- Book Summary: This book includes different poems about cats. The poems include things from a cat's shadow, tail, wit, and quickness. The author also gives insight about the different types of personalities a cat can have as well as their interactions with humans and other animals. This book is centered around and all about the world of cats.
- APA Reference of Book:
Franco, B. (2009). A curious collection of cats. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.
- Impressions: This book is very unique with words and color all over the pages. I liked the way the author didn't just have the words in straight lines like you would normally see in a book of poems. The author causes its readers to have to move the book around to read some of the poems. For example, the poem, "Tabitha's Tail," has the words in the shape of a tail. The book has to be turned and moved in order to read it. This makes the book become interactive and fun. I also like the way each poem describes the different type of personalities a cat can have. This book would especially be loved by cat lovers who would get a joy out of reading about the quickness, wit, and intelligence of cats.
- Professional Review: In an ideal match of subject and form, poet Franco uses the sinuous shapes and playful motions of cats to distill the essence of felines in all their grace and ridiculousness. Each of the thirty-two concrete poems is a mini-depiction of a particular cat, as in "Veronica Goes Wide": "Veronica's gotten so pudgy / and PLUMP, / she now mostly acts like a snug-gable / lump"; the poem is written across the yellow cat, with the M in lump formed from her ears. Cats interact with dogs, with squirrels, with one another, and with people in a variety of funny ways, but Franco uses words so precisely to capture cats' behavior that cat-lovers will feel a shock of recognition. Cat-haters may, too, as Franco lays bare the less-charming aspects of life with cats, as in "cat haiku 1" ("Tuna fish dinner / Kitty washes down her meal / sips from toilet bowl") and the self-explanatory "that cat peed on my hat." Wirtz's illustrations, mono-prints adjusted in Adobe Photoshop, keep the words that wrap and weave around the cats readable while still creating visual interest in the backgrounds. Together, poet and artist convey the silliness of cats and their humans without ever being silly themselves.
Reference:
Lemple, S.D. (2009). [A Curious Collection of Cats, by B. Franco]. Horn Book Magazine, 85(3), p 314-315.
- Library Uses: This book could be used as an example to show students how different poems can be written. Allow students to jot words down about their favorite topics and things and see if they can come up with a poem like the ones from the book.
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