Tuesday Storytime: Haiku Trio

I had originally hoped to do all three about pets, but I wasn't quite able to manage it.  Still, these three worked very well together, and it was a nice chance to incorporate some poetry into the storytime routine.

Won-Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku
Lee Wardlaw, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin
ISBN: 9780805089950
Linear, edgy, almost comic-book art, with minimalist backgrounds.

Won-Ton is a shelter cat who's been adopted, and he's ready to tell us all about the process in a series of truly delightful haiku.  I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but this is my favorite book from this storytime, and probably one of my favorites in general.  Wardlaw just does such a perfect job capturing the sly and superior tone of a cat, even in undignified moments, and Yelchin's lanky bony angular artwork is just perfect.  I especially love the expressive eyes.


Hi, Koo! a year of seasons
Jon J. Muth
ISBN: 9780545166683
Koo is a panda bear (perhaps related to the panda Stillwater from the Zen books) and this is his year in unmetered haiku.

Unlike Won-Ton and Dogku, the haiku here are more free-form, with the understanding that syllable breaks in the original don't quite match up to what syllables represent in english. So some of these are quite short, and others are much more wordy than expected.  Still, it's a beautiful and interesting way to represent time flowing in little snippets of verse.  We start in autumn, which is a good fit for this time of year, and flow smoothly through to end at the height of summer. Quick, sweet and touching, but the illustrations don't quite manage to carry as much interest.


Dogku
Andrew Clements, illustrated by Tim Bowers
ISBN: 9780689858239
A dog sits on a doorstep, hoping for a home.  Sweet painterly illustrations.  Lots of color.

Like Won-Ton, we have a dog hoping for a forever home in this story.  Unlike Won-Ton, this puppy has invited himself in, and it's a gamble as to whether he'll be allowed to stay.  (Happy endings are not optional in my storytimes, so no worries there.)  Great framing, a good progression through the day, and a nice "cliffhanger" for the little ones.  I'm highly tempted to save this one for another storytime and match it up with Taxi Dog.