LS 5603 Book Review: FOLD ME A POEM

Poetry
Bibliography
George, O'Connell Kristine. 2005. FOLD ME A POEM. Ill. by Lauren Stringer. New York, NY: Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 0-15-202501-4

Plot Summary
These 30+ poems about origami tell about a young boy as he moves through his day creating a menagerie of animals for his adventures.

Critical Analysis
From the intriguing title to the end of the book the reader is allowed to join in the adventure as a young boy creates a world where origami animals interact with their surroundings. Much as AA Milne invites us to a place "deep in the hundred acre wood", George invites us into this origami world with short, fun poems. The use of punctuation often tells the reader how to read the poem aloud, which helps all beginning poetry lovers be successful. For example, "Stacks of black paper. Stacks of white paper. Zebras? Pandas? Penguins!"

Georges' short rhythmic poetry and Stringer's vibrant colorful pictures compliment each other perfectly. Many times the pictures add to our understanding of the poem. For example, in the poem Camel, "What went wrong? Lean against this sand dune while I double check the directions." From the text we understand something is amiss but, in the picture we see camel has only three legs. Especially enjoyable is the addition of characters from earlier poems to the pictures of later characters; in the poem Tub, which is toward the end of the book, we see all the animals lining the tub who were created earlier: camel, penguins and many more.

One disappointment is there are no origami instructions included in the book. After reading about such fun creations and seeing all the lovely artwork depicting the origami animals, readers are anxious to try their hand at creating their own world.

Review Excerpts
From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "Some of the selections exhibit a creative spark, while others tend to take their meaning from the illustrations, which are the real strength of the presentation."

From BOOKLIST: "Unusual, handsome, and good for reading aloud."

Connections
*Have children check out activities at the Kristine O'Connell George website (which include origami instructions) www. kristinegeorge.com
*Using the back of the book, in the illustrator's note, children can check out other books about origami that are listed.