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How are you feeling? Did you sleep well last night? Did you feel refreshed upon waking?
Great! Now it's time for some nocturnal animal friends to sleep, refresh and re-energize. They have been out ALL night in our world on their shift.
After Dark: Poems About Nocturnal Animals by David L. Harrison (Word Song 2020) has made its way into our world. Hooray!
Just as loving grown-ups read these 21 poems to sleepy humans before bedtime...our animal counterparts are waking up for their night of ...
bouncing
hunting
storing
howling
fighting
lurking
digging
grinning
sitting
eating
teasing
flying
sniffing
flexing
prowling
laying
surviving
trilling
sliming
chirping
texting
escaping
If you think this all seems just like a classroom of youngsters. I'd agree! Even though plenty of poems focus on adult animals, Harrison includes young wolf pups, scorpion larvae, skunk kits, and even hermit crab eggs. These are easy connections for young listeners to make as they themselves are growing.
Adults will enjoy sharing these poems with young people in their lives. This one is my personal favorite:
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| Insect Texting by David Harrison |
Insect Texting
(Common Eastern Firefly)
Firefly flashes
polka dot the lawn.
Blinker off...
Blinker on.
Looking for a mate
before they're all gone.
Blinker off...
Blinker on.
Firefly females
watch from the grass,
checking each flash
as suitors pass.
Checking how bright,
how long it lasts,
firefly females
watch from the grass.
Firefly flashes
polka dot the lawn,
might find a mate
before they're all gone.
Blinker off...
Blinker on.
(c) David L. Harrison
A lovely note to the "hardworking staff and volunteers at the Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital," by the illustrator led me to their website where I enjoyed peeking at the marvelous work humans are doing to preserve wildlife in our world.
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| https://lindsaywildlife.org/hospital-2/ |
Intrigued? Want to know more about this book or add it to your to-be-read pile? Super! Publisher Word Song will send a copy of After Dark to a randomly selected commenter of today's post. Thanks for reading...and your curiosity about nocturnal animals. The giveaway ends Sunday 2/1/2020.
More places you can learn about After Dark:
Linda, thank you so much for hosting me today on the 11th stop along the AFTER DARK tour. I appreciate your time and effort in putting this together to give readers a better idea of what the new book is about.
ReplyDeleteI love the firefly poem! It reminds me of summer nights growing up in Missouri and catching as many as I could, running through the backyards with neighborhood kids to see who could capture the most! Of course, we learned quickly to let them go when the night ended...to be ready for another night!
ReplyDeleteDear Ms. Unknown, aka Su Hutchens,
DeleteWhen you and Dan come to play with us again this year, I'll get you a jar and let you run barefooted across my back yard. And then I'll take your picture and post it on my blog. (:>
The above "unknown" post is from Susan Hutchens.
ReplyDeleteI love your list of things nocturnal creatures do, as you aptly pointed out the similarities between them and a classroom of kids! This book is a real pleasure for all ages.
ReplyDeleteJane, I like Linda's list too. It might be the backbone of a list poem for those who want to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteAnd i like Linda's list three! Great list and great poems! Thank you David for a wonderful book!
ReplyDeleteHi, Yvona,
DeleteI'm glad you are enjoying the tour and what you've seen of the book. As you can tell, I'm very grateful to all the good souls who are hosting each stop along the tour.
Yvona, you are the winner of a fresh copy of Dark at Night by David Harrison. Please e-mail me your snail mail address so I can send it to Word Song who will actually mail the book to you. Congratulations!
DeleteI love how each post takes a different angle into the depth of this book. Your list of expressive verbs would make a great list for my students to use in writing. The Blinker off, Blinker on of the firefly poem is great imagery. Thanks for sharing the website.
ReplyDeleteIt is a treat to get a little taste of this book on so many blogs. Thanks for this. I can't wait to read this book!
ReplyDeleteLovely to read this firefly poem, Linda and David. I was married before I saw my first firefly - and still delight on the rare occasions I see them! (Which has been a couple of years, now.)
ReplyDeletePS I'm not in the draw for a book. Just commenting. :)
DeleteLinda, providing a list of animal-acitive verbs is an interesting way of engaging readers into reading the book, Linda. I agree that the poem, Insect Texting, is a favorite. I think that was very clever of David to create a poem with a modern context. I do love this book so thank you for adding your personal take on it.
ReplyDeleteThe firefly poem is one of my favorites as well, Linda. It's been so much fun reading all these blog posts about AFTER DARK. I love that you compared the list of animal action verbs to a classroom of youngsters! :D
ReplyDeleteToo busy to come by yesterday, Linda, but I wanted to read your post, too. I love the start with all those 'After Dark' antics. We think the night is so quiet, but David shows it isn't at all! I miss fireflies here in Colorado, but grew up with their "blinker on, blinker off", always seems like miracles. Great post!
ReplyDelete