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H A I K U S
B Y L I S A M . B O L T S I M O N S
I L L U S T R A T E D B Y K A T H L E E N P E T E L I N S E K
About the Author
Published by The Child’s World®
1980 Lookout Drive • Mankato, MN 56003-1705 Lisa M. Bolt Simons is a writer
800-599-READ • www.childsworld.com and a teacher. She has published
more than ten books for children.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
She has also been awarded grants
The Child’s World®: Mary Berendes, Publishing Director
and awards for her writing. Besides
Red Line Editorial: Editorial direction
writing, teaching has been her
The Design Lab: Design and production
passion for 20 years. She lives in
Photographs ©: Thinkstock, 6; Vitaly Ilyasov/Shutterstock Minnesota with her husband and
Images, 13; Shutterstock Images, 19 boy/girl twin teenagers. Her Web site
www.lisamboltsimons.com
is .
Copyright © 2015 by The Child’s World®
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
About the Illustrator
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means
Kathleen Petelinsek is a graphic
without written permission from the publisher.
designer and illustrator. She has been
ISBN 9781631436956 designing and illustrating books for
LCCN 2014945307 children for 20 years. She lives in
Minnesota with her husband, two
Printed in the United States of America
dogs, a cat, and three fancy chickens.
Mankato, MN
November, 2014
PA02240
H A I K U S
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
C H A P T E R O N E
What Is a Poem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
C H A P T E R T W O
Nature and Seasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
C H A P T E R T H R E E
Comparisons and Senses . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Tips for Young Poets ...............22
Glossary ...........................23
To Learn More .....................24
Index ..............................24
H A I K U S
P T E R
A O
H
N
C 1 E
What Is a Poem?
Have you ever said a nursery rhyme
before? Or memorized the words to a song?
Did you know you were memorizing a
poem? Poems are a special kind of writing.
People use poetry to share stories and ideas.
We also use poetry to describe the world.
Poems help us remember things. People use
poems to share stories and history.
Several things make poems different
than other writing. Poems often use
lines instead of sentences. A line can be
as short as one word. It is not always a
complete thought.
4
e
l t
b h
a i
r
l
l d
y second
s s
y
t syllable ll
s
a
r
i b
f l
e
All poems have rhythm. This is the
way the words sound together. All words
are made up of syllables. These are the
different sounds that make up a word. For
po-em
example, has two parts. These parts
po-e-try
are syllables. The word has three
syllables. Part of a poem’s rhythm comes
from the way its syllables sound together.
5
Beat is a part of rhythm. Beat is created with
FLOW-er
stressed and unstressed syllables. has
a-WAKE
stress on the first syllable. The word
has stress on the second syllable. In poetry the
pattern of these stresses is called meter.
Clap words as you say them to check how many syllables
they have. Hip-po-pot-a-mus has five syllables!
6
s
u
m
-
a
-
T
O
P
-
o
hip - p
e r
-
W
O
L
F
Poets also create rhythm by changing line
length. They can repeat words. Sometimes they add
extra pauses. Rhythm can make poetry sound like
music. Some poems are even turned into songs.
Many poems rhyme. But they don’t have to!
There are many different kinds of poems. You can
write a poem about anything you want.
7
W H AT I S A H A I K U ?
Haikus are short poems that have a certain
pattern of syllables. The first haikus were
written in Japan. In Japanese, the word
haiku
means “beginning verse.”
Haikus have a few important rules.
A haiku is a tercet. This means it has
three lines. The most well-known thing
about haikus is the number of syllables.
The first line in a haiku has five syllables.
The second line has seven syllables. The
third line has five again. Haikus have 17
syllables total.
A haiku’s subject is also very
important. Most haikus are about nature.
Haikus often describe two things that are
different from each other, such as a maple
tree and a bonfire. These different things
8
