Button Up! Wrinkled Rhymes (Poetry)

Schertle, Alice. Button Up!: Wrinkled Rhymes Ill. by Petra Mathers. New York: Harcourt Children’s Books, 2009.

Plot Summary
Button Up! Wrinkled Rhymes is a collection of poetry written from the perspective of items of clothing. Well loved childhood favorites, such as the soccer jersey and galoshes each get their own poem, as well as some still familiar, but less enjoyed items like the wool sweater. Colorful and often humorous watercolors illustrate each poem, showing animals (and human) donning their clothing with pride. The poems are upbeat and display strong rhythm, making them perfect for reading aloud to young children.

Critical Analysis
The book provides upbeat, fast paced poetry well suited to the theme of this collection. The personification of clothing items provides a unique and fresh prospective for writing poetry aimed at younger audiences. Pre-kinder and kindergarten students will find the topics relevant and a comfortable place to begin learning poetry.

The poems demonstrate clear, but occasionally forced rhymes. For example, in "Hand-me-down Sweatshirt" the rhyme becomes confusing and feels unnatural when the sweatshirt explains it “was passed down to may/ she passed me to Karly/ I’m Andrew’s today.” 

Despite some weaknesses, the collection is interesting and fun. In "Clyde’s Costume", Schertle uses a combination of alliteration, rhythm, and easy rhyme that will engage young listeners. Other poems, such as "Jennifer’s Shoes" provides strong tactile and visual information that captivate the senses. Readers will involuntarily wiggle their toes when they hear “toes are curled/the softness of carpet/ the steepness of stair/the curve of the chair”. The "Song of Harvey’s Galoshes" will be another favorite when read aloud with its repetition and sing-song use of onomatopoeia, “Squash-galosh, squash-galosh, through the slime” that will have children eagerly chiming in.

Some of the poems will create an immediate emotional connection with the reader, perfectly expressing a point of view and sentiment. Listeners will connect with "Rick’s Wool Sweater" when he admits guilty pleasure, “Still.../To tell the truth it tickles me/To be a little prickly.” The poems are meant to entertain and do so wonderfully.

The illustrator has created bright, cheerful, and quirky images of joyful animals with her watercolors. There is a great sense of textural quality to the paintings that will allow readers to study the pictures carefully. Certain images, such as the illustration for The "Song of Harvey’s Galoshes" provide a strong sense of movement which serves to provide a carefree joy to the work.

Awards and Review Excerpts
Booklist- “begs to be read aloud”
Children’s Literature- “whimsical watercolor illustrations are engaging”
School Library Journal- “small, snappy verses”

Connections
*Have students create poems from the perspectives of familiar objects (such as the crayon) in the classroom and create a class book.
*Teach rhyme to younger students using poems with strong rhymes, such as “Bill’s Blue Jacket” and “Hand-me-down Sweatshirt”.
*Use the familiar clothing items in the poems to work on visualization. Read a poem aloud to students without sharing the illustrator’s image. Have students create and share their own illustrations.
*Follow up Button Up! with The Man Who Wore All His Clothes as a read aloud chapter book with non readers or as an independent text for readers.

Ahlberg, Allan. The Man Who Wore All His Clothes. Ill. Katherine McEwen. London: Walker Childrens Paperbacks, 2002. ISBN 0744589959