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Blast Off!
Blast off on an adventure through space in this collection of poems about the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Stargazers and future astronauts alike will delight in these varied poems celebrating the celestial skies. Noted poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins has brought together works from poets such as Ashley Bryan, Eve Merriam, and Karla Kuskin. With Melissa Sweet's glowing illustrations, this makes a stellar combination that's out of this world!
48 pages, Library Binding
First published February 28, 1995
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About the author
Lee Bennett Hopkins
206 books52 followersLee Bennett Hopkins was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017. He holds a Guinness Book of Records citation for compiling the most anthologies for children. He has also received the Christopher Award, the Regina Medal, and the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award. He lives in Florida.
For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...
For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 13, 2011
Blast Off!: Poems About Space immediately caught my eye. The noted author and award winning poet, Lee Bennett Hopkins, included some of his own poems about space and was the selector of the rest of the books in this themed anthology. In addition to the exceptional author, this book of poems interested me because I teach a 3rd grade space unit. I have never incorporated poetry into my science units, but after reading this book, it is a new must!
The sounds of this books of poems including rhyme and rhythm will captivate young readers and allow them to learn space vocabulary, space history, and space facts. There are many elements of poetry throughout the anthology that increased my liking of the book. J. Patrick Lewis used onomatopoeia, "pop and bang!" in his poem A Black Hole to add to the sound used in this book. In addition, Hopkins and other authors used alliteration "brilliant, bright" in his poem Blast Off to describe a planet. Lillian M. Fisher created a comparison with her metaphor "It's (the moon) cold and dark and dead as stone, but it catches light from the burning sun and shows itself when each day is done."
My favorite poem in the book, Moonlight, by Leslie D. Perkins used the concrete format. This poem is written in the shape of a crescent moon. The illustration is important as visual comprehension is necessary to understand this poem. The poem describes how the pale moon makes a path on the dark lawn for someone to be able to see. Using the illustration, you see that the path is illuminated by the moon. The concrete poem and illustration accompany each other nicely to create an interesting poem that makes students aware of the moon giving some light to Earth at night.
The book is set up in a format that gives each poem a double spread page of a small book. The illustrations and poems are set up differently from page to page, but always go nicely with Sweet's illustrations. Some pages the text is on side and the illustration is on the other while other pages the text is spread across the bottom of both pages as well as the illustration. It is obvious that these format decisions were purposeful. For example, the concrete poem discussed earlier needed one whole page to form the words in a crescent moon shape and the other page to illustrate the moon's light on the lawn.
If you are looking for an informational, poetic, picture book about space, then this book is for you!
The sounds of this books of poems including rhyme and rhythm will captivate young readers and allow them to learn space vocabulary, space history, and space facts. There are many elements of poetry throughout the anthology that increased my liking of the book. J. Patrick Lewis used onomatopoeia, "pop and bang!" in his poem A Black Hole to add to the sound used in this book. In addition, Hopkins and other authors used alliteration "brilliant, bright" in his poem Blast Off to describe a planet. Lillian M. Fisher created a comparison with her metaphor "It's (the moon) cold and dark and dead as stone, but it catches light from the burning sun and shows itself when each day is done."
My favorite poem in the book, Moonlight, by Leslie D. Perkins used the concrete format. This poem is written in the shape of a crescent moon. The illustration is important as visual comprehension is necessary to understand this poem. The poem describes how the pale moon makes a path on the dark lawn for someone to be able to see. Using the illustration, you see that the path is illuminated by the moon. The concrete poem and illustration accompany each other nicely to create an interesting poem that makes students aware of the moon giving some light to Earth at night.
The book is set up in a format that gives each poem a double spread page of a small book. The illustrations and poems are set up differently from page to page, but always go nicely with Sweet's illustrations. Some pages the text is on side and the illustration is on the other while other pages the text is spread across the bottom of both pages as well as the illustration. It is obvious that these format decisions were purposeful. For example, the concrete poem discussed earlier needed one whole page to form the words in a crescent moon shape and the other page to illustrate the moon's light on the lawn.
If you are looking for an informational, poetic, picture book about space, then this book is for you!
February 27, 2015
This book of poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, is a great collection of poems about space for children. These poems provide knowledge about space while at the same time entertaining children. There are different forms of poems in there such as letter poems, as well as concrete poems. These poems are great for children, educational, and very funny.
March 12, 2015
These are lots of fun. My 6 year old loved this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews