City Beats: A Hip-Hoppy Pigeon Poem for Kids to Find the Beauty in Urban Nature

by S. Kelly Rammell, Jeanette Canyon (Illustrator)

This is the perfect book to teach children that beauty can be found anywhere when we look at the world from a new perspective and open our minds. Gorgeous art, fun poetry, and a cool urban landscape make learning fun! Pigeons are a great introduction to urban nature and wildlife. This book does a remarkable it brings to our attention the fact that taken-for-granted pigeons, or "rock doves," are beautiful birds. It also helps us to appreciate the vibrant beat of a city-from a pigeon's-eye-view. The text is bouncy. Kids will want to make all the "screech," "hiss," "ker-chunk," "pound," and "tweet" city sounds. Amazing polymer clay illustrations pop right off the page and through die-cut windows. Each illustration was crafted entirely from polymer clay and then photographed. The perfect book for anyone looking

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Juvenile

36 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2006

Reviews

[J-Lynn Van Pelt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating picture book for several reasons, including the following:

1) The art for the illustratons is done entirely out of polymer clay and then photographed. The brightly colored clay mosaics range from focused landscapes to more abstract creations. Each page starts with a small window that only shows a portion of he illustration so that the kids can guess what the poem is describing, and when the picture is turned, the window shows the text with a 2-page picture surrounding it.

2) The book is published by a small press called Dawn Publications that focuses on environmental literature for children.

3) The poem shows a day in the life of an urban pigeon--a very unique study in point of view. There is also a brief history of the pigeon on the first page of the book.

4) Written with a strong, hip-hop beat, the poem is an excellent way to teach rythm, alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme, personification, etc.

[Shannon Stinnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful picture book to share with children. This book tells all about a cities sights, sounds and adventures.....all from a pigeon's point of view! The vibrant colors of the illustrations are remarkable. I do like the cut-out picture windows occasionally on pages which "preview" the upcoming illustrations. Very cleverly done! The verses contain rhythm and rhyme. As a teacher what I like most is the abundance of alliteration, onomatopoeia and use of nonsense words! Ker-chunk-ker-chunk! Screech! Hiss! Pop! Rat-a-tat-tat! As well as Rapping, rocking, rhythms, rhymes and flying flutterbys flitter. All very useful illustrations of literature in this one book!

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book written from an interesting perspective. The author makes the point that pigeons have chosen to live with people. This is true to a certain extent I guess, they have adapted amazingly to urban life. Here we get a glimpse of what the average city living pigeon may see in his day to day existence. And what a peak it is. Absolutely magnificent illustrations that look almost textural. You want to touch them. The pictures appeal far more to me than the words do, they're just so lush and amazing.

[Elizabeth]

I checked this out because:
1) I was surprised the library had a poetry book about pigeons,
2) I wanted to see if it was actually on the shelf, because it hadn't checked out in 3.5 years, and
3) I was curious (and felt sorry that it had languished on the shelf unnoticed).

I liked the illustrations more than the text, but the text was short and snappy, so I enjoyed it well enough. Also, the die-cut windows were in perfect condition, so there are definitely certain benefits to being an overlooked book (especially when there is plenty of room on the shelf).

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the art in this book. The pictures look so real you could touch them, and colorful and vibrant as well.

The words... well, they are moving. Individually. Together, though... it's just hard reading a poem where the rhyme scheme changes from page to page, is all! The words never do what you expect, so you keep stumbling, no matter how evocative they are.

Still, this book is worth it for the pictures.

[Bill Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever wonder what life's like for a pigeon in the city? Find out by reading this book. Creative and colorful illustrations provide a nice complement to the poem.

[Jacob Chau]

Solid poem. The poem was about how a pigeon would see the city from their view.