I Must Go Down to the Beach Again - Hardcover

Karen Jo Shapiro

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1580891438 ISBN 13: 9781580891431

Publisher: Charlesbridge, 2007

Synopsis

In this delightful collection of poetic parodies, Karen Jo Shapiro takes 23 classic poems spanning nearly five centuries and gives them a kid-sized twist.<

About this title

About the Author:

Karen Jo (KJ) Shapiro is a mother, psychologist, and the author of I Must Go Down to the Beach Again and Other Poems (2007) and Because I Could Not Stop my Bike and Other Poems (2003). An avid poetry lover since childhood, she majored in English and Spanish at Colby College where she studied many of the poems and poets that inspired her children's books. She got her graduate degree in psychology at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. Karen Jo is a member of the National Register of Psychologists, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and the Association of Booksellers for Children.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4 Up—Shapiro offers parodies of 23 classic British and American poems. In her introductory note, she states that "...though parodies are often written to make fun of something, these poems spring from deep respect." It is clear in reading her selections that the author knows the sources through and through and that she is quite a good poet in her own right. She parallels John Masefield's "Sea-Fever" with the verse: "I must go down to the beach again, where there's water,/sand, and sky,/And all I ask is my red toy boat with a string to pull it by...," matching rhyme and rhythm, if not tone. Love's black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings underscore the humor in each selection. The book is a gold mine for teachers wanting to illustrate command of certain poetic elements, and Shapiro's endnotes on her choice of poets and poems are most thoughtful. The only thing that would have strengthened the book's usefulness, and underscored Shapiro's clever wordplay, would be the inclusion of the original poems. A book to read again and again, hopefully with copies of the classic versions close by.—Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Charlesbridge
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1580891438
• ISBN 13: 9781580891431
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Judy Love