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Please Bury Me in the Library

(Picture from Goodreads.com)


1. Bibliography

      Lewis, Patrick J. 2005. PLEASE BURY ME IN THE LIBRARY. Ill. Kyle Stone. Florida: Harcourt Books. ISBN 0-15-216387-5


2.      Plot Summary

PLEASE BURY ME IN THE LIBRARY is a collection of poems by Patrick Lewis. All the poems focus on books, reading, and loving the words on a page. There is a range from nice, sweet, silly, and funny. The paintings add to each poem making them enjoyable for all ages.

 

3.       Critical Analysis
In the book PLEASE BURY ME IN THE LIBRARY, author Patrick Lewis takes poems and his love for reading and combines them into tiny moments. He uses a wide range of poetic techniques from haikus, acrostic, rhyme. Even his acknowledgements at the end are in poem form, giving thanks to “Shel and Jack and Myra Cohn.”

       The painting illustrations done by Kyle Stone fit perfectly with the poetic intentions. Each poem has it’s own meaning, and to accompany we have an image to match. The pictures are fun, childlike, and inviting. While the poems are really meant for an older audience, the images make it enjoyable for a younger crowd as well. They may not get the metaphors or personification in the story, but small children can enjoy the funny pictures on the page.

4. Reviews/ Awards

* North Carolina Children's Book Award 2007 (Nominated)

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5–A semi-swell collection of 16 poems celebrating books, reading, language, and libraries. Subjects range from Otto the Flea (who writes, of course, his "Ottobiography") to "The Big-Word Girl" (who takes her Webster's to the movies) to "Great, Good, Bad" books ("A bad book owes to many trees/A forest of apologies"). The brief selections encompass various forms, from an eight-word acrostic to haiku to rhyming quatrains and couplets. The tone is generally light, with the last few entries turning more to wonder and metaphor ("A good book is a kind/Of person with a mind/Of her own..."). Usually printed one per spread, the poems are accompanied by richly dark artwork. The thickly applied acrylic paint and mixed-media illustrations are sometimes reminiscent of the work of David Shannon, with a comically grotesque air, and add comprehension to the verses. The Lewis hallmarks are all here–clever wordplay, humor, nonsense, rhyme–though the collection doesn't have quite the spot-on snap of his best stuff. Kids will enjoy the switcheroos of "What If Books Had Different Names?" ("Alice in...Underland?/Furious George...") and the faintly macabre title poem, but others, which reach a bit for even a nonsensical point, will have less appeal. Lee Bennett Hopkins's Good Books, Good Times! (HarperCollins, 1990) and Wonderful Words (S & S, 2004), which include offerings on the same subject from many fine authors, would partner in a nice balance with Lewis's frothier nonsense.– Nancy Palmer, The Little School, Bellevue, WA
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  1. Connections

*Poems in this book could be used as examples to help students pick what kind of poem they want to create since Lewis uses a variety of methods.

*These poems are good for read alouds. Have students practice reading them to each other.

*Highschoolers could use these poems for literary device analysis.

*These poems could spark discussion about the library and could be put on display to remind students why they love reading and books.

 

 

 

 

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