Book Review #3: DARK EMPEROR & OTHER POEMS OF THE NIGHT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sidman, Joyce. Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. ISBN: 9780547152288

Allen, Rick. Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. ISBN: 9780547152288

SUMMARY

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman was an individual poet compilation book about the different creatures that are out at night. Each poem described and consisted of the character traits of the creatures. Some of the creatures written about were: owls, snails, spiders, porcupettes (baby porcupines), among many other nocturnal creatures.

RHYTHM

Throughout this book of poetry, each poem had its own rhythm, just as each animal is different and has its own nighttime ritual. Most of the poems used short lines to create a staccato rhythm. For instance, in the first poem, “Welcome to the Night,” it had four stanzas, and in each stanza the first three lines were short and rhymed with the other lines. This created a natural rhythm in the poem, and the reader was able to easily follow along and understand the poem.

RHYME

Each poem in the book had its own rhyme scheme, but for the most part, a lot of end rhyme and internal rhymes were used in the poems. Different rhyme schemes were also used, such as in the poem, “Ballad of the Wandering Eft.” This poem had a rhyme scheme of ABAB, while there were other poems that didn't have an obvious rhyme scheme, but used verse instead to create a cadence. An example of this was in the poem, “Bat Wraps Up.” Through these different rhyme schemes, the poems in the book demonstrated to the reader how rhyme could be used to capture the meanings behind each poem without seeming forced when reading the poems aloud.

SOUND

This book of poetry used a lot of sound. There were different sounds, and some of them that were used were: onomatopoeia, an echo effect, assonance, and consonance. Onomatopoeia was used to help the reader understand the sounds that were made in the night, and in some cases the echo effect also added to the nighttime atmosphere. Readers could imagine the sounds taking place as they read through the poems on each page. They could also hear other sounds, like the vowel sounds or assonance, along with the repetitive consonant sounds.

As the rhythm and rhyme worked together in the poems, they also contributed to the sounds in the book. The reader could imagine all of the happenings, because of these three elements working together.

LANGUAGE

The language or words in the poems attributed to the rhythm, rhyme, and sounds in the book. As mentioned previously, onomatopoeia was used throughout the book, which also demonstrated personification and metaphors to the reader in some poems. The poem, “Night-Spider's Advice” described the lap of the spider and the fact that “life's a circle” both metaphorically and literally in the poem, which was a great example of figurative language in the poem. A specific example of personification involved the poem, “Oak After Dark” where the tree described “As nighttime rustles at my knee/ I stand in silent gravity (Sidman 2010). Visual language was also used with the different size fonts throughout the book, creating different tones and meanings in the poems.

IMAGERY

Each poem used imagery in a unique and visually stimulating way from the language chosen in the poems. An example of this was in the last poem, “Moon's Lament.” It says, “Where is the thrum of crickets,/ the throbbing of frogs?” The imagery in these two lines made the reader imagine exactly what the creatures did during the night.

EMOTIONS

The book had an overall positive effect on the reader. Each poem was informative, while also interesting. All of them incorporated the poetry elements that work together and form great books of poetry. The book made the reader want to read each poem to see what they could learn on the next page about another creature and see the creative ways the poet described them.

POETRY BOOKS

The book was written in chronological order, so the reader started with the poem “Welcome to the Night” and learned about the different creatures. Then, the next poem was about a creature that was out at moonrise and then, it moved on to other creatures, going through each aspect of the night until it reached the poem, “Moon's Lament,” and all the creatures were going back to sleep or hiding until the night came, again. All of the illustrations captured the creatures and the descriptions in the poems. Readers could look at the illustrations and understand what that creature was doing without actually reading the poem.

There were also side notes for readers to gain more information about the creature in the poem, which would definitely draw the attention of younger readers, particularly in elementary. At that age, they want to learn more about creatures and this book would help them learn and understand classic poetry at the same time. It would be an excellent teaching tool in the classroom in the lower grades. 

AWARDS, REVIEWS, AND RECOGNITIONS

*Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 2011 Honor Book Picture Book
*John Newbery Medal, 2011 Honor Book
*Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, 2011 Honor Book

"The dark lines of Allen's skillful lino cut prints make the perfect accompaniment to a book of night poems, with their subtle colors allowing the reader to seek out the creatures slowly, just as one's eye becomes accustomed to finding things in the dark." -The Horn Book

"The bookmaking is beautiful with the concept of night lending itself generously to poetry.” -School Library Journal

CONNECTIONS

*Use this book of poetry to learn about nocturnal creatures.

*Understand figurative language.

*Other great books using figurative language by Joyce Sidman:

Sidman, Joyce. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. ISBN 9780618563135

Sidman, Joyce. Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors ISBN 9780547014944