Animal Sense

Title: Animal Sense
Author: Ackerman, Diane
Illustrator: Sis,Peter
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003
Genre: Illustrated Poetry Book
Grade Range: 3rd-6th grade

Summary: This book is a compliation of poems that talk about the five senses in relevance to animals. For example, there are "chapters" on each touch, hearing, vision, smell, and taste. Throughout these different "chapters" Ackerman explores, through poetry, how different animals experience these senses. Along side of each poem there is a full page picture, adjacent to a smaller picture. It seems as if Sis used small dots to make each illustration. The illustrations for chapters are comprised of a human head, pinpointing each sense through over-exaggerated "swirlies."

Response: I think this book "hits" in many different arenas at one time. The poetry is beautiful and simplistic. But, in a more complex way, everything cohesively comes together. For example, the five senses are all tied back together because it is the stories of different animals experiencing them. I love how Ackerman used onomotopeia to illustrate sounds in this book. For example, the owl "who, who, who." She also uses rhyming words, like two, to re-iterate the sound of the owl. I also especially love how she ties the animal's lives back into the reader's. She uses dialog, common language, and humor to allow to the reader to connect. Like in the "smell" section, she personifies the dog so the reader can better understand this. I also like the way how Sis emphasizes the sense of the animal through the photo. The cow is eating "taste," the mama penguin and the baby peguin are together "touch," and so on.

Teaching Ideas: I see so many possible teaching implications with this book. One of those implications would be to use this book in a lower-elementary classroom as in intro, or part of, a unit on animals. This book could also be used to teach drawing, in an art class. However, in my field of secondary education, I can see this book being used to teach poetry. Although the poems are simple, they interweave each other with a certain complexity. I also see many classical poetry elements in this book, onomotopeia, personification, rhyme, and dialog. High schoolers can be intimidated by Whitman or Dickinson. This would be a great intro to poetry for high schoolers.

Go take a look at this gem of a book!
--jeana