Mouse Tail Moon

Title: Mouse Tail Moon

Author: Joanne Ryder

Illustrator: Maggie Kneen

Publisher & Publication Date: Henry Holt and Company, 2002

Genre: Poetry, picture book

Grade Level: K-2

Summary: This whole book is a collection of poems about a mouse and a night out that he would encounter. It starts with dusk and continues until right before morning. Each poem tells about a different viewpoint that the mouse has at different times and about different things that are happening around him.

Response: This is a wonderful poetry collection. I love the way it is told from the view-point of the mouse. The illustrations were produced using watercolor on hot-pressed watercolor paper. They are beautiful. They seem so life-like and the mice that are in the illustrations seem extremely real. Most of the illustrations have happy and bright colors in them, others use more natural and realistic colors. The poems are fun and easy to read. They are not very long, but they have a lot of meaning and power behind them. Some make you feel good and other make you feel as though you are on a chase. I loved reading this collection of poems.

Teaching Ideas: This would be a good book to use with science. Have your students pick an animal that they know a lot about or are really interested in to research and write a poetry collection about! They can use this book as a basis for their final product, but let them be as creative as possible. This is a good way to incorporate science and poetry!