(Credit)
Florian, Douglas, Beast Feast. Florida:
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994.
Poems and paintings by Douglas
Florian
Beast Feast is a collection of
comedic poems about different animals ranging from chameleons to anteaters!
These poems are intended for younger children but could be great for any age .
The layout of the book is easy to follow. When looking at the landscape of a
page, on one side you will read the poem, and the opposite side shows an
illustration of the animal the poem talks about. The illustrations are framed;
they never spill outside of their square shape. Florian created a very clean
line with his paintings- the are easy to understand, much like his poetry. His
poetry has a lot of humor and is very intelligently written, all while still
being easy to understand.
The illustrations are not heavy;
they are light and clear. The colors are light and resemble line drawings. Many
times in poetry, the content is difficult to follow or has a few really great
poems while the rest sort of blend together. Florian has made it a point to
keep every poem to-the-point, humorous, and informational. Another fun part
that Florian uses in his poetry is the way he writes some words. For example,
when he uses the word ‘pause’ when describing a sloth, it has two spaces
between each word to symbolize slowness: p a u s
e. I enjoyed reading them
all and found them all to be a lot of fun to share with my daughter. :)
Poetry Excerpt:
The Sloth
Up in tree
The shaggy sloth
Is hanging by its claws.
It doesn’t like to move at all.
It only likes to
p a u s
e.
(The illustration shows a grey,
black, and brown stripped sloth hanging upside down from a single tree limb.
There are three flowers, yellow and orange, hanging daintily behind him.)
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