“Over here, quick!” The shout came from just ahead, a young man stood holding a door open and gesturing franticly.
It wasn’t fair, weren’t zombies supposed to be slow and shambling? His breath was coming in gasps and his muscles burned. Cutting left into an alley without looking back. It was at this point he realized they were zombies, the man wit h the huge hole where his heart should have been was a big clue. When he went into the shop he’d been confronted by three people gnawing on a bloody corpse! Staggering out he found several other people heading towards him, some between him and his car. Driving through the wilds of Yorkshire he’d stopped at a petrol station in some village, he hadn’t noticed the name, to get some caffeine and directions. Real live, or not live he supposed, zombies. To make matters worse he was running from things that shouldn’t exist. Anyhow terrific post, Renee.Jake was running, running for his life. (Sometimes I think I just got really weird after all those years in elementary school, but it is fun and helps you understand the “jug-o-rum” line in Hoberman’s poem.) Will post the link if I can find the good one I used, there are many online to choose from however. (I have one.) I also found a great site so you can listen to Frog calls and see an “English version” of the syllables.
Things they love about “Frog” is its tongue twister word play fun and things I love about it is it teaches so much good info about frogs….I am a teacher after all!) So am very happy to add Pat’s terrific poem to the Frog and Toad folder. (Frogs and toads are not often found in alleys, right?) Here is a link to a post where she talks about the importance of memorizing poems (my fav as you may recall) and the “Frog” poem that children beg me to recite for them when I visit them in later years as a subsitute teacher. Since one of the first and favorite poems my students learn to recite and love is “Frog” by Mary Ann Hoberman, this post is right up my pond. Having taught third grade, I know that that age group adores frogs and toads and animals of all sorts. These are both favorites in our house for their incredible photos and hundreds of poems by all your favorite poets (and hey, I’m in there too)! Haaaaahaaaaahaaaaaa!”Īnyway, if you’d like to celebrate all nature and animals, endangered and un-, slimy or warty, I highly recommend Pat’s anthologies The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry and The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry. Then I just couldn’t get enough of frog pictures! Just look at this guy! And I wonder what these guys found so funny. All I knew is that frogs are slimy and toads are warty, but there are other differences too!
Not being an expert on amphibians, I also had to look up the differences between frogs and toads, besides those Pat mentions in his poem. The world’s largest amphibian conservation organization This group does lots of educational frog outreach with kids around the world, not to mention actually saving frogs and other amphibians, so click on the graphic below to check it out! Maybe your school can host a frog awareness day. Luckily, I also discovered the amazing Save the Frogs organization that is holding its annual Save the Frogs Day on April 30. Pat’s poem prompted me to look into the world frog situation, and I discovered that several species are endangered. (By the way, I’ll be bringing Pat back later in the month for his Spotlight on NCTE Poets feature, so stay tuned!) Patrick Lewis that April is also National Frog Month, so who am I to argue? And to celebrate, Pat sent along his delightful poem “Frog and Toad,” which I am hoppy to present. Sure, everyone else is celebrating National Poetry Month, but I’ve been informed by J.
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