Module 3: Book Review 9-New Poetry

 Follow the Recipe: Poems about Imagination, Celebration, & Cake

Bibliography

Singer, M. & Priceman, M. (2020) Follow the Recipe: Poems About Imagination, Celebration, & Cake. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780735227903

Summary  

Indulge yourself in this spectacular collection of Marilyn Singer poems written in the form of recipes with themes that touch on family, seasons, school subjects, and so many more.  Become immersed in poems that rhyme, are written backwards, and are in haiku form while finding life lessons for oneself.  With vibrant and lively artwork by Marjorie Priceman to give even more energy to each poem, readers young and old will sure savor in this delicious piece of art by Singer.  

Analysis

Follow the Recipe is an anthology of innovated poems that help teach readers with some of the most basic to complex things in life.  From the first, a Recipe for a Good Recipe to the last a Recipe for Celebration, each poem in this book educates the reader in ways of compassion, patience, support, and evolving in society. 

With so many poetic elements used throughout this book like rhyme, metaphors, and sensory image, there is sure to be something pleasing to all readers.  The poem Recipe for Reading is full of rhyming and sensory image like in the lines “A book can be cheesy/A book can be please-y/Something to eat carefully/or devour in big bites/during the days/or deep dark nights.” Those lines provide rhyme plus images, taste, and touch to someone who is reading it.  In Recipe for a Poem, there are related metaphors of “similes and metaphors not being scattered haphazardly like grains of rice tossed at a wedding,” and “taking care of the words on a page as you would food on a plate.” 

Readers of all ages will genuinely enjoy these upbeat poems with so many different poetic elements and forms.  Appreciate Singer’s signature-style reverso poem, where the poem is written from top to bottom, then reversed from bottom to top in, Recipe for Science and become encouraged to try one on your own.  Relish in Recipes for Enjoying the Seasons, written as a haiku, conjuring up items that remind us of that season.

 
Although this book is filled with vibrant, collage-like artwork by Marjorie Priceman that would make it appealing to a younger audience, the words Singer uses in her poems make it appropriate for readers of an older audience.  Grades 4^th through 8^th would understand the advanced vocabulary like used in the Recipe for Measurement, with words of smidgen, heaping, and gill.  A read aloud of poems from the book to a younger audience would be applicable though to make students laugh and make connections to as in the poems Recipe for Disaster and Recipe for Fairy Tales.  There are sweet messages readers can take from each poem and apply it to their own recipe for life.   

The brilliance of each poem and liveliness of the illustrations make this combination festive and joyous to all readers.  It will keep them engaged and craving for more from Singer and Priceman.    

Excerpt

Recipes for Enjoying the Seasons

Summer                                                                    Winter

Lemonade. If I                                                          Icicles hanging

            had a butterfly’s tongue, I’d                                  from the pine tree. After school,

never need a straw.                                                 choose a free dessert.

 

Autumn                                                                    Spring

Pomegranate seeds:                                               Asparagus spears

            In fall, I am rich enough                                          appear, grand marshals leading

to dine on rubies.                                                    the parade of green.

Use

This poem is an excellent example to teach kids about the poetry form, haiku.  Using the poem, teach students the construction of a haiku, the 5-7-5 syllable rule having kids clap out the words of each line in the poem.  Discuss with them the use of nature and their senses when writing a haiku on their own.  Allow students to practice and create a new haiku.