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October 13, 2006
Central Heating: Poetry Friday
Toasting Marshmallows
It hinges on a second, an inch.
A shade too long, a hair too close,
and perfect crisp brown
turns to bitter charcoal
gentle melting
becomes ooze.
And you lose the game,
the marshmallow
to the flame.
-From Central Heating: Poems about Fire and Warmth by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Meilo So
This book seemed a good choice for the first morning I woke up to find snow covering the world. The cover sets the tone: Meilo So’s small full-color pictures of fireworks, jack-o-lanterns, fireflies, jalapenos, dragons, and the like exude warmth. Inside, readers will find poems, one per two-page spread, accompanied by So’s muted illustrations done in something like pastels or soft pencil. The catch? It’s all red – text, illustrations, page numbers, everything. As a whole, it has a look that’s spare and somewhat old-fashioned (Remember when they only used one color because they had no choice?), but the design suits the poems well. Singer’s poems are spare, quiet, and thoughtful. Still, like fire, they move across the page, sometimes rhyming, sometimes not. Singer's craft is in strong imagery and the art of line breaks. This collection doesn’t have the mass appeal of a book by Jack Prelutsky or the intriguing cover art of something like the new Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex, but it’s a wonderful treat for those rare readers who really love poetry.
Posted by adrienne at October 13, 2006 10:06 AM
Comments
Adrienne,
Thanks so much for this poem. Madison and Ella loved it. Madison is copying it out for her handwriting today.
Posted by: Deb at October 13, 2006 11:40 AM
It's snowing? Already?
Posted by: crissa Chappell at October 13, 2006 05:11 PM
Yes. I thought the couple inches of snow on my car this morning was bad, but then I learned what happened in Buffalo. Apparently they got so much snow in Kendall (my old hometown -- roughly between here and Buffalo) that they closed the schools, which pretty much never happens. It all seems a little wacky for mid-October.
Posted by: adrienne at October 13, 2006 05:26 PM
I love poetry. The snow did not seem right though.
Posted by: tonderdo at October 13, 2006 06:20 PM
And I'm so glad to hear of children liking the poem! :) I think kids tend to be a lot more open to poetry than adults, so I'm always trying to give good poetry to kids at my library in the hopes of countering the forces that seem to want to teach people that poetry is boring and irrelevant.
Posted by: adrienne at October 14, 2006 11:21 AM