FIRST FOOD FIGHT THIS FALL

Lively and engaging acrylic-and-pastel illustrations that include bits of lace, fabric and other found items accompany 29 poems describing the school experiences, from first day to last, of a middle-grade class. A variety of styles are included: haiku, quatrain, acrostic, free verse and others. Most of the poems are no more than ten to 12 lines and are written in the students’ voices, with child-appealing topics like “Tag” and “The Class I Hate.” The title poem may make school administrators cringe, as food flies across the double-page spread: “A cafeteria ballad— / it started with tossed salad… / (That lettuce really flew! / We’re glad it wasn’t stew!)” Happily, the following poem, “Indoor Storm,” finds everyone pitching in to clean up the disaster. The interesting combination of identifiable poetic forms and Yoshikawa’s amusing illustrations should make this a popular choice for classroom reading, as students recognize at least some of their own school experiences (though, one hopes, not food fights) in the poetry. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)