"Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars" -- Space Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian (LS 5663)

Florian, Douglas. 2007. Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars.  New York: Harcourt.

ISBN: 978-0-15-205372-7

Photo of Cover by: L. Propes

Douglas Florian's collection of short poems about space, Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars, is just so much fun to read.  The illustrations of gouache and collage add a deliciously funky vibe to the reading of these poems.  The illustration that accompanies the poem "Neptune" contains collage bits of a mosaic of the planet's namesake and a trident, while a few of the moons have their names orbiting around them.  One moon even has a picture of a boat sailing on the sea.  It's a clever and witty means to help readers make the connection between the planet's name and the god for whom it's named.  Florian employs similar little touches throughout the rest of the book, while using die cuts in the pages to turn a small portion of the drawing of the moon on the following page to become the moon on the pages of the poem about the Earth.  This is definitely a book where the drawings are just as much a part of the poetry as the words themselves.  One poem in particular, "A Galaxy", completely embodies the idea of the book as a combination of words and pictures.  "A Galaxy" is a concrete poem, written/drawn in the shape of a spiral galaxy.  Florian surrounded the poem by renderings of the shapes of different galaxies.

Florian's concrete poem
Photo by: L. Propes

This collection of space-themed poems have a bouncy rhythm that lends itself to reading aloud either in a solo or choral reading.  Florian uses rhyme schemes throughout the poems, but they don't necessarily follow a consistent pattern.  I find that this contributes to the bouncy pace of the poems and prevents them from falling into a sing-song pattern.  The poems are so short that any sort of regular rhyme scheme would almost guarantee that the poems' "voices" would sound repetitious.  The poem "The Solar System" is a perfect example of this: "Each planet orbits around the sun / (A somewhat circular path). / To calculate the time it takes / Requires lots of math" (Florian 2007, 12).  Florian makes a wise choice by choosing an irregular rhyme scheme for these poems.  The brevity of the poems sometimes stand in direct contrast to the size of the subject of the poem.  In "Jupiter", the lines of the poem itself are quite short, mostly one to two words long, but the painting of the planet Jupiter fills the two-page spread, giving the reader a sense of the enormity of the planet.  Florian mentions that while Jupiter is a large planet, it has a low density.  This would be a great way to introduce the concept of density and how an object's size is not correlated to its density.

One of the drawings
of a constellation
Photo by: L. Propes

The poems are definitely appealing to younger children, with its short, punchy rhythms.  I can easily imagine students seat-dancing while reciting these poems.  The book skews toward the younger grades, but older students might enjoy seeing and hearing the poems in a science class as an introduction to astronomy.  They might also enjoy picking out the physical features of the planets and other celestial objects featured in the artwork.  This book really makes a case for taking poetry beyond the environs of an English classroom.  The artwork does a great deal to enhance the poetry and teach a few things about space.  The painting that accompanies the poem "The Black Hole" deftly and simply illustrates how black holes work.  "The Constellations" includes illustrations of the different constellations, and the poem simply describes what each constellation represents: "Leo is a lion. / Lepus is a hare. / Cancer is a crab. / Ursa Major is a bear" (Florian 2007, 41).  Children can learn the meanings of words like "gaseous" and "frigid" in an organic manner, because it relates directly to deepening their understanding of the poem.  It's also just a great way to introduce space and astronomy to any grade level.  I can see a teacher sharing a new poem each day while the students add that particular element to a model of scale drawing of the solar system.

Part of the planet Neptune
Photo by L. Propes

The poems are universally well-done.  The book is a carefully considered and crafted fusion of words and art.  True, the words can live without the art, but the artwork is the icing on the cake made of words.  Not entirely necessary, but it enhances the overall flavor.  Florian takes a multi-layered approach to the artwork so that students of all ages and abilities can enjoy and learn from it.  Some students might notice that the name of the planet forms a frame around the page, or that the drawing of the Sun contains the word "sun" in different languages.  The tone of the book creates a child-like sense of wonder and aw about space and astronomy.  Florian manages to give each planet its own personality, and even evokes a feeling of sympathy for Pluto: "Pluto was a planet. / Pluto was admired. / Pluto was a planet. / Til one day it got fired" (2014, 37).  In a few short brushstrokes, Florian manages to succinctly depict Pluto's ignominious demotion from planet to a so-called dwarf planet.

Another detail of the painting
with the poem "Neptune"
Photo by: L. Propes

Florian includes several access features to facilitate use of the book.  It has a table of contents, a glossary for each poem that contains a little more detailed information about each planet or celestial phenomena, and a bibliography and suggested readings for more information.  Each poem has a title heading at the top of each poem, printed in brightly coloured font, which makes it easy to find a poem, if a reader is casually flipping through the book.  Even the arrangement of the poems are done in a logical order from the entire nighttime sky to the universe, galaxies, the solar system, the sun, the planets in order from Mercury to Pluto, then miscellaneous elements of space like comets and constellations, which also makes it an accessible resource for a class or small group who are constructing a scale model of the solar system.

This would make a perfect addition to any school library, primary and secondary.  It would also be an excellent addition to any English or science classroom library.  Florian also has created a Poetry Kit to accompany his book in classroom lessons.

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Spotlight on...

"Jupiter"

Jupiter's jumbo,
Gigantic,
Immense,
So wide
Side to side,
But gaseous, not dense.
With some sixty moons
It's plainly prolific --
So super-dupiter
Jupiterrific!  (Florian 2007, 28)

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I would use this poem to introduce a lesson about density in a middle grade classroom. (Surprise! Not a lesson about astronomy!)  I find the poem gives a beautiful explanation about how size and density are not always related.  A large object does not always have a high density.  I would read the poem, and pass around a few objects whose size is inversely proportional to their size, just like Jupiter.  Students then complete a lab measuring the density of various objects and compare their volume against their density.

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Works Cited

Florian, Douglas. 2007. Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars. New York: Harcourt.