Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry

by Joyce Sidman, Michelle Berg (Illustrator)

On a clear, sunny day, a small adventure begins. First, a dog slips joyfully out of his house. Next a car pulls up to the curb, leaving a white cat alone. Then, slowly, a storm begins to brew over the park.

Watch as an unlikely friendship takes shape in this one-of-a-kind book that combines story, art, and delightful concrete poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Cats, Dogs, Animals, Childrens, Friendship

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2006

About the author

The Newbery Honor winner Joyce Sidman is today's foremost nature poet for children. Accolades for her books include two Caldecott Honors, a Lee Bennet Hopkins Award, winner of the Claudia Lews Award, and many stars and best of lists. For her award-winning body of work, she won the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota. Visit www.joycesidman.com

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hesitated to assign a star rating to this book as I didn't even read all of it. Much as I wanted to love this book, I just found it frustrating. The concrete poetry, while interesting, is presented in such a way that I found it very hard and annoying to read--in the grass, in the clouds, in the trees, all over the page... And so many different little poems on each page. It's a neat idea but it didn't work for me and I don't see how it would work for a read-aloud. That said, some people will probably love the format so please read other reviews to get a fair assessment of this book.

[Anna Ryckman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the most unique poetry books that I’ve ever read. The story is told through a combination of concrete poems about a dog who gets out of his house and finds an abandoned cat. The two begin by chasing each other around, but become friends as they wait out a thunderstorm in the park. The most challenging part about this book that I didn’t care for was how hard it was to read all the poems and keep an understanding of the overall plot. My eyes didn’t know where to go first and I had to spend some time going back and forth trying to figure out what was going on. I do think that this book has excellent examples of concrete poetry that I would love to share with a class, but to read it aloud would be difficult. I did enjoy the way the author used the poems to explain the setting such as the ground and trees. The poetry during the thunderstorm was my favorite as it was one of the easiest pages for me to read. Overall, I liked the idea of this book, but not how it was executed, but would still use it to describe to students what concrete poetry is.

[Zazu Gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining experience while reading all around the page. On a bright and sunny day, a dog escapes from home and runs away to freedom. At the same time somewhere else, a cat is being kicked out of a car and abandoned on the road. While the dog is out happy as can be, the cat is moping around and scared of its surroundings. Meanwhile, the sky is getting filled with big gray clouds that promise a thunderstorm. Soon, the dog and cat cross paths. At first, the dog is chasing the cat and the cat is hissing at the dog, but then it begins to pour and they are forced to take shelter together underneath a picnic table. Once the storm is over, the dog and cat have become friends. I love how each page changes in words for the illustrations. No page is the same even for the concrete poetry.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, I wanted to love this, and I do like dog & cat friendship stories. But, I just didn’t get this. I found the formatting made it exceedingly difficult to read. It was ridiculous actually. I wouldn’t relish trying to read this aloud to a child or to a group of children. The (collage?) illustrations were interesting, very creative. This book is different and I do give it some credit for its uniqueness. I guess I have to acknowledge the text is also unusual but given that it’s so hard to read, and the story didn’t entirely thrill me, I couldn’t get enthusiastic about this book. An extra star for the creativity that went into this; otherwise, it was just okay for me.

I just looked and two of my friends gave 4 stars to this book, and, overall, it seems to get relatively high star ratings from most Goodreads members. So, maybe I’m just too impatient today to appreciate this book’s value, but just slightly over 2-1/2 stars from me.

[Paul Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much to see in this concrete poem driven picture book that tells a story and then some. I love the clouds in the book. Each element within the story (including ground cover) is a type of concrete poem. This one might require reading through a couple of times to enjoy everything that is happening in the book. Natural invitations here to have younger writers try their hands at a concrete poem or two.

[Nicole Quijada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry: written by Joyce Sidman, and illustrated by Michelle Berg, uses concrete poetry to tell the story of an abandoned cat and a curious dog’s adventure. Both kids and adults can appreciate the many poems throughout the story that describes everyday things such as clouds, trees, and the ground they walk on. The story is about a dog that escapes out of his house and meets a cat that just got abandoned by a mysterious car. The two become unlikely friends as they chase each other around the park until a storm causes them to come together to wait it out. After the storm passes the two begin to play again until the dog owner comes and finds him and decides to take the cat in as well. With this type of poetry, having a full-on story while also having separate poems was challenging in understanding the plot, but was very effective in showing good examples of concrete poetry.

[Allison Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meow Ruff is a story in concrete poetry written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Michelle Berg. This book is filled with onomatopoeia's like boom, snap, sizzle, etc. The poems had no rhyming in them and were more a list of ways to describe the things they were shaped as. Meow Ruff has a very informal layout with words all over the pages and actually being in the form of what the text is talking about. The narrative of this book is in my opinion very hard to follow and I'm not sure if children would be able to understand how to read this book because even I had trouble reading some spreads. I will say that the illustrations were very well done and I think the idea behind this book was very original and different.

[Maggie Moser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very creative poem. Through the eyes of children this can be seen as a delightful story to read, not only to smaller children, but children ages 2-7, would love this story. This poem is written in a way that it is not only eye catching, but entertaining. This story is through the eyes of a dog and a cat that have strayed away from home, and have come to find each other under a picnic table far away from their home. Through this book, the illustrations move throughout the page, from the clouds to the grass, all the way down to the small bugs in the corner of the pages. As usual the dog and the cat do not get along, but as the poem continues, they come to rely on one another when they need each other the most.

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

This picture book really does try to tell a story in verse. In my opinion it failed. There are words everywhere and my eyes didn't know where to look of my brain to read. The publisher and editor obviously were trying for something unique and the illustrations are unappealing to me, childish with no focus. After reading half of this title I was frustrated and gave up. I did not care about the outcome of this dog and cat and their friendship.
My apologies to Joyce Sidman and as I have said in previous reviews of her other titles I love her work and the images she paints of nature in her poetry. However, this title does not work in anyway for me.

[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Age Level: I am a little bit on the edge on where I think this book should be for age level. It is cute and about an easy subject so I want to say k-2 but it was very hard to follow because it is concrete poetry so maybe more like 3rd-5th?

Summary: This book is mainly about house ani,als and suburban animals like in a neighborhood and what they are doing. They go through doors and up trees and it has what they say, like meow and ruff.

Review: I don't think that I would teach this book in particular if I were to teach concrete poetry. I wouldn't tell a child no to reading it but I may help them if they need it when reading it.

[Julia Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you looking for a book to get students interested in poetry? If so, then "Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry" is a perfect book for you. An abandoned cat and a curious dog find friendship through toughing out a storm. Through rhymes and onomatopoeia, you find out how two unlikely animals become friends. This book is unique because of the way the words are presented in different objects like: trees, grass, cars, houses, bikes, etc. However, I found it hard to read because the words are scattered around the page. Nevertheless, elementary students would absolutely love to look through the book. So what are you waiting for? Go grab it at your local library now!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting style of telling a story, this picture book gets the brain working. The device used is concrete poetry. (Definition from Wikipedia: Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct meaning of its own.) Puppy and kitten have trepidation about each other until a storm brews and they protect each other from the larger danger. This is a good book for the TAILS & TALES summer reading theme!

[Ellen Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meow Ruff is a postmodern picture book that includes poetry throughout the story. The resolution of this book is how a cat and dog became friends. Throughout some of the pages in the book, the illustrator put some of the illustrations in the gutter and connected some of the words between the pages. I thought that the illustrations were really cool and unique but it was also somewhat hard to see the words properly. But overall, I really enjoyed this book.

[Laura Salas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a concrete poetry book that's almost more like a giant riddle. Or a graphic novel for young readers. It's a visual feast, with almost every single element combining words and shape to make meaning. Sometimes the way the words/lines meld together makes it hard for me to read, and the color choices don't always help. That's a design issue, I guess. But the sweet story and inventive format are a satisfying treasure chest to unpack.

[Nicki Roller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry book, 2006
This is such a fun and colorful and simple poetry book! I believe that this book could be a powerful way to help students that are English Language Learners to find connections between words and images, and the poems create the images in the story. Overall, this book would be perfect for all grade levels, as it has a simple and wonderful storyline!

[Jill Leininger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book had some nice illustrations I was not a fan. I felt like there was too much going on on the pages to be able to follow. I didn’t really think it much of a poetry book but some might think different. After reading it I’m still not sure what it was suppose to be about besides and cat and dog.

[Sienna Lyon-Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adorable story follows two main characters; a dog and a cat. The dog wants to be free and go on an adventure, while the cat is left on the streets and wants to find a home. The cat is very careful in their steps while the dog is on a mission to travel far. Along the way, the characters are stopped at the same tree by a storm where they must find shelter. The two characters are hesitant to be near each other, but eventually, snuggle together against all odds under the picnic bench. Once the storm lets up, the two animals become friends and ends with the dog's owner finding it and I, as the reader, can assume the owner also takes the cat with them.
The book is written in a "concrete poetry" style which is shown through the narration used to describe the setting. Sidman and Berg worked together to not just describe the movement of the clouds, but they used those descriptions to also create the shape of the clouds. In other words, there was no actual illustration of a cloud, but instead, the words used to describe those clouds were formatted in a way the reader can imagine them to be the shape of a cloud. This style is used in nearly ever aspect of the book; the trees, the bench, the grass; are all depicted through words. As the reader turns each page, they may realize the different words used to describe each object as a sign of the event happening. The bench's purpose, for example, changes with each page as it goes from a surface, to a shelter, and to a table. I love this aspect of the book because it is such a simple and subtle change to each page but allows the reader to predict the future events. However, an early elementary child may not be able to read this book on their own because there are lots of words scattered throughout the pages and can be hard to follow.
This book would be great to read to expand children's vocabulary. Sidman uses words such as; "colossally, stupendously, thrashing, murk," etc. that early elementary students may not be familiar with.

[Tina Hoggatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Layered story and simple, bright illustrations, by Michelle Berg, tell an overall story of a cat, a dog, and some very opinionated crows. At times the graphic poems seemed impenetrable to me visually but as I say there was always another layer to access.

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art was super cute and I liked the idea of the book, but sometimes it was hard to tell which part I should read first. And I did *not* enjoy the fact that the story starts with the cat being dumped on the side of the road. Spoiler alert, it works out in the end, but it made me very sad.

[Rebecca Gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clever and unique.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute concrete poem book about a dog and cat realizing they like each other and dislike crows.

[Megan Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cool, but too much going on on the pages.

[Pamela Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concrete poems that sweetly tell the story of a small dog and a kitten that get caught in a storm.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super cute concept, incredibly frustrating execution.

[Vick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorable

[Holly Boothe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how attentive my two year old was while I was attempting this one. He seemed to follow along even when I couldn't. I read it top to bottom, so every page I started in the sky and ended in the ground so it had a little "flow" but next time I'm going to try it a little different. It's a very cool concept

[Sariah Shellman · Rating 4 out of 5]

(2006) This is a book with an enormous amount of text on each page, even though the plot is not laid out explicitly. This book is full of examples of descriptive language, and it shows that poetry can take many forms.

[Jessica Schuerman · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Poetry)
This book was one of the hardest books I have ever read. not only could I follow what was happening in the story, but i had a hard time reading what the text said. There was to much going on in this book. What I got from the book is that there was a dog chasing a cat. The cat tried running away, but the dog eventually caught the cat. Then it started to rain. The cat and dog both feel asleep cuddled up. once the rain stopped they started chancing each other again. The owner of the dog then finds the dog and also takes the cat and they all become friends. Throughout the story there was also random animals saying things. There was just to much going to know what order to read.

I would not read this book to my class or have my class read it. If I was confused reading it, then I am sure young readers will be just as confused. The pictures in the story were super cute, and the shapes they had the poems in were fitting for the story. That didn't help the organization in the book though. There should have never been green font inside a green tree. That just made it to hard to read and focus. I couldn't focus at any point in the book though simply for the fact there was multiple things talking at once. That is why I wouldn't have of my future students pick up this book, I would find them a concrete poetry book that is much easier to read.

[Liza Bauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sidman, J. (2006). Meow Ruff. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Gr. K-3. A dog and a cat have both escaped home and are on adventures chasing chipmunks and birds. Until the dog sees the cat, and begins to chase her! All of a sudden, a rainstorm starts, and the dog and the cat are stuck to together until the rain stops. Will they be able to make it through the storm without hurting one another?
Curriculum: This book is told in concrete poetry as well as pictures, so this would be a great introduction to concrete poetry. The kids could create their own concrete poetry stories using this book as a model. The book could also be used to talk about friendship and not judging a book by its cover. This would be a good book to practice visual literacy skills, as the whole story is told in concrete poetry and pictures. There are words, but the words don’t “tell” the story – it has to be inferred from the spatial set up. Inference and prediction could also be skills practiced using this book.
Reviews: Booklist starred (March 15, 2006 (Vol. 102, No. 14)), Horn Book (May/June, 2006), Horn Book starred (Fall 2006), Kirkus Reviews (March 1, 2006), School Library Journal (February 1, 2012)

[Rebecca Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

1.) Genre- Poetry

2.) Summary- This book of poetry tells the story of an unlikely friendship between an abandoned cat and an excitable dog.

3.)a.) Area of focus- Shape

3.)b.) This book uses unique shapes to help guide the reader through the various pieces of poetry.

3.)c.) While initially difficult to juggle, Sidman uses different shapes to convey the various topics of her poems. Nearly all illustrative pieces of the page are actually composed of poetry. For example, Sidman's clouds are actually made of white, wispy words that explain clouds in general (magnificent, snow-white piles blooming upwards, etc.). This type of poetry form can be difficult to read and digest for novice poetry readers, but it does add interest and definition to her poems. As they become used to the style, readers will enjoy searching for 'new' poems within the pictures.

4.) Curriculum Connections- This book does a great job of demonstrating non-traditional poetry types. Teachers could use it as part of a poetry lesson that sparks initial interest. Other ideas could include a combination langauge-art lesson where students have to use descriptive words in poetry and then also add an artistic element with shape.