#14 Sky Magic

Title:  Sky Magic

Author:  Lee Bennett Hopkins

Illustrator: Mariusz Stawarski

Publisher:  Dutton Children’s Books

Copyright: 2009

Pages:  28

Genre/Category: Poetry

I chose this book because it was a compilation of poems by many different authors. Also, I liked the illustrations. They are very unique looking. Sky Magic is a compilation of poems about the sky. It includes poems about the sun, moon, stars, and more. The compilation begins with poems about the sun rising, moves to the sun setting, then includes poems about the stars and the moon.

The illustrations in this book are paintings. This book is a good mix of warm colors and cool colors. It begins with the warm colors of the sun, then as the sun sets, the illustrations slowly become darker and darker until it is nearly black with night. The background is not especially detailed. The focus is on the characters in the foreground.

This book is good for students in 2^nd grade and above. Some of the poems are more on the simple side, but many have larger vocabularies that would better be suited to higher grades. This book would be great to go along with a science lesson on the sun, moon, or stars. This could be a book in a reading center, or could be a writing prompt for students to write their own poem.