Silly Squid! Poems about
the Sea by Janeen Brian,
illustrated by Cheryll Johns (Omnibus book from Scholastic Australia)
HB RRP $24.99
ISBN 9781742990965
Reviewed by Dianne Bates
What a handsome book of
poems for children this is, so lovely that the publishers (rightly) thought to
present it in hardback. Flipping through the pages is an absolute delight as
the full-page illustrations are colourful and beautifully depicted. And too,
the design of the book is very appealing with hand-written font for the poems
and facts about the sea creatures depicted on every page typed around the
borders.
Each poem is devoted to a
single creature, such as a crab, a sea star, Leafy sea dragon, whale, squid and
many more. The poet forms vary from poem to poem but all are jolly and
enjoyable. In ‘Stingray’ for example, there are three repeating lines
interspersed with a three line rhyming line. ‘Shark’ is presented as quatrains
with rhymes on the second and fourth lines. Each one of the poems has a light,
deft touch and none of them is a line too long. Most of them are narrated by
the sea creature they describe with each poem giving (accurate) factual
information. Here’s just one example, from the poem, ‘Jellyfish’:
‘…we come in different sizes and
people call us ‘jellies’. We
have no bones, nor heart nor brain – not even
jelly bellies!’
Faced with information like
this, a curious child is likely to go off to an encyclopedia (or Google) to
check out if the facts are true, and might thus find out even more about
jellyfish.
Researching and finding
poems from hundreds of poetry collections in order to compile an anthology a
few years ago, I looked at a wide range – and of course have included Brian’s
poems in my book, Our Home is Dirt by Sea (Walker Books
Australia, 2016). This latest collection by Brian is probably one of the very
best single poet collections I came across. It’s highly recommended for readers
aged 7 years and up.
