash. She also includes a photograph of a sidewalk and the shadow of a dachshund on grass as background for the shape poem.

Other poems use the sounds of words to create a mood that is fulfilled by the poem's shape. "Weeping Willow" uses soft-sounding words to create the sound and sight of wind passing by a Weeping Willow tree: "Her wind-woven hair softly sweeping". The phrase repeats for each of the tree's branches, gently falling from the top of the tree. The theme of the poem creates the tree's trunk:

In

a far

field

of

sad

ness

stands

the

wee

wid

ow

wee

ping

Lewis' ability to create moods in his poems continues throughout the collection. In his poem "Big Cat" the reader senses the power of the tiger at night, and in "The Oyster Family" the reader recognizes immediately the value of a mother in a home.

Doodle Dandies: Poems that Take Shape may appear, at first glance, to be a rather simple book of poetry, but once the reader becomes lost in the images and sounds, the beauty of each poem takes on a shape of its own.

AWARDS

Best Books -

Children's Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, 2001 - H.W. Wilson, United States

Children's Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006 - H.W. Wilson, United States

Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, June 1998, Cahners, United States

School Library Journal Book Review Stars, August,1998, Cahners, United States

SUGGESTED ACTIVITY

Doodle Dandies: Poems that Take Shape is a wonderful book to use when introducing concrete, or shape, poetry. Before showing the poems to your students, read "Creep and Slither" from the book and ask the students to draw pictures that illustrate the poem. When the artists are finished, show the poem to the students (using a document viewer if possible). Discuss with them how concrete poems are illustration and poem all in one! Share more poems from the book with them, and then have the students create their own shape poetry. Be sure to show off their original drawings of "Creep and Slither" in the classroom, perhaps surrounding Lewis' poem, and remember to exhibit their shape poems for all to see and read!

Doodle Dandies: Poems that Take Shape. cover illustration. Internet on-line.  March 2, 2013 from http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=016f03c47f80af1ef8a86d5eb6874f90