Deborah Ruddell

I really like this poem for several reasons, two of them being the language and characters in the story. The author does a great job of using figurative language to creatively describe the actions of the animals in the poem. The poem is short and very clear for children to understand; it also has imaginative elements that make it fun to read. In one descriptive part of the poem, the author writes:

“Bundled up in furry coats,
Belted out their heist notes,
They lope across the winter woods
To show more serenade the neighborhoods.”

I also really enjoyed how the poem contains personification as the author writes about coyotes singing through the night. These components make the poem interesting and fun to read as it captivates the audience. The poem contains a rhyming pattern which is also fun to read as the rhythm flows so smoothly and characters’ actions are described. The main message expressed in this poem is that coyotes are vocal animals and howling is the only they way the can communicate through the night. show less

Deborah Ruddell and Joan Rankin’s A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems is every bit as humorous and well-rounded as the title suggests. The book is a collection of poems about various aspects of forest life. While some of the poems tiptoe around the edge of ridiculous, others point out details of the forest that may otherwise go unnoticed, such as the poem entitled “How to Recognize a Green Tiger Beetle”, which describes the beetle in rhyming lines such as: “a show more high-gloss beetle/who’s a brilliant shade of teal--/and twinkles in the sun/like a beetle made of steel.” Many different animals are used in the book, making it appealing to many different animal lovers.
The illustrations are just the right mixture of realistic and goofy, making them suit the poems perfectly. The vibrant colors and actions of the animals in the illustrations draw the eye of the reader. The author does an excellent job of sneaking nuggets of scientific fact into the poems in a rhyming scheme that will make readers think the book is all fun and games before the realize they have actually learned something. The book appropriately opens and closes with poems that encompass the whole of the forest, while sandwiching the poems about individual animals in the middle. Overall, this poetry book would make for a fun read aloud for any class, and is a particularly handy tool for a science class to use poetry in a cross-curricular fashion. Recommended for grades 1 and up. show less

Some are funny, some are thoughtful, all are exuberant- I loved these poems about animals in the woods. While each of the poems can stand alone, it's so much fun reading them that I can imagine children saying, "Just read one more. One more, please!" My favorite was about turkey commenting on his portrait- "I find it most insulting/ that you traced your hand/ and colored all my feathers/ either plain brown black or tan. [...] Finally, I'm baffled/ that you've made me look so dumb./ My head show more is quite distinguished/ and it's nothing like your thumb." So cute! Illustrations are adequate but I like more white space on a page. Recommended for readers 4-8. show less

The easy to understand, metered poetry coupled with the Pinkney-inspired watercolored paintings creates a very enjoyable and often funny read.