The three books below are rhyming picture books. They could be presented together in a unit of poetry study for early-elementary age children. The books feature assonance, alliteration, and rhythm. The books lend themselves to shared reading, phonics and sound-matching activities, and poetry writing.
Ahlberg, J. & Ahlberg, A. (1978). Each peach, pear, plum. New York: Scholastic.
Plot
Each Peach, Pear, Plum presents hidden nursery rhyme characters in an I spy format. It begins with Tom Thumb in a fruit tree, and features Mother Hubbard, Cinderella, Bo-Peep, and many others. The plot is often humorous: Baby Bunting’s bassinet is shot out of a tree when Baby Bear’s (of the Three Bears) gun accidentally goes off.
Characterization
On each page anticipation builds as young children hunt for the mentioned character concealed on the page. Kindergarteners and first graders love to find the out-of-sight characters in often slap-stick positions, such as upside down or floating down rivers.
Setting
The setting is bucolic: the story takes place in gently rolling meadow in the countryside. The mood of the setting is pastoral and soft, in contrast to the frequent humorous misfire of the gun.
Theme
The theme of Each Peach, Pear, Plum extends and blends common nursery rhyme story-lines into the ridiculous: “Jack and Jill in the ditch. I spy the wicked witch.” Jack and Jill roll down the hill into brambles where the Wicked Witch is hiding.
Style
Each page features two lines in identical meter with rhymes at the end: wood, hood, ditch, witch. When we focus on rhyme we help young children develop phonemic awareness (Gambrell, Mandel-Morrow & Pressley, 2007). The soothing pictures are watercolor and colored pencil.
Level
200-350 Lexile
Guided Reading level G
Shaw, N. (1986). Sheep in a jeep. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Plot
Five sheep have constant, humorous trouble. It doesn’t appear that the sheep have much experience driving the jeep. At the end the sheep sell the jeep.
Characterization
True to the dimness of sheep intellect, these sheep have constant mishaps, often attributable, perhaps, to inattention. Again, slap-stick elements, such as sheep rolling down the hill into a mud puddle, appeal to early elementary children.
Style
Children immediately laugh at the rolly-polly sheep drawn in colored pencil. On one of the first pages a sheep sits knitting. Knowledgeable children immediately see the humor in a sheep with knitting needles, perhaps using yarn from its own wool. Each page contains six-to-seven word sentences sometimes with multiple rhymes: “Sheep in a jeep on a hill that’s steep.” Even struggling readers get into the rhythm of the sentence and flow through difficult st- blends with the help of picture clues. Shaw uses assonance—repetition of vowel sounds—effectively and humorously: tug, shrug, yelp, help.
Level
Lexile: 350
Guided Reading level: G
Dodd, L. (1990). Slinky malinky. London: Penguin Group.
Plot and Summary
This delightful book by New Zealander Lynley Dodd uses a plethora of literary elements: assonance, alliteration, vivid verbs, and plenty of strong Anglo Saxon words (pillaged, smock). It is about mischievious Slinky Malinki who has a kink at the end of his very long tail. At night he turns into a thief and snitches an odd assortment of items: “…slippers, sausages, biscuits, balloons, brushes, bandages, pencils and spoons.” He "pulls them, drags them, heaves them home." At the end of the book he seems reformed.
Characterization
Slinky Malinky is a sly, playful, intelligent cat. He is also a collector who is eventually caught. Children will relate to his wickedness.
Setting
Dodd’s watercolors convey a moody night-time setting.
Theme and Style
The theme is naughty, nocturnal Slinky Malinky. On almost every page Dodd employs a striking eight-line rhyme scheme: a,b,c,b, e,f,g,f. One of the funniest things about the book is the depiction of skinny, disobedient Slinky Malinky, done in watercolor and pen and ink.
Level
Lexile 350-500
Guided Reading level: K
Lesson Plans
Read-Alouds and Shared Reading
Each Peach, Pear Plum and Sheep in a Jeep lend themselves to read-alouds and shared reading activities that children could eventually do at language arts centers. In a second read aloud, the teacher could put the short books on chart paper and ask child volunteers to read along using a pointer to point at each word.
Rhymes
“Who knows what rhyming words are?” the teacher could ask (Tompkins, 2010, p. 174). Words that sound alike at the end of the word rhyme. The teacher could highlight hill and Jill in Each Peach, Pear, Plum. Children can spell more –ill words by adding consonants in front of –ill: pill, fill mill.
Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration—the repetition of initial consonants, and assonance— the repetition of vowel sounds (Norton, 2011, p. 316), could be especially highlighted in Slinky Malinki.
“CRASH went the bottles,
BEE-BEEP went the clock,
RO-RO-RO-RO
Went the dogs on the block.
On went the lights, BANG went the door
and out came the family,
one, two, three, four.”
The consonant beginning blends in clock and block could be pointed out, as well as the different but similar sounding vowel sounds in door and four. This exploration could be related to Words Their Way word sorts, too.
Poetry
Children could be invited to create their own poems after reading these three books and other rhyming books multiple times. Children would be encouraged to create real and nonsense words (Tompkins, p. 152) for their poems, and share them aloud with the class.
Gambrell, L., Madell Morrow, L, & Pressley, M., (Eds.). (2007). Best practices in literacy instruction, 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press.
Norton, G. (2011). Through the eyes of a child: An introduction to children’s literature, 8th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Tompkins, G. (2010). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach, 5th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
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