Module 2: Florian Poetry

Module 2: Florian Poetry

Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings

Ivana Marmolejo

Bibliography

Florian, Douglas. Insectlopedia: Poems and Paintings. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1998.

Summary

This book of poetry is comprised of twenty-one poems about various insects. Florian not only wrote the poems but also painted the illustrations. Readers will enjoy the colorful pictures that perfectly depict the bug that is featured on the corresponding page.

 

Analysis

All age groups can enjoy this book but especially young children, and young boys, who love insects and every kind of bug they can imagine. Readers will love that shape poems are featured in this book. 

Depending on the bug, some poems follow the movement of the bugs or are shaped like the structures they build. Florian did this with the poems about the army ants, the inchworm, the whirligig beetles, and the termites. Young students might enjoy using their fingers to trace the movements or structures of these poems. 

Many poems rhyme and some do not. Many poems have figurative language, and Florian emphasizes words that relate to the bug the poem is written about. For example, reading The Ticks poem, every line in the single stanza ends in “tic.” “Not gigan-tic/ not roman-tic/ not artis-tic.” Children will enjoy Florian’s clever use of words and word placement on the pages.

Besides the beautiful poems, readers’ eyes will pore over the illustrations. The back of the book informs the reader that Florian painted all the images using watercolor on primed brown paper bags. 

Poem/ Excerpt and Activity

Students will read The Inchworm poem from the book and will enjoy writing a shape poem. Students could choose a bug from the book, conduct informal research about it, and write a shape poem about the bug as it relates to how they move, what they build, or how they look. Students could also choose to write a shape poem about any topic that interests them. The point would be to have fun with writing poetry.