Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry

Meow Ruff: A Story in Concrete Poetry
By Joyce Sidman, Illustrated by Michelle Berg
Houghton Mifflin, $16.00
32 pages, ISBN 0618448942

Review by Amy Andrews

A sudden rainstorm in the park makes strange bedfellows of a frisky dog and cat who are forced to seek shelter together under a picnic table in this picture book story told through concrete poetry, the arrangement of words used to illustrate a concept-- both literally and figuratively. For example, against the blue background, there's white text in a puffy font representing a cloud:

"A billowing batch
Of cumulus"

Almost all the structures in the book are represented by vivid poetry: house, car, street, grass, tree, picnic bench, clouds, and rain. Text that conveys the feelings and emotions of the animals-- the cat, dog, crows, ladybugs, etc.-- arches around their simple forms.

As the story opens, an excited little puppy races out of the house, across the street and to the park where he spies a small white kitten. The chase is about to begin when the kitten turns the tables, hissing at the dog, who leaps into the safety of the tree. Their skirmish thwarted by an impending thunderstorm, the two feuding furries take shelter under the same picnic bench. Shivering, one from fear, the other from cold, they soon fall asleep together. As the storm passes, the two awake, their animosity evolved into a shared goal-- chasing crows across the park.

Joyce Sidman (The World According to Dog: Poems and Teen Voices, Just Us Two, and Song of the Water Boatman) is a poetry teacher and winner of the ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award. Her humorous tale provides kids with several fun surprises, the first of which is the dog who jumps into a tree in fear when the cat hisses at it, rather than the commonly assumed other way around. Her free verse poetry is very effective in communicating the mood and character of the animals; the dog is surrounded by text that reads, "catcatcatcatcat"; ladybugs fly off trailing the words "not really beetles" and "not all ladies." Sidman's work is highly descriptive and really captures the essence of newly-mown grass, billowing clouds, and leafy trees being buffeted by a strong storm.

Michelle Berg's illustrations support the story with powerful visual appeal. Her use of Sidman's poetry as block text within the pictures of the tree, grass, clouds, house, and car are creative, and reinforce Sidman's work. The bright colors and simple designs Berg uses let the story shine.

Almost all of the storytelling in Meow Ruff takes place through Sidman's concrete poetry. Its nonlinear style is eye-catching and her choice of words is ear-pleasing. More than a picture book, Meow Ruff is a poetry primer-- a bit challenging to read to very young children and more appropriate to early elementary school readers. The flexibility in choosing what to read first-- the dog and cat story or the poetry in the clouds, the tree, the grass, and the other animals' comments-- will appeal to kids, as it can really be a different story each time.

Meow Ruff is a wildly creative book that will find its strongest appeal in older readers with a basic reading level. Much of the appeal of the story is in the visual arrangement of the text, which should delight new readers and serve as an enticing introduction to poetry. For additional ways in which you can explore art and poetry with your child through Meow Ruff, Sidman offers a teachers' guide to the book on her website.