Poetry-Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night

A. Bibliography:
Sidman, Joyce. (2010). Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. Ill. by Rick Allen. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN: 9780547152288

B. Plot Summary:
 In her book Dark Emperor, Joyce Sidman presents a collection of dark and mysterious lyrical poems about nocturnal creatures.  Sidman not only includes poems, but also informational paragraphs to go along with each poem.  Dark Emperor covers many creatures of the night, ranging from owls to spiders.  Each poem features descriptive language which create imagery of gloomy nights and mysterious nocturnal creatures.  

C. Critical Analysis:
Dark Emperor is quite a unique poetry book about nocturnal animals.  It combines both poetry and nonfiction.  The book features poems and nonfiction text features such as a table of contents, bold words, glossary and an informational paragraph on the opposite side of each poem.  Readers can appreciate the creative language of the poem, but also the factual paragraph related to each poem.

Sidman uses vivid language in her poems.  One example is from the poem 'Moon's Lament': "Where are the pale scarves of clouds?  Where are my ghostly shadows, my pools of molten silver".  Her language sets a dark and mysterious tone for this collection of poems.  On the opposite page, Sidman presents facts about the moon, "The moon does not make its own light; it is like a big mirror."  This is a good introductory book to nonfiction text. She uses repetition frequently in her poems, "I am the baby porcupette. My paws are small; my nose is wet.  I am the baby porcupette. I cannot climb up branches yet."  The use of repetition creates rhythm in her poems.

The illustrations by Rick Allen are dark, somber and earthy.  He pairs his illustrations perfectly with the tone of this poetry book.  The reader almost feels like the illustrations are a puzzle because it is difficult to find some of the creatures in the illustrations.  A lot of the illustrations blend together.

D. Review Excerpts:
**Horn Books states "From the opening poem, "To all of you who crawl and creep, / who buzz and  chirp and hoot and peep, / who wake at dusk and throw off sleep: / Welcome to the night," Sidman celebrates the world that comes alive after dark."
**Publishers Weekly states, "Spiders offer advice, porcupettes pirouette, and the moon laments the dawn, all illuminated by debut talent Allen's detailed yet moody prints, which  encapsulate the mysteries and magic of the midnight hours . . . In Sidman's delicious poems, darkness is the norm, and there's nothing to fear but the rising sun."

E. Connections:

This would be a great book to read around Halloween.   Dark Emperor can be used when teaching about nocturnal animals since it features informational paragraphs.  This book would be helpful when comparing/contrasting the genres of poetry and nonfiction. Students can write their own version of the book by creating poems of other objects/nocturnal creatures of the night.  They can also change the topic of their book by writing about the morning.