Poetry-Countdown to Summer: A Poem for Every Day of the School Year

A. Bibliography:
Lewis, J. Patrick. (2009). Countdown to Summer: A Poem for Every Day of the School Year. Ill. by Ethan Long. New York, NY: Little Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 9780316020893

B. Plot Summary:
Lewis provides a collection of mostly humorous, along with some serious poems related to school and other topics, such as holidays weather, and geography in Countdown to Summer.  The book seems to be a favorite of teachers for a class read aloud for each day of the school year.  He begins the book with #180 A Sixth Grader Sees the Future which is about how even in a billion years, the student might or might not have his homework finally done.  From there, each page counts down until you reach #1 School´s Out!, a misleading poem about how the student is sad that it´s the final day.  The reader learns at the end of the poem that the narrator is crossing his fingers as he lists all the reasons he´s sad school is out.  Lewis features a variety of poem forms, such as haikus, couplets, acrostic, shape and free verse in Countdown to Summer.

C. Critical Analysis:
Countdown to Summer is a fun and silly poetry collection that will bring smiles to both students´ and teachers´ faces.  Students can relate to many of the poems in the book, ranging from the Tooth Fairy, homework, holidays, and birthday cakes.  There are many poems that are unrelatable, but just fun to read, such as Do Not Let the Goblins In! and Bigfoot.  Lewis´ language and Long´s illustrations set a fun and playful tone in the poems of this book. Lewis uses similes in his book such as the line ¨Pretzels twisted like an 8¨ in the poem Bad Pretzels. He uses onomatopoeia in several poems which adds to the humorous and silly mood (Kraken gurgled, ¨Zzookle-klottem!¨).  Students will be laughing almost daily with these poems.

Lewis uses almost every different form of poetry in this book, from free verse, couplets, A to Z, shape poems, chart poem, symbol poem, acrostics, riddles, haikus, and many more.  This is refreshing as the reader doesn´t know what to expect when they turn the page.  Many of his poems include rhyming words and repetition which create a steady beat.  

The illustrations by Ethan Long are simple and remind me of the basic illustrations in Shel Silverstein´s popular poetry collection.  The illustrations match the laid back and fun mood to the book.

D. Review Excerpts:
**SLJ states "The selections feature a range of topics, including food, pets, school and teachers, and the natural world. Many are quite silly, though a few are serious. Cartoon illustrations keep the mood light and breezy. This collection may be most appreciated by teachers, who'll find it an appealing and accessible introduction to whimsical wordplay.¨
**Kirkus Reviews states, "Some verses are long, some short, some thought-provoking, some laugh-provoking. Long's penciled spot art provides an agreeable visual accompaniment, but this book's best application is as a read-aloud. As a no-pressure, just-for-poetry's-sake tool to start the day in the classroom, it could be a teacher's best friend.¨

E. Connections:

Countdown to Summer would be a great daily read aloud. Students can write their own poetry collection, such as Countdown to Christmas, where they write Christmas poems, or Countdown to Summer, where they write poems for the last two weeks of school.  Since this book features so many forms of poetry, teachers can have students experiment writing these new forms of poems they´ve been exposed to.