Laura Purdie Salas has long been one of my favorite children’s picture book authors (see previous reviews for Water Can Be… and A Leaf Can Be…) In her newest, Lion of the Sky: Haiku for All Seasons (illustrated by Mercè López) she travels though the seasons with 24 delightful haiku riddles. Fabulous!
What is a haiku riddle? It is a haiku that gives clues to an object or activity — in this case associated with a season — and encourages the reader to guess what it is. Many of the riddles are written in the first person point-of-view, voiced by the object itself.
The illustrations are expressive and add just the right number of additional clues to help the reader figure out the answer. If you get stuck on one, however, the answers are given in the back matter.
Let’s see some examples:
- Listen to Laura Purdie Salas read from the book.
2. You can also see an excerpt at the Lerner website or via Google Books:
Aren’t those fun?
Lion of the Sky encourages young reader to look closely at the world around them and think creatively. Get caught up in a copy today!
Related Activity:
Encourage children to come up with their own riddles, haiku or not. Watch out, though, because it can be addicting.
Here is mine:
My leaves are lion teeth
Yellow flower feeds honey bees
Not a weed to them
See the photograph below for a clue.
Age Range: 5 – 9 years
Publisher: Millbrook Press TM (April 2, 2019)
ISBN-10: 1512498092
ISBN-13: 978-1512498097
