The Death of the Hat

The Death of the Hat  is the 4th collaborative anthology by Paul B. Janeczko and Chris Raschka. The book’s title comes from the Billy Collins poem within, which is one of the poems in the final chapter “Contemporary”. For this is a collection of poetry spanning 2000 years. In fact, the full title of the book is The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50  Objects.

All of the poems focus on objects, earthly and celestial. Chris Raschka’s light watercolors give each of them life and help us see what lies beneath the surface of the poets’ words.  The poems come from Rumi, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, Pablo Neruda, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and others less well-known in the West like Cui Tu, Bai Juyi and Basho. Although these poems were not written for children, they are a great way to expose children to the “canon” of poetry.

The book would be useful in any classroom. Kids could write about an object, or create a history of themselves through objects, whether in poetry or in prose.

However you decide to use it, this is an excellent tool for the classroom.

What’s Your Favorite Animal?

In their interactive journals,the 4th graders often ask their correspondent about their favorite animal. I usually answer “otter”, because I like their playfulness in water and the nimbleness of their hands. And they are cute.

Imagine the answers if you asked book illustrators! Here’s what you’d get:

Eric Carle, Nick Bruel, Lucy Cousins, Susan Jeffers, Steven Kellogg, Jon Klassen, Tom Lichtenheld, Peter  McCarty, Chris Raschka, Peter Sís, Lane Smith, Erin Stead, Rosemary Wells, and Mo Willems all answer the question. Each draws their animal and tells a little bit about themselves and the animal of their dreams.

Some are simple

some more complex

but all are delightful.

Aside from the obvious “draw & write about your favorite animal” lesson, this book has plenty of classroom applications: author/illustrator studies, art lessons, genre writing lessons…..

All the royalties from book sale are planned to be donated to theEric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.