NPM #20

I love the push of recent poetry picture books to explore nature, but it’s NOT a new phenomenon.  Today’s poem was written in the 1700s by Japanese poet Issa who specialized in Haiku.  The picture book “Cool Melons–Turn to Frogs!” is both a collection of poetry AND a biography of the poet’s life.  What a fascinating combination!  Each poem in the book was selected to help push the biography along.  I love how the poems capture different stages of his life.  I also love how the illustrations capture some moment of each poem as well as including the Japanese brush poem along the margins of the book.  Wonderful design and layout!

Issa haiku

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