Hopkins Poetry

Hopkins Poetry

Bibliography

Coombs, Kate. 2012. Water Sings Blue. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN  978-0-8118-7284-3.

Summary/Analysis

“Water Sings Blue” is a sea themed collection of 23 poems by Kate Coombs.  A majority of the poems are rhyming but there is one haiku and one free verse poem.  The subjects vary, but they all focus on the ocean theme.  There are a range of poetic forms and each subject features a unique perspective or detail.   The vivid imagery and figurative language found in the poems pairs nicely with Meilo So’s wonderful and vibrant watercolor illustrations.  The poems are consistent in quality and the tone varies from serious and informational to light and humorous. This themed collection would pair great with elementary science curriculum and other sea and/or beach related lessons.  

Use

Sea Urchin

The sea urchin fell in love with a fork.

With a tremble of purple spines,

She told her mother, “He’s tall, not a ball,

But just look at his wonderful tines!”

This rhyming poem is a good example of the humorous and informational poems found in this collection.  This poem would be great to use during a sea unit when talking about lesser known creatures.  Before reading the poem I would show the class images of sea urchins and then introduce the vocabulary word “tine.”  I would have students talk about how the fork and sea urchin are similar and why it chose to fall in love with a fork instead of a spoon.  After reading the poem the class could decide on what animal in the book (or other sea book) would want to fall in love with a spoon. Another idea would be to use Google Expeditions (virtual reality) and have students “go” underwater near the galapagos islands.  Have them write a poem about the experience or pick an animal to focus their poem on.