Family Reunion
ISBN 0802852378
Poems for ages 4 and up
Poetry video and
Animated poems
(coming soon)
Click the book cover to purchase online!
Awards and Reviews
Finalist, Best Picture Book, Texas Institute of Letters
Like lazy summer days, the poems quietly roll into one another.
A celebration of families.
--School Library Journal
The poems are easy to read and many are heartwarming. Shine's watercolor paintings ... have an impressionistic quality.
--Booklist
The Story
Through 15 poems, 10-year-old Jodie tells of her extended family coming together for a reunion. Young cousins eat watermelon, catch fireflies and listen, wide-eyed, to their parents' tales of childhood. Different poetic forms--sonnet, free verse, villanelle, ballad, haiku--help expand children's awareness of poetry and encourage their own writing. Award-winning illustrator Andrea Shine weaves collage flowers, leaves, and letters into her luminous watercolors.
Writing Games
- Have you ever been to a family reunion? What was it like? What did you enjoy the most? How might you help with the planning for another?
- Because fireflies are very small, I wanted to write a small poem about them--and chose the 3-line haiku form. What small thing--button, flower, baby, tadpole--might you like to explore in a haiku?
- Want to try publishing your photos, drawings and writings about a recent family reunion? Reunions magazine offers a chance.