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!

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones

Sones, Sonya. Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy. New York: Harper Collins Publishers,1999.

ISBN 9780060283872.

Author, Sonya Sones takes a look at her sister’s mental illness through the eyes of the people left behind. Using fictional characters, Sone's first novel tells a touching story of a family dealing with a very personal, troubling issue.

While on Christmas Break, Cookie's big sister has a mental breakdown and is put in a mental ward. Cookie begins writing in a journal to deal with her thoughts on her sister and the affects it is having on her and her family/friend relationships. Cookie writes,

When I was lost

you were the one who found me

now you're the one who's lost

and I can't find you anywhere."

In addition to dealing with her sister’s illness, Cookie also describes normal adolescent problems. She deals with the anxiety of her friends finding out about her sisters mental state and them abandoning her. She worries that she might become mentally ill as well, and the emotions that develop as she begins a dating relationship with a boy.

Sones novel is written as a diary in verse. Each poem stands by itself with its own title. The novel reads like pages of a journal or diary the teen has kept about the ups and downs of the lives her sister's mental illness has affected. The author’s notes at the end of the book give authenticity to the story. After sharing a poem about visiting her sister in the hospital, Sones was encouraged to share even more of her poems because "Poems like this would be helpful to anyone who has a family member with a problem that's throwing the rest of the family off-kilter".

For a class lesson in formal and informal letter writing begin with this verse from the novel.

Apologies

I’m sorry

I borrowed your favorite sweater

Without asking

And then I got that ink stain on it

That wouldn’t ever come out.

I’m sorry

I lied about it afterwards,

when you asked me

if I knew how it got there

and I swore I had no idea.

And I lied about your goldfish, too.

He didn’t die a mysterious death like I said,

that week when you were away

on that Girl Scout trip.

I forgot to feed him.

The passage concludes

I’m sorry for

every

single

terrible

thing.

Have students think about a time when they were sorry about something. Using their previous lesson over formal and informal writing, have students write a letter or poem of apology for practice. Plan for some contrived apology reasons if students state they have nothing to apologize for.

If students have a hard time developing their thoughts for letter writing I will also share a few selected pieces from This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman. This title often sparks students' creative thinking and at the end of the assignment, are often asking me to read “just one more.”

I Am the Book by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. I Am the Book. Ill. by Yayo. New York: Holiday House. 2011. 

ISBN 978-0823421190.

            I AM THE BOOK is an anthology of thirteen poems, written for young readers, most likely enjoyed by the elementary age but also a valuable teaching resource for older students. Lee Bennett Hopkins has compiled poems dealing with reading and books themselves from many well known poets such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Jane Yolen and Hopkins himself.

Along with a Table of Contents for easy selection, Hopkins also included two-sentence descriptions of each poet at the end.

Hopkins has gathered a lovely collection of reading themed poems, rich in figurative language and poetic devices. Several poems in the anthology use poetic and literary devices such as metaphor and personification. Many of the descriptions used in the reading analogy have words/books taking on human characteristics. In Jane Yolen’s contribution A Poem Is Yolen describes words “running down the page in black script sneakers”. The reader develop an illustration in their minds with the use of descriptive personification language. Metaphor is often used when words or books take on a different characteristic than their intended purpose.  Paperback Plunder by Michele Kruegar has an abandoned book taking on the characteristics of a conch shell as it begs to be lifted to the ear and tell its story.

The poems in the collection vary in stanza length with each poem given a two page spread with an accompanying illustration.

The colorful acrylic illustrations add depth and dimension to the lines of each poet. The fun and attractive acrylic paintings feature exaggerated shapes and perspectives that go nicely with the poems' depictions.

When teaching a library lesson to Kindergarten/First grade about library procedures and taking care of books, I would begin by sharing this poem.

Paperback Plunder by Michele Krueger

Like a sunken treasure

long forgotten,

I lie half buried under sand.

She remembered

her sunscreen,

her towel and hat.

She folded her blanket,

and that was that.

No last look back

for what she left behind.

Now I am here

for you to find.

Sun-drenched and salty,

like a giant conch shell.

Lift me to your ear,

hear the story I shall tell.

Before the lesson I would prepare a beach area for visualization.  A beach towel spread out, beach bag, sunscreen, umbrella and beach hat. I would also have a sand pail filled with sand with a discarded book poking out the top.

After the poem was read I would lift the book out of its sandy demise and place it to my ear as described in the poem.  I would ask the students to share with me what the book would say about its care if it could talk. Discussion would continue about the proper care and handling of library books.