Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum

Mecum, Ryan. Zombie Haiku. Cincinnati, OH: How Books, 2008.

ISBN: 9781600610707

With many teen reads dealing with topics of vampires, werewolves and immortals, Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum fits right in with the current trend of novels.

The Zombie Apocalypse has come for Chris Lynch. While hiding from the inevitable zombie attack caged inside an airport gift shop, he finds this poetry journal in the detached hand of a zombie that has just bitten him. Fortunately he has time to scribble notes in the first page or two describing what has happened to him. This pre-haiku information sets the reader up to begin the journey of a person/zombie told through haiku form. From his pre-zombie attack through his separation of the journal you receive a moment by moment glimpse at the life of a person turned zombie poet as you plow through the pages.

Each page of the book depicts two to four haiku verses. Haiku are three line poems with alternating 5-7-5 syllables in each corresponding line. Along with the poems, the pages of the book are also accompanied with depictions of blood streaks, fingerprints, hair, teeth, green goop and photographs of zombies in various forms of disarray. As the reader begins the story, anticipation builds as the protagonist moves from an alive, average person to the shift of becoming part of the zombie takeover. For those that love this genre they will find it a treat to get into the zombies' mind and learn what it is zombies think about.

Nothing hurts me now.

Normally the screwdriver

Wouldn’t go there.

She’s always with me,

especially if my gut

can’t digest toenails.

Gross humor accompanied with over twenty zombie photos will capture the interest of teens who crave this genre and they will be surprised a teacher would be using the selections as a lesson starter.

To introduce a lesson about using photographs in students' writing journal a brief book talk about Zombie Haiku would be shared along with a short reading from the book. Selected below are parts of the book where Chris describes the love he has for his mom.

I remember home.

And I remember my mom

And her meaty thighs.

I can remember

good food that Mom used to make.

I bet Mom tastes good.

I loved my Momma.

I eat her with my mouth closed,

how she would want it.

Using the reading accompanied by displaying a few zombie pictures in the book, instruction would begin with the development of photograph-inspired writings, either poetry or a round robin activity where partners contribute to each other’s story.

Three additional resources that would be included in the lesson:

Dr. Sylvia Vardell and Dr. Wong’s P*TAG would be introduced. Using this resource from the website allows the student to see the tag form of poetry as well as a resource for photos to inspire students' own poetry writing in a fun collaborated way.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs would also be used in the photo writing lesson to show more examples of writing inspired photographs.

To learn more about using photographs as writing guides a wonderful professional resource is Reading Photographs: to Write with Meaning and Purpose by Leigh Van Horn.

Bibliography of Resources:

Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books, 2011.

Van, Horn Leigh. Reading Photographs to Write with Meaning and Purpose, Grades 4-12. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2008.

Links to P*TAG

http://teenpoetrytagtime.blogspot.com

www.PoetryTagTime.com.

On a personal note, one of my students saw this book lying on my desk and asked if he could read it. Being a middle school boy I allowed him to borrow it and upon returning it to me after class asked if I was aware that the characters name in this book were the same ones from a popular zombie movie Night Of The Living Dead. Not my ideal way to make a connection with a student and his reading relationship, but a connection none the less. I may even be considered cool since I keep zombie material lying around!