Button Up! by Alice Schertle (Genre: Poetry)

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Schertle, Alice. 2009. BUTTON UP! WRINKLED RHYMES. Ill. by Petra Mathers. New York, N.Y.: Harcourt Children’s Books. ISBN 0152050504

B. SUMMARY
This is a thematic collection of poetry gathered around a central topic, i.e. clothes of all kinds. The poems are all written from each article of clothing’s point of view. There are altogether 15 poems in this delightful and funny collection, and the articles of clothing featured include shoelaces, a hiking hat, a pair of galoshes, undies, jammies, a soccer jersey, and many more. Each poem is also accompanied by the vivid illustrations of artist Petra Mathers.

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Award-winning poet Alice Schertle has come up with a generally delightful compilation of poems centered on the topic of clothing. The clothes are the central focus in this collection, and each poem is written from the particular clothes’ point of view. The articles of clothing are worn by adorable little animals such as a galoshes-wearing pig, an underwear-wearing mouse, a pajama-clad alligator, a dog wearing a soccer jersey, and many more. Children will relate easily to these characters and the articles of clothing they are wearing as many of them wear these clothes in daily life and in a variety of activities. The illustrations by Petra Mathers are colorful and fun which further enhance the listening and reading experience.

The language used is also easily accessible to young children and what makes this collection of poems particularly appealing is the variety used in the verse. There are rhyming verses, e.g. “Jack does the running, I do the showing – number 6 coming, number 6 going” in Jack’s Soccer Jersey. There are also many instances of free verse, e.g. “Ready, set, jump! Scrunch up small – Look out down below –" in Wanda’s Swimsuit. Mostly, this blend of free and rhyming verses work, but there are instances where it feels forced such as in Jamelia’s Dress-Up Clothes which ends with a rather abrupt “Jamelia wears us all at once. We’re her dress-up clothes.”

Some of the verses have an infectious beat that encourage audience participation which is always a great feature to have in poetry especially in reading aloud sessions with young children. One of the best examples in this book would be the poem, The Song of Harvey’s Galoshes which has features of assonance, e.g.
“Squash-galosh, squash-galosh, through the slime,
Squash-galosh, squash-galosh, bet a nickel, bet a dime.”

"Emily shows us wherever she goes” in Emily’s Undies will elicit giggles from many children who will recognize themselves in the precocious Emily the mouse, but the poems are not all laugh out loud funny. There is one poignant poem titled Tanya’s Old T-Shirt which is the lament of an old, discarded t-shirt, bemoaning its fate as a rag. This is so reminiscent of childhood where children outgrow their clothes and will strike a chord with listeners. Children will love listening to and reading these poems about their favorite articles of clothing as represented by the diverse variety in this collection of poems.

D. AWARDS/ REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
2010 Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

Horn Books’ Top Children’s Pick of 2009

E.CONNECTIONS
*Audience participation: Children can be encouraged to chant along as the teacher or librarian reads the poems out loud.
*The poems in this book can also be used as a pre-writing activity. First, the poems are read out loud, and after a brief discussion on favorite articles of clothing, each child can be asked to write a short poem in free verse on something they love wearing or miss wearing.
*Children can also be introduced to books that teach poetry writing and books on the various forms of poetry, e.g.:
Heard, Georgia (ed.). 2009. FALLING DOWN THE PAGE: A BOOK OF LIST POEMS. Roaring Brook Press. ISBN 1596432209.
Janeczko, Paul B. (compiler). 2009. A KICK IN THE HEAD: AN EVERYDAY GUIDE TO POETIC FORMS. Ill. by Chris Raschka. Candlewick Press. ISBN 0763641324.
Prelutsky, Jack, 2008. PIZZA, PIGS, AND POETRY: HOW TO WRITE A POEM. Greenwillow Books. ISBN 0061434485.