Review: Janeczko Collection

Title: A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms

Author: Paul B. Janeczko

Illustrator: Chris Raschka

ISBN: 978-0-7636-4132-0

Citation: Janeczko, Paul B. A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2009.

Review: Both informative and entertaining, Paul B. Janeczo has compiled an interesting and versatile collection of poems that give examples of twenty-nine different poetic forms. A Kick in the Head provides brief, simple explanations of each poetic form and gives readers the opportunity to compare actual examples with the rules of the format. Spanning the realm of poetic forms from acrostics to limericks to elegies, the variety of formats provides something for all ages and ability levels. Chris Raschka's innovative watercolor, ink, and torn paper
illustrations perfectly pair with each selection. Students who believe poetry to be "hard" or "boring" will likely relate to the poetic forms like never before through Janeczko's intriguing selections and easy-to-understand explanations.
Whether read aloud or read independently, readers will enjoy the variety of selections and abstract illustrations.

Potential Use: A Kick in the Head is an excellent way to introduce the various poetic forms to students of all ages. The author note at the beginning, the silliness of some of the selections, and the explanation that poetry does not always have to follow the rules encourages students to try some of the forms on their own and inspires creativity. See the examples below for a simple couplet featured in the book, which could be used with even the youngest students, to a more complex elegy, which could be used with the more advanced.

The Mule by Ogden Nash

In the word of mules

There are no rules.

Little Elegy (for a child who skipped rope) by X.J. Kennedy

Here lies resting, out of breath,

Out of turns, Elizabeth

Whose quicksilver toes not quite

Cleared the whirring edge of night.

Earth, whose circles round us skim

Till they catch the lightest limb, Shelter now Elizabeth

And, for her sake, trip up death.