Poetry Review - Mammalabilia By: Douglas Florian

Bibliography
Florian, D. 2000. Mammalabilia. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Children’s Books.
ISBN 0152021671

Plot Summary
In twenty-one short poems, Douglas Florian’s Mammalabilia captures the characteristics and personalities of mammals such as aardvarks, mules, camels, and tigers. Each short poem is accompanied by bold gouache illustrations.

Critical Analysis
This topical book of poetry is ideal for any teacher wishing to introduce poetry in the field of science. Each poem offers exaggerated illustrations that depict various mammals in their everyday lives. The embellished rhyming of the poems creates a hilarity that appeals to both young children, and those adults who are young at heart. Florian’s use of witty writing and creative physical sentence structure is evident in The Bactrian Camel. The few words of the poem are accentuated by their placement as if they were the camel’s humps. “Mr. Bactrian, a question for you – about your back: one lump or two?”
In The Bear, Florian chose to incorporate ‘bear’ into several words to alter their spelling. “Come Septem-bear, I sleep, I slum-bear, Till winter lum-bears, Into spring. More than that’s Em-bear-rassing.” This particular poem offers a quirky composition that young children will especially enjoy repeating.

Florian’s description of mammals, both through the poetry and the illustrations, gives the reader true scientific facts, with a twist of humor. In The Otter, Florian writes of the otter’s lifestyle as “I state most emphatic: An otter’s aquatic. An otter loves water – An utter fanatic. It’s most acrobatic, And quite charismatic. I state most emphatic: An otter’s aquatic.” As the reader studies the otter facts in the poem, they are met with a comical picture of an otter reading a book about water, while leisurely soaking in a bath tub. For anyone who is not knowledgeable on the look or way of life of animals such as lynxes, boars, hippos and other mammals, Mammalibilia introduces these creatures with a fun and amusing approach.

Review Excerpts
Publishers Weekly
Florian's humor is eccentric, but just right for his target audience. The gouache illustrations painted on primed brown paper bags, full of unusual textures and inventive designs, match the creativity of the word play.

School Library Journal
A collection of 25 poems with accompanying primitive, childlike paintings, this book follows the format and style Florian has used so successfully in Beast Feast (1994) and Insectlopedia (1998, both Harcourt). These verses, however, are more reminiscent of the silly wordplay of Ogden Nash. Readers will find a variety of rhyme schemes; meters; and forms featuring puns, concrete poems, litanies, and lists. A large painting, done in gouache on primed brown paper bags, appears on one side of the double page with a poem set on the other. The artist's renderings draw readers into the poem and invite repeated viewings after reading the verse.

Connections
Mammalabilia can be used to introduce students to different kinds of animals; some they may know about and others will be completely new to them. Teachers should incorporate poetry as much as possible in their curriculum. Topical poetry books like Mammalabilia allow teachers to read poetry and easily connect to a specific content area. Teachers can also encourage students to create their own “funny books” with comical but accurate descriptions of their pets, family members, or classmates.

Additional recommended books:
*Insectlopedia by Douglas Florian ISBN-10: 0152163352
*Beast Feast : Poems by Douglas Florian ISBN-10: 0152017372