Module 14: A Curious Collection Of Cats by Betsy Franco Illustrations by Michael Wertz

Summary: A Curious Collection of Cats by Betsey Franco contains 34 poems about the friendly world of cats. Each of the poems is visually appealing and the poems are all shape poems. The illustrations have just as much to do about the poem as much as the words. The poems focus on cats agility and fear of other animals. It features poems about cat fights and snacks. There are cats of all shapes and sizes with many different personalities.   

Citation:  Franco, B. (2009). A curious collection of cats. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.

Impressions: I enjoy this type of poetry. There is a lot of thought that goes into each shape poem because everything about the pictures and words means something. I like how the words round the photos in different angels. I think that this book will be an inspiration to students who love poetry. I have read many cat books in this class for my love of these adorable creatures so I think that they poems are relatable and touching to cat lovers.

Reviews:

From Kirkus Reviews
                                               

Franco’s witty but uneven collection of concrete poems celebrating feline antics is accompanied by striking illustrations done in pencil and finished in monoprint and Photoshop. Atop rich, textured backgrounds, cats—each one bursting with personality—stretch, fight, perch, leap, rest and pounce. Each image is saturated in bright, often fluorescent colors, incorporating the text within them. One poem, for example, called “Prickles vs. the Golden Retriever,” is printed on the spiked-up fur of a cat’s back. It reads: “Prickle’s [sic] fur / is sticking out / His back is arched. / His teeth are bared. / The dog he caught / in our backyard / is whimpering / and very scared.” An orange cat, with angry, puffed-up tail, arched back and bared teeth, occupies a quarter of the page, towering over the dog, who has flattened himself to the ground; readers see only his head, with a single tear coming from his eye, and a stretched-out paw. Capturing the spirit of each verse, Wertz turns a collection of otherwise unremarkable visual poems into a true treat for the eyes.

Kirkus associates. Review of A Curious Collection of Cats. (2009). Kirkus Reviews online. Retrieved from  http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/betsy-franco/a-curious-collection-of-cats/#review.

From Booklist

Words and pictures blend in these concrete poems about cats, written in forms that include haiku, limerick, and free verse. Once kids get the feel of how to follow the lines up and down or in curving jumps or around the page borders--they will have fun with the playful images. One poem is in the shape of a feline tail. Another describes Kabob the cat's fall upside down, and not only do the pictures show his movement, but the words do, too. When felines fight, the position of the words mirrors their furious screeches, howls, pouncing, and biting. Cat lovers will recognize the standoffs with arching backs, the cozy touch of the purrfect scarf on their shoulders, and the tech-savvy cat who walks across the keyboard to add her own note to an e-mail to a friend.-- Rochman, H. (2009). A curious collection of cats. Booklist. Retrieved from Bowker Books in Print.

Suggestions: Students can use this poetry book as an example of poems that they can write. They can even participate in writing this own shape poems. They don’t even have to write about cats but any subject or object that they would life. I think that incorporating fun activities with this book will really draw students attention. There could even be a book hour where the poems are read aloud and then students have time to make their own poetry.