My Haiku Family
by Naomi Beth Wakan
Bevalia Press, 2009
ISBN 978-0-9782868-6-6
$12.00, 52 pp, b/w illustrations, ages 8 – 12
www.naomiwakan.com
My Haiku Family is a small book for children that will encourage the writing of haiku. It is about a young girl who has just learned to write haiku at school and is so fascinated with the idea of expressing a lot in a few words that she decides to tell people all about her family using haiku. Her mother her father, her teen-brother, younger brother and baby sister are all presented, as well as her friends. A couple of young readers are agreed that haiku is an amazingly useful form to tell others about things you are sensing.
“My Haiku Family is a great book for children of all ages. It is amazing how only a few words can tell so much! The characters Naomi creates are not imaginative but real; people you can relate to.” (Michelle Hatfield, Grade 5, Gabriola Elementary School, Gabriola, BC).
“Witty and thought-provoking, My Haiku Family uniquely shows how a good story can be told with few words. Such is the power of poetry. An entertaining read for everyone! gazing at cover what stories to be revealed? gently look within…..” (Emily Carson-Apstein, Grade 7, Central Middle School, Victoria, BC).
This is a perfect book to accompany a haiku unit. Naomi Beth Wakan is already well-known in schools for her haiku book, Haiku – one breath poetry, an ALA selection and a standard introductory book for haiku in schools.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s September 2009 issue.
