In The Spin of Things

by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

Dazzling wordplay sets young imaginations spinning. Rebecca Kai Dotlich pays poetic tribute to things that shake or slap, whoosh or whirl, swirl or spill in this captivating book of verse. With charming illustrations by Karen Dugan, these twenty-three poems sparkle with clever imagery and crackle with dazzling wordplay. Here's a remarkable collection by a gifted poet.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens

Hardcover

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Rebecca is a poet and picture book author of such titles as What is Science? (a 2006 Subaru SB&F prize finalist), and Lemonade Sun (an American Booksellers "Pick of the Lists"). Her work is featured widely in poetry anthologies and textbooks. Rebecca promotes children's poetry, giving presentations and workshops to students, teachers, librarians and writers. She lives in Indiana.

Reviews

[Jean Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Spin of Things, poetry of motion is a great book for ages 7-10. I also think this would be a great book to read to children of all ages in elementary school. These poems are all based on things that move. It would be a good book for younger children to read and understand the concepts but, it would also be helpful for older students in elementary school to read so they can understand the idea of poetry. Plenty of these poems exhibit alliteration throughout the entire poem and would be helpful in explaining what alliteration means to students. Students would also be able to connect to these poems and understand them because they are all based on items children have seen before or may see in their every day life. I liked this book because a lot of these poems are based off of items in a classroom or school supplies children use every day.

I would read a poem aloud to younger students and my older students from this book every day. I could pick out the poem about the Autumn Leaves on a fall day, or the poem about windshield wipers on a rainy day. By incorporating this book into the class everyday I can have my students enjoy reading poetry and understanding it. It would be a simple way to incorporate it into the classroom every day. I also could have the students create their own poems about items in their everyday lives. It would be a great way to see the different activities students participate in their every day lives and the things they enjoy to do in their free time. This would also be a great way to see the diversity in my students and the way the live day to day.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was extremely interesting. Since it says poetry of motion, I was thinking about things that move, such as cars, energy, and things like this. While it is about things that move, it is not in the sense that most people would think. The poems are quite funny and talk about weird things that have motion, such as a jump rope, rubber band, pencil sharpener, washing machine, wind chimes, puppets, etc. I think this would be a fun book to use to introduce poetry as well because these poems are thinking outside the box. Another great thing that these poems did was use onomatopoeia throughout them, such as splish, squish, zip, whoosh, etc, so this would be great to use to introduce what those are to a group of students.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poetry in the simple things of life like washing machines, pencil sharpeners, autumn leaves, ice cubes, and many more. Lots of good examples of onomatopoeia and other figurative language. It would be fun to read the poems as a visualization lesson to see if the students can guess what the object is by its poem.

[Kassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of poetry all about things we encounter daily. Rubberbands, washing machines, roller coasters, etc. All of the poems are very descriptive and have a lot of fun sounds in them. It makes for a very entertaining read.