I Must Go Down to the Beach Again and Other Poems

Title: I Must Go Down to the Beach Again and Other Poems
Genre: Poetry
Author: Karen Jo Shapiro
Major Awards: None
Age Group: Kindergarten-3rd grade

The poems in this book are classic poems that have been revised to make them appropriate for children. There are poems that relate to children and some problems they might encounter. There are some that are meant to be humorous and some that are more serious. There is one titled "About My Baby Sister." This poem is about a child complaining about their new baby sister. The child is obviously experiencing some jealousy and does not understand why everyone thinks that babies are so great. There is another one titled "The Sick Tummy." Here, a child is complaining about having a stomachache after eating an array of sweet treats. Another poem is titled "July Joy." This poem is about the Fourth of July and all of the fun activities that there is to do on this day. There is another poem titled "The Rotten, Lousy Flu." This poem is about being sick with the flu and all of the negative side effects of it. Finally, there is a poem titled "There Is No Cleanup Like a Bath." This poem is about the feeling of cleanliness that comes from taking a bath.

I would use this book in my classroom! The poems included are very appropriate for young children, and I think that students would relate to the topics included in the many poems in this book. Although there are a lot of poems about negative topics, I think that a lot of students would enjoy reading them because they are real issues that children run into! 

I would use this book with kindergarten through third graders. The book does a good job of having a mix of short and long poems. It starts out with short and simple poems, and as the book goes on, there are longer and more complex poems included. The poems are easy to read and comprehend, which make them perfect for young students! 

In my classroom, I could have my students take a poem from the book and analyze it. They would tell me what type of poem it is, point out the rhyming words (or tell me that the poem does not have any), and tell me why they think that the author wrote the poem. I could also use poems in this book when we have a unit on problem solving. I could read some of the poems that have a negative topic and have the students tell me how they think that the character can resolve their issue.