First Food Fight This Fall and Other School Poems

by Marilyn Singer, Sachiko Yoshikawa (Illustrations)

When school days roll around again, this is the perfect collection to get children back in the mood. Written by acclaimed poet Marilyn Singer, First Food Fight This Fall serves up a heaping helping of wit and humor.  Each short, appealing verse is told in the voice of one or more of the pupils. Together, they paint a funny and touching picture of everyday life in the classroom: the friendly feuds, sandwich trades, field trips, science fair; the subjects kids like, the ones they don’t, their troubles and triumphs. 
Artist Sachiko Yoshikawa’s lively and engaging illustrations—which feature collage and mixed-media techniques—add to the delight, from her first picture of a school bus decked with a “Yay! First Day!” banner to the sunshine-filled final day of the year. 

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

First published September 2, 2008

About the author

Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories and in 1976 her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over seventy books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored. She has won several Children's Choice and Parents' Choice Awards, as well as the following: the Creature Carnival, Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book, 2005; I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion, New York Public Library's "Best Books for the Teen Age," 2001; Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2000 (YALSA); On the Same Day in March, Booklist's Top Ten Science Books of 2000; NCSS-CBC Notable Book, 2000; Deal with a Ghost, finalist, YA category, Edgar Award, 1998; It Can't Hurt Forever, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, 1983; The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, 1983; Turtle in July, NCTE Notable, N.Y.Times Best Illustrated and Time Magazine Best Children's Books of 1989; Turtle in July was also a Reading Rainbow review book.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, a cousin of their beloved and recently departed poodle Easy, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling named Darling. Her interests include dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, meditation, playing computer adventure games and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

Reviews

[Ch_charonbradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teachers need to know that this collections of poems details twelve kids that ride the bus together. They Narrate he poems to remind the readers of their school year. This is a funny and touching pictures of everyday life in the classroom: the friendly feuds, sandwich trades, field trips, science fair; the subjects kids like, the ones they don’t, their troubles and triumphs. It is an excellent read for primary grades.

[Sophie Greenbaum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn to this book because of the vibrant, detailed illustration on the cover! The cover art is humerous, with the students pictured on it drenched in food from a food fight and making silly faces, and the illustrator even decided to turn the words "Food Fight" from the title on the cover into art itself (making the different letters using pieces of food). I assumed before opening the book that this poetry compilation would be quirky, humorous, and entertaining for students, and I was not disappointed. This poetry compilation includes 39 seperate poems, all written from the varying perspectives of 12 students in Mrs. Mundy's talking about their various experiences at school that year. The topics of poems range from students discussing their favorite/least favorite class, recounting the events of a food fight that happened in the cafeteria, games they play at recess, and poems talking about what they look forward to on the first day of school and what they will miss on the last day of school. This poetry book is great for teachers in early elementary classrooms (grades 1-4) to add to their classroom libraries because the topics of the poems may be relateable to students, since the poems are written from perspectives of fictional students and discuss feelings about school classes, recess, friendships, etc. Also, the art is very expressive and bright, taking up a lot of the page. Students who might be emerging readers will be drawn to this book because the text content on each page does not seem too daunting. Also, the author does a great job of capitalizing onomatopeias in eahc poem so they jump out at students, which makes this book a very interesting read as well! This book includes the perfect balance of funny and relateable poems to students, and I highly recommend it for teachers to either have avaliable in their room for students to read independently or to use as a read aloud during the poetry unit!

[Mylinh · Rating 5 out of 5]

WONDERFUL collection of poems detailing a group of students as they make their way from the first day of school to the last. Can be read as an entire tale or poems can be read separately and still make sense. The illustrations are beautiful and the poems are diverse and interesting. Might be a fun book to keep in the classroom and read from occasionally throughout the year. Would be a good book to use when introducing a section on poems and could inspire students to write about their own school experiences.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a great variety of poetry about school written by students. These poems could inspire students to write their own poetry. They can take style ideas from the book and decide what kind of poem they would like to write. With this book, students can see that poetry can be written about absolutely anything, but they can also see that it is best (and easiest) to write about something you feel strongly about.

[Haley Sterritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be such a useful resource to have for almost any time of the year. It is a collection of poems that cover a wide range of days throughout the school year from the first day to a rainy day to field trips and picture day. I could use this to read a poem directly related to the day of the year or to introduce poetry in general.

[Halee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book I read for the first-time with my reading buddy last week and we enjoyed it together. It is full of short poems that are funny, exciting, and very eventful. It even has a pretty catchy title that goes right along with our soon to be fall season. It was perfect. This book would suit younger elementary students best.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE the artwork. And the kids all seem to have good experiences by the end of the year to balance the bad at the beginning. I'd want it in the collection, but with 11 students, there are too many to keep track of for a readaloud.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great poetry book to have in the classroom that tells the different adventures that happen at school. I would love this book in my classroom! I would recommend this book for any aged students through elementary school.

[Janet Squires · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of poems, written in student voices and employing a variety of forms, covers the school year and explores a wide range of activities, classes and experiences. The bright illustrations are equally varied and capture the mood of each poem.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Didn't love these poems. 'Not crazy about putting it in our school's collection so I'm not crazy about it.

[Dana Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Includes many different poems. Poems all have to do with school. Gives school related circumstances in poem form.

[Amanda Martinez Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute school poems. I also loved the illustrations.