Rainbow Soup Adventure in Poetry

Summary: Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry by Neal Layton and Brian Cleary is considered a children’s poetry book intended for children in grades third-fifth. This book is a fun way for students to learn about different types of poetry. The author includes short explanations of each type of poem with his humorous verses. This fun collection has something for everyone!

Art Style: I love almost every illustration in this poem book. With every poem that is written in this story, the illustration follows along with it. They are hilarious and bring a lot of meaning into the text.   

Personal Thoughts: Personally, I love everything about poems, funny, sad, real, etc. They are a much easier read for me, and this book provides many different examples, and it even tells what type of poem each one is, and it provides an index for words that children wouldn’t be able to understand.

Discussion Questions:

What are some of the different types of poems?

What is your favorite type of poem and why?

Do all poems have to be funny? Do they have to make sense?

Motivational Activities:

One activity that I would do is have my students create their own poem. I would do it in a fun way though. The students will be able to choose what type of poem that they want, but they have to choose from my box what their topic will be. My box will include funny topics such as, socks, toes, teeth, hair, animals, etc.

This activity also ties in with my first one, but after the students are done with their poems, I would collect them and send them off to create our very own classroom book. Students will be able to check out our classroom book and will be able to read it at any time.

If you enjoyed this book, check out some other books written by Neal Layton and/or Brian Cleary!

Some Examples:

Bow-Tie Pasta

How Long and How Wide?

A Dollar, a Penny, How Much and How Many?

Resources:

Cleary, B. P., & Layton, N. (2011). Rainbow soup: Adventures in poetry. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda.