The Tree That Time Built

Bibliography
Hoberman, Mary Ann. 2009. The Tree That Time Built. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky: Naperville, Ill. ISBN: 978-1-4022-2517-8.

About the Book
This collection of poetry is a celebration of nature, science, and the environment. Each poem was selected by the Children's Poet Laureate, Mary Ann Hoberman. The anthology includes more than 100 poems celebrating the wonders of the natural world and encourages environmental awareness. Appealing especially to students in grades 3 through 7, the poems explore both the facts and the mysteries of the natural world. Grouped by subject, such as prehistory, trees, reptiles, and so on, the poems are penned by such poets as Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, D.H. Lawrence, Jack Prelutsky, Mary Ann Hoberman, and Sylvia Plath, among others. This collection would be a great choice to use as a tool to pair science and English/language arts classes. The inclusion of features such as footnotes that encourage readers to approach the poem both rationally and imaginatively,  a bibliography, information about the poets, and a glossary with science terms really assist with the cross-curricular lesson tie-ins. 


One Poem
Cricket 
Mary Ann Hoberman


A cricket's ear is in its leg.
A cricket's chirp is in it wing.
A cricket's wing can sing a song.
A cricket's leg can hear it sing.


Imagine if your leg could hear.
Imagine if your ear could walk.
Imagine if your mouth could swing.
Imagine if your arm could talk.


Would everything feel upside down
And inside out and wrongside through?
Imagine how the world would seem
If you became a cricket, too.


Activities
*Use the poem, "Cricket" as a poetry break before introducing a unit on insects.  
*Tie in a writing lesson by having students write a paragraph, journal entry, or poem imagining the things mentioned in this poem.
*Extend the poetry lessons with other poems from this collection. Compare and contrast the poems in their style or content.
*Help students identify a poet included in this collection that they like and discover other poems by the same poet.