In The Middle of the Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House

Title: In The Middle of the Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House
Genre: Poetry
Author: Laura Purdie Salas
Major Awards: None
Age Group: Kindergarten-2nd grade

The poems in this book are about items in the house coming out to play after the house has gone to sleep! From lunch boxes, to spaghetti, to spoons, to stuffed animals, to kleenex, there is a poem about it all! The poems are written from each object's point of view, which makes it interesting! There is a poem titled "Animals on the Go." This poem is about stuffed animals and toys having a talent show in a child's room while he sleeps. There is also a poem titled "Pencil Plunge", which is about a group of pencils sharpening themselves and having a party while the home is quiet. There is also a poem titled "Oh, My Aching Basketball!", which is about a basketball taking an ice bath in the kitchen sink after being bounced around all day. Finally, there is a poem titled "Vroom-Zoom-Stuck." This poem is about a fruit roll-up unwinding itself to make a racetrack for a toy car, but the car runs into a problem! Its wheels get stuck in the berry muck! 

This would be such a fun book to have in my classroom. I think that it would be a favorite for the students because of the silly antics that the characters in the poems get themselves into! Many students wonder what happens to their toys while they are not around, and I think that it would spark many conversations about fantasy. This would be a perfect time to explain fantasy vs. reality. 

I believe that this book is perfect for kindergarten through second grade. When students are these ages, they are still very much into characters and fantasy, so I think that they would get many laughs from it. The text is simple with short words and phrases, and I think that young readers would enjoy reading these poems. The illustrations alone are what really make the poems so humorous, so I can see students enjoying those the most! 

In my classroom, I could have the students write a short essay about what they believe happens to their toys while they sleep. I also found the author's website, where she highlights some activities that can be done after reading this book! I liked a worksheet on her website that has the students pick an object, and then write a poem about what that specific object does during the day and the night. I could also have the students take home a project where they pick out an object from the book and construct it. When everyone turns theirs in, we could use these objects to retell some of the poems from this book!