BookSpeak! Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas
Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon
Clarion Books, 2011
2012 Gilette Burgess Honor Book
Nerdy Book Award
Book Speak is a whimsical collection of poems that allow books to speak. Characters plead to be set free, the Index makes a case for its superiority, the Bookplate and Book cover have their say, and even the book’s Middle gets to whine.
Books go on vacation when they’re checked out from the library.
I’ve floated in airplanes. I’ve lain on the beach.
I’ve hidden in bunk beds—just out of your reach.
They have a party when the bookstore closes for the night.
The sweetest verse closes the poem structured like “The House That Jack Built”:
And she is the reader
who browses the shelf
and looks for new worlds
but finds herself.
Visit Laura Purdie Salas’s website to read sample poems and also some wonderful essays on poem-making.
Award-Winning Book Challenge Status: 5/11
