I have wanted to participate in Poetry Friday for a while now, but poetry is not something I just pick up and read all the time.  Well, it’s time I did because there is a lot of great poetry out there just waiting to be shared with children.  I found this book, just browsing through our school library.  I have seen many Haiku posts lately, so this intrigued me. 

Dogku is the tale of a dog written in haiku.  Each page is a haiku poem.  Even the author’s notes at the end are written in haiku.  There is also an explanation of what a haiku is at the end.  I just loved this book by Andrew Clements.  I have read many other books by him, but did not know that he did picture books or even poetry.  What a great find!  Here are two excerpts that I enjoyed:

“The house is quiet.                                                                                       

No kids, no mom, and no food.

What’s a dog to do?”

“Scratch, sniff, eat, yawn, nap.

Dreams of rabbits and running.

Could life be sweeter?”

I am glad I stumbled across this book.  I will be sharing it with our 3rd grade teachers because Haiku is a form of poetry they teach in the Spring with their poetry unit.  I am sure the kids will enjoy Dogku as much as I did!

This week you can find the poetry round-up over at Two Writing Teachers.