"Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems"

Title: "Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems"
Author: Jack Prelutsky
Illustrator: Carin Berger
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 2006
Genre: Children's Poetry
Grade: 2-3

"The Trumpetoos and Tubaboons"

The TRUMPETOOS and TUBABOONS
are blaring out discordant tunes.
They play them loud, they play them long,
But most of all, they play them wrong.

They open up their brazen throats,
unleashing a barrage of notes
That would be better left unplayed....
Bt play they do as they parade.

Their sounds are jarring to the ear,
As noisily they persevere
And play in clashing beats and keys
Unmusical cacophonies.

They march about in close array.
We wish they'd simply march away.
Or stop and take a silent snooze------
Those TUBABOONS and TRUMPETOOS.



I really enjoyed this poem because it was about music. I've always loved the brass sound that tubas and trumpets make. My brother actually plays the tuba which made this poem even better. I loved the imagery that one gets from reading this poem. It's like I can actually see and hear these instruments playing these awful sounds and marching around! I also love the adjectives in this poem, such as brazen and discordant tunes. I would definitely use this book in my class. I love how it takes different animals and adds the animal to an everyday object and makes the poem based on the new object. I would use this book to read it to my students and then have them to draw a picture representing what they think these objects would look like and what actions they would be doing. The illustrations in this particular book were done by making collages on different types of paper. I loved the way the illustrations had different backgrounds.

Sound was a big part of this poem. They blare and play them loud, but play them wrong! The rhythm in this poem seems to be like that of a marching band because they march around playing the wrong notes. In the stanzas the first and second lines rhyme and then the third and fourth rhyme. So it follows an AABB pattern. There aren't really any alliteration or onomatopoeia in this poem. The images in this poem are amazing because without even looking at the pictures I can see the instruments marching around and how offbalance and off kilter they are since they play the wrong notes.