This Big Sky

by Pat Mora, Steve Jenkins (Illustrations)

This evocative collection of poems combines Pat Mora¹s simple, yet shining words with Steve Jenkin¹s bright collage images. The landscapes, animals, and people come into sharp focus and the beauty and mystery of the American Southwest are captured.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Pat Mora (born 1942) is a female Mexican-American author and poet. Pat Mora was born in El Paso, Texas. She is married and has 3 grown children.

Reviews

[Rachel]

I love this picture book of Spanish-accented poetry from Pat Mora, and illustrated with Steve Jenkins' brilliant cut-paper pictures. I want to live in the Southwest, in Arizona, so I love the imagery that these poems bring forth. My favorite has to the title poem "This Big Sky", though my favorite illustration is definitely of the giant snake from the "Old Snake" poem.

[Dawn Laws]

This is a book on poetry. The 14 poems are about nature, animals, plants, and landscape. Each poem has an illustration with it.

I rated this book 5/5 because the poems are easy to read and most older children would be able to understand them. Having a visualization to go with each poem adds to it's greatness.

[Jennifer]

The style of poetry wasn’t for me. I did like that it had poems for different topics

[Maggie Campbell]

Summary:
This collection of poetry is all about nature and animals--primarily desert animals. The illustrations are wonderful, as they are actually photographs of paper collages. The poems are written in free verse, and are artfully arranged on each page.

Review:
My favorite part of this book is the illustrations. The illustrator uses cut and ripped paper to create each image, producing a stunning, textured effect. The poems in this book are very artistic and a little abstract, but still appropriate to use in a classroom.

Book Connections:
I would connect this book of poetry to another book of poetry called Cactus Poems by Frank Asch. The poems in this book are all about animals in deserts all over North America.

Quote:
My favorite poem in this book is "Horned Lizard." Here is the part I like best:
"I watch you,
carefully put you, bellybulge
pincushion, in my palm...
A warm balloon
puffs in my hand" (p. 3).
I like this poem because horned lizards are so cute, and I can imagine what it would feel like to hold one of these lizards.
This can be a mentor text for students writing sensory descriptions. Students can practice writing about how objects feel.

[Terra McCown]

Science, Scenery, Landscapes

TEKS: (7) Geography. The student understands the concept of regions in the United States. The student is expected to:

(B) describe a variety of regions in the United States such as landform, climate, and vegetation regions that result from physical characteristics such as the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Coastal Plains;

(8) Geography. The student understands the location and patterns of settlement and the geographic factors that influence where people live. The student is expected to:

(A) identify and describe the types of settlement and patterns of land use in the United States;

[Maggie]

“One Hundred Books for Reading and Sharing,” The New York Public Library, 1998

Beautiful illustrations tie together the separate poems in this book. Might be good for reading a couple of poems at a time with a child.

[Kim Foy]

This was a great book on poetry that included poems about nature - animals, plants, and landscape. The illustrations were very unique and interesting in the collage format.

[Jen]

I liked the poems. These are not my favorite Steve Jenkins illustrations, but the old snake is kinda cute. Great book.

[Heid]

Ravens, Mountains and Dark

[Mas5thgrade2012]

this book wasn't great,I don't like poetry very much!

Horsebackrider1

[Cecilia]

Imaginative, Realistic, and Adventurous.

[Alexia Powell]

silhouette, wildflowers, paisano, pudgy, lobo, skimming