Module 14: Fold Me A Poem

Book Cover Image:

Book Summary:

This is the story of a young boy captivated by folding origami animals. The story, written in short bursts of poetry, tells the tale of these animals coming to life when the boy finishes his folding. Each animal has something different to say or do once folded until they all rest together at the end of the day.

APA Reference of Book:

George, K.O. (2005). Fold me a poem. New York, NY: Harcourt, Inc.

Impressions:

My major impression of this book is that its form is an excellent introduction to poetry for young students. The short bursts of poetry provide easy to read and understand text for readers. It also captivates their imagination as most any young reader could relate to allowing shapes or toys to come alive in their imagination as they play. This boy is doing just that and students will be entertained and connected to that premise. 

All of the short poems have a title, which I think furthers the opportunity to identify and teach this format of text as poetry to young children. They will be able to see that words have power even if they are few in number.

The illustrations are colorful and vivid and provide life to the text. The fact that you can see each fold, the tape holding the animals together, the movements of the boys fingers all adds to the depth of the story as a whole. The readers are able to see that the young boy is passionate and committed to his origami. 

I feel this text would be useful in a younger school library in order to provide access to poetry in an interesting and captivating manner. 

Professional Review:

Gr. 1-3. From morning until night, a boy spends his day folding squares of colored paper into animals. The opening poem, "Origami,"follows the five-seven-five-syllable haiku form while defining the magic of the paper-folding art: "Square sheet of paper-- / folded, suddenly wakes up. / Good morning, Rooster."While many of the other poems have the terseness of haiku, they follow their own syllabic patterns. Each appears on a single page or a double-page spread along with a large-scale painting of the boy making his animals, playing with them, observing them, or, in one case, repairing them after a cat attack. In "Hungry"he comes to a realization: "All afternoon / the paper cows / have been eyeing / the green paper. Oh. / Grass!"Warm in colors and often large in scale, Stringer's acrylic paintings capture the world of the boy's imaginative play as well as the intricately folded paper figures that inspire and inhabit it. Unusual, handsome, and good for reading aloud.

Reference: 

Book review of Fold Me a Poem, by K.O. George. (2005). Booklist, 101(14). Retrieved from www.titlewave.com 

Library Uses:

This text could be used as an introductory to poetry month. Librarians could offer time for the young readers to craft their own animals and attempt as a class to come up with words to describe it in poetry form.