What a different way to approach poetry in children's literature! This may not be considered a traditional "poetry picture book," nevertheless Dotlich writes a beautiful poetic story that has short poems embedded within. The story is about two friends who have very different agendas. Bean does not understand what is so great about poetry... Bella shows her. Bella is constantly contemplating, visualizing, and writing poetry - she demonstrates to the reader how single words can represent a much bigger idea.
The illustrations are what initially drew me to the book. They are so beautiful! They are filled with lovely pastels and muted shades that create a dream-like fantastical visual of the story, the poems, and the characters. Oh, did I mention that Bella and Bean are mice? They are. They wear little shoes, hats, bows, sweaters, and scarves - such sweet representations of the two unique characters.
Throughout the story, which is itself written in poetic language, there are short poems that are developed by the characters. Bean is reluctant to accept Bella's devotion to poetry, but by the end she identifies with the linguistic and emotional power that can be represented by written words. I can imagine reading this book to young children who are just being introduced to the ideas of poetry - after reading you could pair students and they could write a poem together, much like was done in the book by the characters Bella and Bean. This would be a great resource for students who may be reluctant to try using poetry.
This reminds us, as teachers, that children love to play around with words. I remember when I was a kid I thought the word "pants" was hilarious, for whatever reason I don't really know why... It just sounds funny - "Paaaannnts" (you have to really accentuate the "aaaa" sound!) Anyway, we can use the alphabetic and phonetic infatuations of children to get them thinking about poetry as a means for communicating.
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