Poetry Friday: Where My Wellies Take Me

This week's selection for Poetry Friday is a delightful book that I recently read, a collection of poems about the English countryside with a story by Michael Morpurgo to link the poems.  Where My Wellies Take Me is a collaboration by the wife and husband team of Clare and Michael Morpurgo.  They speak fondly of their childhood as a time when they had "...walked on the wild side, gone where our wellies had taken us, and loved it."  Their charity, Farms for City Children, established more than thirty years ago, allows urban children to spend a week on a farm.  All royalties from the sale of the book, published in 2012, are donated to this charity. 

The fence folds out to reveal dragons on top of the logs!

Pippa, the young girl in the story, is loosely based on Clare and her childhood walks.  One of the features that I love about this book is that Pippa's story is told in cursive and the poems are shown in print or block letters.  The book is like a sketchbook of Clare's day in the woods.  Most of the poems included in the book are by English poets, a diverse group from Shakespeare to Longfellow to Walter de la Mare to Ted Huges and more.  There are even poems by American poets such as Robert Frost and Theodore Roethke.  There's a fold out map of Pippa's walk with links to her favorite places and poems.  Other interesting features include fold-out pages, vellum overlays, and lift the flap illustrations.  The additional information at the end of the book includes the story behind the bok, information about the writers and illustrator, and background information on the authors' charity, Farms for City Children.  

This book would appeal to students who like writing about a favorite place, who enjoy sketching, and who might want to experiment with the format of blending a writer's notebook and sketches with selected  poems.  Students could choose to include published poetry or to write original poems.  Summer is a perfect time to experiment with this format.  Check out this unique book to get inspired! 

                                                     
                                                     Head over to Mainely Write

for this week's roundup of poetry love. 

Thanks for hosting, Donna!