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Georgia Heard
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Boom! Bellow! Bleat!: Animal Poems for Two or More Voices Hardcover – Illustrated, March 12, 2019

by Georgia Heard (Author), Aaron DeWitt (Illustrator)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
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This playful collection of poems--peppered with an astounding variety of animal sounds--is meant to be read aloud together.

These poems for two or more voices explore the myriad sounds animals make--from a frog's jug-o-rum to a fish's boom! to an elephant's bark. Laced with humor, the poems are a delight to read aloud and cover all major classes of animals: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, even a crustacean! Readers will learn how to estimate the temperature by counting a cricket's chirps and see how creatures make sounds at specific pitches and frequencies, so that they can be heard despite other noise around them. Extensive end notes provide more information on the animals and how and why they make the sounds they do. Written by noted children's poet Georgia Heard, this is an ideal collection for parents and children to share, or for a fun, interactive classroom read-aloud.
Previous page
  1. Reading age
    5 - 9 years
  2. Print length
    32 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    Kindergarten - 4
  5. Lexile measure
    NP
  6. Dimensions
    9.44 x 0.37 x 11.31 inches
  7. Publisher
    Wordsong
  8. Publication date
    March 12, 2019
  9. ISBN-10
    1620915200
  10. ISBN-13
    978-1620915202
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

A NCTE Notable Poetry Book

"One thing that sets picture books apart from titles for older readers is that we often share them with another person. Georgia Heard’s text leans into this interactive experience, creating the space for distinct speakers in each poem. Each is intended as a sort of duet, with the text set in different colors to differentiate the alternating parts. The book relies heavily on the humor and child-friendly simplicity of animal noises, but the noises animals make are not always what you’d expect…the beauty of poetry for small children is that the sounds of words can be appealing long before their meanings are fully understood… Heard’s engaging poems, paired with Aaron DeWitt’s bright digital images of the natural world, are designed to bring readers together, and with an informative author’s note on various elements of the natural world, they may also find a welcome role in the classroom." -- The New York Times Book Review

★ “Thirteen playful poems give young performers a chance to noisily shine as they explore the denizens of the wild. Poems are highly evocative…and many poems include notes to further guide readers in maximizing the mimicry (and the fun). The result is an opportunity for some startlingly effective natural noises, lively poetry, and glorious chaos…DeWitt also offers some elegant and dramatic spreads…Following in the estimable footsteps of Paul Fleischman, this work offers an irresistible invitation to its audience to join in the woooooooo, pzzzz pzzzz pzzzz, and peep of the natural world.” – The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review

“Kids love to make animal noises. The 13 poems in this collection vary in style, but all rely heavily on accurate animal sounds…(t)he poems could become part of a creative performance piece, and use as a home read-aloud could lead to playful adult-child interaction. The bold, digital illustrations have a painterly feel. Fascinating closing notes offer opportunities for caregivers to extend the instruction. In the hands of the right presenter, this book could lead to exciting aural experiences.” – Kirkus Reviews

“In 13 short free-verse poems, Heard highlights animal calls, songs, and other noises…The entries…include notes related to the poem’s performance…and considerably expanded notes for each poem at the end fill in background behavioral facts, as well as identify each animal depicted in…DeWitt’s carefully detailed natural scenes. (T)he natural history…dovetails neatly into performer- and audience-pleasing mixes of words and onomatopoetic sound effects.”— Booklist

“Animals of many kinds describe the sounds that they make in poems intended to be read aloud by two or more readers. DeWitt’s digital collages show fine detail in the animals’ features, depicting how their physical characteristics range as widely as their sounds. The use of onomatopoeia all but guarantees a lively group reading experience, while Heard’s back matter includes engaging facts about the biodiverse subjects.” – Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Georgia Heard, winner of the 2023 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, is an internationally recognized expert in the teaching of writing for grades K-8. She works as a consultant in schools and districts around the world, and is a longtime staff developer for the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.

Aaron DeWitt is the illustrator of Dreaming of You by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and of several Hallmark children's books, including All the Ways I Love You by Theresa Trinder.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wordsong; Illustrated edition (March 12, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 32 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1620915200
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1620915202
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 5 - 9 years
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ NP
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ Kindergarten - 4
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.44 x 0.37 x 11.31 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 22 ratings

About the author

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Georgia Heard

Georgia Heard

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Georgia Heard is a writer, poet, and educator. She is the recipient of the 2023 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She is the author of AWAKENING THE HEART and HEART MAPS (Heinemann) and children's books including WELCOME TO THE WONDER HOUSE (WordSong), MY THOUGHTS ARE CLOUDS: POEMS FOR MINDFULNESS (Macmillan), and BOOM! BELLOW! BLEAT!: ANIMAL POEMS FOR TWO OR MORE VOICES (WordSong), among others. A graduate of Columbia University, and a leader in the field of teaching writing, she is a frequent presenter in schools and at conferences around the world.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
22 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

LindaB
5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry Performance!
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2019
Verified Purchase
When I was a lit coach, I took a suitcase of musical things like different clackers and horns, a small drum, and so on to liven up our poetry writing. Oh, how I wish I had had this new poetry book to Boom! Bellow! Bleat! with the kids. It's a new delight by Georgia Heard with "out loud" collaged illustrations by Aaron DeWitt. It can be read, as the cover says, by two or more voices, and I found it wonderful to read with my youngest granddaughter, an emerging reader. Serendipitously, we had just visited our zoo and came home to read this new book together. It opens with a fun page of "Animal Songs" including Alligators that Hiss, all the way to Humans, who Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk, etc. It also includes frogs who don't say "Ribbit!", instead, they quonk, waaa, jug-a-rum, beeeee, peep, twaang, errrrgh, growl, trill, and yeeeeeoooow. There was much to learn about frogs (and toads) just from this page. Imogene loves insects and her favorite page is the honeybees, who bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz as they perform all their other tasks.
In addition to the poetic text, Georgia has included small bits of information for some of the animals. And added at the back is expanded information in a "Nature's Notes" section.
Each page's text are in blue, red and sometimes black (for that third voice). It was great fun to read aloud. For groups, a page titled "Forest Orchestra" gives instruction and a script for fourteen parts to perform together. She includes tips like "Keep in mind that animals have adapted different sound tones so when singing together they don't drown each other out." From large to small, land to ocean, animals Boom! Bellow! Bleat and more. One only needs to listen!
3 people found this helpful
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Ellen
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this Book!
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2022
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What fun to read all the sounds of so many animals!
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Carli
5.0 out of 5 stars Great kids book!
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2019
Verified Purchase
My kids love this book! The illustrations are amazing and poems are adorable.. we love reading it!
2 people found this helpful
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Paul W. Hankins
5.0 out of 5 stars Classroom Ready for Nature Lessons and Poetry Showcases: Heard is a Gem!
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2019
First, a full disclosure: I am going to gush over this new poetry collection because it is by one of the many gentle, poetic, encouraging voices who have supported me for so very long that I don't even know what I do to remain in the company of such fine, fine people. Georgia Heard is one of these. And, now, let the gushing commence.

Calling all animal lovers, young and old!

The cover art alone here gives us two mini-lessons in alliteration and onomatopoeia (by the way, did you realize that the "poeia" part of this word is the root from which we get poetry? We literally make poetry by way of creating and imitating sounds that we hear and vocalizing them in this case wrapping our made-up language from the world around us).

BOOM! BELLOW! BLEAT! would fit nicely in those shares of Fleishman's poems for two voices titles like JOYFUL NOISE and PHOENIX RISING. Classroom teachers offering nature units could look within the pages of Heard's book to look for animal types and groupings including biospheres and habitats to work in individual poems from the collection.

Heard offers a Performance Key before the collection begins to guide readers who might not be accustomed to choral readings to find their feet (and their parts and voices) within the poetry for two or more voices form.

Poems like "We Don't Say Ribbit" invite readers to push on the traditional answer to "What does a frog say?" by introducing readers to the research-based sounds made by different frogs and toads.

And, if the response to the question, "What does a fish say?" is met with silence in the room, "Noisy Fish" provides more than one answer followed by a choral imperative of the room above the water line to the boisterous school of fish found upon the page.

"You Can't See Us, but You Can Hear Us' brings the not-often-seen Peeper into the room and invites reading in the round.

Just in case we're looking for a way to incorporate math into our poetry lessons (and we want to work in a little cricket chirping trivia), "Cricket Arithmetic: Three Haiku" not only introduces readers to the poetic form, it asks the reader to note the temperature based upon the number of chirps following the haiku.

With variation in form and approach to the reading, Heard has created a most lively collection of poems. The poem I like best with the first reading (and I would love to hear a classroom perform this piece) is "Forest Orchestra" wherein the poet/researcher Heard teaches us about the different animals we might hear within a forest and assigns a tone to birds (highest), insects (middle), and mammals (lowest). I can only imagine what this might sound like as lively young readers render the voices of a lively forest.

For the classroom teacher or librarian offering smaller units regarding nature and animal life, the possibilities for rehearsed, choral readings abound here. Student groups could be selected to look at poems ahead of time and practice a showcase reading of a piece. Small groups of students could serve as "Greek Chorus" to read the "human lines" of some of the pieces.

Idea: I'd love to see a group of young readers do a showcase reading of Heard's new book. If not this year, next. I can only imagine what a "hoot" this would be.

Heard's "Nature Notes" as epitext for the collection presents a paragraph of nonfiction reading for each of the animal subjects presented within the book.

I cannot always afford all of the great poetry that is released for younger readers. I am indebted, here, to Random Penguin House who sent this title to me to share with social media friends and Room 407.
2 people found this helpful
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Mikah G.
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly suggest!
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2022
Fun book with great pictures!
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Beardhole Hambleton
5.0 out of 5 stars Get this book! Best intro to poetry and super fun to read!!
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2019
Love this book! I originally bought this the library I work for. I checked it out and took it home my 16 month old. My husband and I read it to my son, he loves this book. He likes that both parents are reading to him from one page, and he’s super engaged with the illustrations. Best poetry book for little people!!
2 people found this helpful
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