Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky

Summary of Book: Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky, written by Georgia Heard and drawn by Jennifer Dewey. This book includes several short poems in themed poetic collections about animals ranging from baboons to fish to raccoons. The poems are the animals describing themselves. Some are in third person and others in first. Some are poems for two voices, such as the "Frog Serenade." The rhythm of each story is different with the meaning of the poems ranging from discussing the endangerment of animals to more cheerful themed poems.

Why you would/would not use this book in your classroom? I would use this book because the poems give great information on different animals and what they each do. It would be great for ESL students.

Appropriate age group for this book: 4-8

Ideas for unit of study to include this book or how you might use this book in the classroom: From the poems in this book, it could be used as a way to develop students sense of imagery relating to words. A teacher could draw several of the poems and have the students think in depth about the imagery behind the words. Such as the poem on "Dressing like a Snake." Students could be introduced to new language of similes, metaphors, etc. It could also be used in a unit about learning about animals and the different categories they each go into.

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