Meow Ruff; A Story In Concrete Poetry

Book Title:  Meow Ruff- A Story in Concrete Poetry	Author:  Joyce Sidman
Illustrator: Michelle Berg	Awards
Book Type:  Picture	Approx. Reading Level:  k-4
Age of Content Appropriateness: according to Scholastic Wizard- K but according to Amazon- up to grade 3 or 4.	Date Published: 2006
Genre and Topic: Poetry- Animals	Personal Rating of the Book:  5
ISBN: (13 or 10 digit) 978-0618448944

Summary of the Story/Book

This delightful book is made up of concrete poems.  Joyce Sidman has created an entire world from the grass to the clouds in words.  Even the gophers travel in word tunnels.  The basic story is about a dog who breaks outside, free from his leash and encounters a cat who happens to scare him up in a tree. The clouds are gathering and even though the crows would love to see a fight, the dog and cat snuggle up under a picnic shelter and take a nap until the storm passes.  They decide to be friends after their dangerous adventure and when the dog’s boy finds him, he takes the cat in as well.  It is a very happy ending to a truly outstanding book.   The visuals are stunning. The crisp colors and fonts make this a book that older students will marvel at and young students will just enjoy. 

Ideas on Using this Book

• ·        This is an obvious choice for introducing concrete poetry.  The students can use it for inspiration when creating their own concrete poem or concrete poetry story which seems to be a new genre Sidman has created with this book.
• ·        The story has to do with enemies made friends because of adversity.  There is plenty to discuss about the main characters from finding out the dog is actually scared of the cat to the sad story of how the cat was dumped out of a car onto the side of the road. 
• ·        The book is full of onomatopoeia.  The crows caw, the rain drizzles and the lightening sizzles.  This would be a great book to do a search for onomatopoeia.  The students would be able to come up with a lengthy list of great new words to use in their own writing.
• ·        Here is a link to the author’s reading companion site for this book.  She has shared many great ideas for reading aloud, writing activities and art projects.

Vocabulary Words

Gnarl-armed- page 8- this refers to the tree branch which means that it is twisted and sometimes gives the impression of being scary.

Cumulus- page 7- refers to a type of cloud that is puffy and can carry rain

One Trait of the 6+1 Traits to Highlight 

Presentation is the trait that I would highlight.  Concrete poetry is all about how the poem looks on the pages so this would seem like a  perfect chance to discuss how and why the author chose the look and placement on the page.  The colors are simple and the animals are shown in rounded stylized graphic form.  The book is all about presentation from the content to the illustrations. 

It is hard to show the quote but the word choice is wonderful for describing a cloud. Also,  the book the font would be a puffy one,  page 7. “large white steamy bread loaves rising in the sun’s bright heat, a billowing batch of cumulus.” 

The first page is a blue sky with a tiny “wisp” of a cloud in the sky, a pink butterfly fluttering and along the bottom of the page is a gray strip with darker gray words that say, “sidewalk|poured rock|flat gray footway| tramped on|not-lawn” 

• Concerns with This Book: not a one- it is amazing.