Haiku or Guyku?

Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys

Written by Bob Raczka

Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Copyright 2012

40 pages

Juvenile Poetry: Haiku

 

            The first thing that attracted my eyes to this book was the title. I thought that it was very creative, and it obviously does a great job at sparking up curiosity in the reader. The second reason I chose this book is because of the unique font and images. As I read through this book, I found myself enjoying the font and images even more. The story is about a boy, hence the title. The author takes you through all of the seasons of the year. In each season, he describes several different activities that he enjoyed as a young boy. Each page is a different haiku poem. Every poem is different, and there is not really any type of sequence other than the seasons. For example, one poem is about a grasshopper, while then next is about riding a bike. The different poems do not make it hard for the reader to stay focused.

            As stated before, I really enjoyed the illustrations and font within this book. I found it very interesting that the text is all hand written. The text placement within this book is a mixture of formal and very formal. The images are in mostly black and white with one color. The one color is different corresponding with each season. All of the images are done in watercolor and digital color. There is a lot of negative space on each page which is supposed to highlight or isolate the images. The majority of the book contains single page illustrations, and the text is a pretty good size on the opposite page or above and below the picture. The illustrations are unique and wonderful.

            Teachers could use this book in a classroom during a poetry lesson. The teacher could take the students outside to read this book. The class could discuss the creativity of the author, and the details of a haiku poem. Then, the students could write their own haiku using their own creativity about something they really enjoy and never want to forget. The teacher could also use this book in a Science lesson to discuss the seasons of the year. The students could write about the seasons, and what they enjoy most about each one.