Tap Dancing on the Roof by Linda Sue Park

Title: Tap Dancing on the Roof
Author/Illustrator: Linda Sue Park/Istvan Banyai
Genre: Non-Fiction; Poetry
Age: 8-12

This book has a collection of poems suited for young children.One poem I looked at called School Lunch mentioned how the food was plopped with tongs or a spatula and had its own little space. It said square pizza in one space, a square brownie in another spot, with a milk carton cube all on a rectangular tray. It ended by saying that their afternoon snack was anything without corners, which I thought was random, but I looked back at the poem and all the items were rectangular and had sharp edges, so they wanted something different. Another poem I looked at was called Pockets, I really thought this poem was cute because the narrative is that if your pockets are empty you're wasting your time. This child had one horse chestnut, a gum wrapper, a dime an a hamster in their pockets. Another poem I found interesting was called Frog, this one talked about how a frog transformed into a strong frog, its legs were so strong, able to bend and straighten them, it could kick and swim, and it would eventually climb from the cool water to a sun-warm rock. The twist was that it ended by mentioning how the frog wondered what was gone and it was the tail. So in a sense it talked about the frog's changes and basically hinted at the metamorphosis, and how when it was young it had a tail, when it was a tadpole, and now that it's an adult frog it no longer has it. In the end she had a poem titled Wish, and it basically said that she wants people to read a poem over and over again until they've lifted it off the page, and cradle it with them everywhere they go. So in essence what she's saying that she hopes someone takes one of her poems and it becomes a favorite of theirs.

It's written in traditional Sijo form which is Korean, and that means it has a certain amount of stressed number of syllables and is similar to a haiku. There's usually a humorous or ironic twist at the end of the poems which I found to be true.I read up on a Sijo and found that the first line is usually the introduction, the second continues the theme, and the third line delivers the punch line/twist. The illustrations also paired nicely with the poems. I think if I were to use this in a lesson, I would have students read a few poems and then in groups try to come up with one of their own for the older ones. I would let the younger students, but we would probably create one as a class, therefore this book is better suited for children 8-12.
- Peace. Love. Giraffes.