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Dear World

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A child's world is full of beauty. Each day offers new discoveries to celebrate. This luminous compilation of poems gives readers a look at the world through a child's eye. Each poem takes the form of a child's letter to the Earth and all its creatures and is accompanied by exquisite cut-paper collages. This breathtaking collection celebrates our world and inspires us to observe every detail with imagination and delight.

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2003

34 people want to read

About the author

Takayo Noda

4 books

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5 stars
10 (17%)
4 stars
29 (50%)
3 stars
14 (24%)
2 stars
5 (8%)
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0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for (NS)Jennifer Reiner.
53 reviews8 followers
November 10, 2009
This wonderful poetry book displays a variety of short poems that include a sense of joy for the world around us. The book in written in a child's voice and shows the hope for many things around us. Each poem does not necessarily have the ending the child would think might happen. Each poem captures the creative imagination of children everywhere. Warmth and love are felt through every aspect of this book. The wonderful illustrations are so engaging and remarkable. Everything about this book is just beautiful.

Profile Image for Mary Tumbleson.
41 reviews
October 4, 2022
This book has a collection of some really good poems about the earth and nature. It shows these things through the eyes of a child and the illustrations go along with the poems perfectly. This would be a good book to read to students to teach about poetry.
Profile Image for Nancy Prater.
90 reviews1 follower
May 4, 2018
Loved the collage illustrations, and the joyful, childlike poetry.
221 reviews2 followers
July 13, 2018
Some nice poetry for children about the earth and taking care of it.
Profile Image for Jenn.
36 reviews3 followers
February 9, 2012
This book is a collection of poetry. The poems in this book are about different objects in the world. A few examples from the book include: snow, valentines, cars, oceans, stars, the sky, apples and the world. The book seems to be written from a child's perspective and how they view different things. The poems are written in a way that reads as a short letter. For example: "dear tulips" is one of the titles of a poem.
There is not rhyme theme at all in this collection. There is no clear rhyme scheme or rhythm. These poems create clear vivid images that would help children see what the writer was imagining when they wrote the words even if there was not a picture on the page. For example, the author writes, "dear sun I know when you are happy because you shine and bounce on everything I know when you are sad because you become hazy and fuzzy as if you had tears in your eyes" The images that this brings to my mind are bright and colorful and these pictures pop into my head with every poem that I read. This book of poems bring to light the idea of looking at the small things and seeing them in a more complex way than what we normally do as a reader. The positive stretch created through the poems by showing us how to view things differently and in a more positive way. This book can be appropriate to use in a lesson to teach students patience and taking the time to realize the simple things in life. It would be appropriate also when talking about seasons and simple life pleasures like snow and apple trees.
While I enjoyed reading this book, I did not like the fact that the poems had no rhyme scheme or rhythm. I thought that the book seemed a little dry without order. I really liked how it created such vivid images for the reader. I was able to relate this to my life because in working at a camp, I like to sit back and look at the simple things and reflect on how we take the simple things for granted. I used to sit out by the lake at the camp and just look at the wind blowing across the water and I feel that this book focuses on small things like that. I don't think that I would use this book as a teaching tool in the classroom, but I would add it to my collection because even though I did not like reading it does not mean that my students would not enjoy it.
Profile Image for Lisa  Skripps.
52 reviews6 followers
November 19, 2009
Dear World, by Takayo Noda, is a wonderful book of poems that allows readers to see the world through the eyes of a child. Each page is a new poem about a different aspect of the world and nature. The poems are beautifully enhanced with amazing illustrations which help the reader to visualize how this child sees the world around her. As readers journey through this amazing poetic picture book, they will feel the quietness of the dawn, the warmth of the sun, and the crispness of the leaves under their feet.

Takayo Noda has done an outstanding job on this first picture book. While this book is definitely meant for younger children, I actually went ahead and read it to my middle school class. I found that the pictures and titles lent themselves nicely to making predictions. I also really liked the author’s use of personification and simile within the text. My students were able to identify that the use of these literary elements helped them to want to keep reading. Overall, I was very impressed with this book and found a new and interesting way to view the world through the eyes of a child.
23 reviews
March 5, 2012
Dear World by Takayo Noda is a collection of poems that are written letters from children to the Earth. They talk about the sky, cars, Valentines Day and many other things. The pictures represent what is being told in the poems through the child's eyes so it gives you a chance as the reader to see how children see the world compared to how older people see the world. I liked how this was a different approach to poetry making the children the main focus of the poems and talking about how they see things in the world instead of how the author sees them. I think this collection of poems was well written and had a very positive stretch throughout the book. The poems didn't talk about anything negative or mischevious but more about informational things and the real world today. I think this would be appropriate to go with any type of lesson because there are so many different topics that are talked about in this collection of poems that you can probably relate it to anything. I think what I liked most about these poems is that they were told and shown through a child's perspective.
Profile Image for (NS) Panagiota Angelos.
58 reviews2 followers
November 20, 2009
PreS-Gr. 1. Artist Noda's images are luminous indeed: her collages, made from handmade paper and watercolor, have a wonderful three-dimensional quality to them. Layered and patterned almost like quilts, her pictures marry dreamlike perspectives and juxtapositions with deep jewel colors. Each nonrhymed verse is addressed like a letter--"dear stars," "dear tulips," "dear ocean"--as she relates to the natural world with a child's frank curiosity. There is, unfortunately, an awkwardness and a sentimentality to the text; it often sounds like a grown-up pretending to be a child. This is one example of the pictures pulling up a less-than-successful text: a page covered with heart-shaped flowers, trees, and even a heart-shaped moon resonates with "dear valentines" as the speaker, whose grandmother gave her a box of valentine chocolates, says, "Before I went to bed / I ate them all by mistake." (Booklist Review)
Profile Image for  (NS) Maria.
79 reviews
November 20, 2009

From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 1. Artist Noda's images are luminous indeed: her collages, made from handmade paper and watercolor, have a wonderful three-dimensional quality to them. Layered and patterned almost like quilts, her pictures marry dreamlike perspectives and juxtapositions with deep jewel colors. Each nonrhymed verse is addressed like a letter--"dear stars," "dear tulips," "dear ocean"--as she relates to the natural world with a child's frank curiosity. There is, unfortunately, an awkwardness and a sentimentality to the text; it often sounds like a grown-up pretending to be a child. This is one example of the pictures pulling up a less-than-successful text: a page covered with heart-shaped flowers, trees, and even a heart-shaped moon resonates with "dear valentines" as the speaker, whose grandmother gave her a box of valentine chocolates, says, "Before I went to bed / I ate them all by mistake.
Profile Image for Kim Valentine.
46 reviews
August 29, 2008
This is a beautiful written and illustrated book. The poems are fun to read and the pages are so bold and sharp colors that are made of cut paper collages and water color. Each poem starts as a letter Dear Fish, Dear Car, Dear Snow, etc...
There is a website that has suggested activities to go along with the book. http://ux1.eiu.edu/~psstorm/Monarch08...

Genre: Poem
Grades K-3

Activities:
1. Have students write their own Dear World poems.
2. As an art color lesson have student make their own collage.
3. For social studies discuss what season the poem or page is about. Or for science discuss where and when we would see the birds, butterflies and incest in the pictures
4. Have the student write a letter to an object in their world.
5. For music have the student make a beat to one of the poems the sing it.
31 reviews1 follower
October 31, 2011
Poetry
Dear World by Takayo Noda was a very good and simple poetry book. All the simple poems that were included were basic, yet contained a stories within themselves. I really liked the stories that realted to the simple concepts like snow, birds, apples, and turtles. Even though most of the poems did not rhyme, which is sterotypical definition of poetry through a child's eyes, I still thought that a child could make out that it was still poetry. The illustrations also contributed alot to the poetry writing. I thought that the pictures described exactly what the poem was saying as well as told a story of their own. The colors that were used also were very bright and vivid, catching the readers eye.
Profile Image for NS Kelley.
48 reviews3 followers
November 18, 2009
This poetry book is presented as a collection of letters written by children, to the planet earth. It is very creative and filled with many different feelings and experiences associated with childhood. When reading the poems you really do feel like you are looking at an expereince through the eyes of a child. I especially enjoyed the winter poem where a child apologizes for having a cold that prevents them from making a snowman. This is a great collection that children can relate to and it also helps celebrate the world we live in and appreciate the beauty around us!
Profile Image for Breana Fitzgerald.
112 reviews3 followers
October 5, 2015
This book seemed to be poems about the different seasons. It also talks about the trees with fruits, different animals, cars, oceans, flowers, and stars. This book I would add to my library, but I'm not sure if I would read it to my class. It doesn't have a good point or lesson to it, although it does have descriptive words in it that can be used in class.
91 reviews
November 2, 2011
All the poems in the book are childrens poems. They are portrayed in the book from a childs point of view. All of the poems are about nature and some contain animals. This book would be good for young readers being introduced to poetry.
20 reviews4 followers
October 26, 2008
beautiful illustrations that match the well written poems...
107 reviews
March 13, 2011
This poetry/picture book is laid out as a child issues letters to to the world, sun, birds, etc. I liked the illustrations, by the author,more than the poetry.
Profile Image for Beverly Kennett.
222 reviews3 followers
March 15, 2011
The illustrations in this book are diecut collages! The poems observing objects and nature sound like prayers to me.I liked "Dear Fish," "Dear Sun" and "Dear Tulips."
108 reviews2 followers
November 29, 2011
This collection of poems contains letters to various objects in our world, such as the sun, tulips, a car or the ocean. The poems describe the authors feelings toward each object.
100 reviews2 followers
February 4, 2012
This was a beautiful book of poetry about nature and other things in the world as witnessed through the eyes of a child. The illustrations are especially unique as they are the cut out collage look.
Profile Image for Dave Schaafsma.
Author 6 books32.2k followers
January 22, 2013
A child's letter poems to the (mostly) natural world. Sweet. Five year old Lyra says, in the middle of it, "Oh! This is a GOOD book!"
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

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