Poetry Book Reflection: The Sign of the Seahorse

Base, G. (1992). The sign of the seahorse. New York: Puffin

One of my favorite books as a child to read was Animalia by Graeme Base. Filled with whimsical alliterations and vivid illustrations about animals, I simply could not get enough of it. I can remember checking out several times at the local library as a child, and I now have my own copy in my classroom. It is because of Animalia that I chose to seek out another book by Graeme Base to serve as my poetry book reflection. I came across another colorful, animal filled story with The Sign of the Seahorse. Right away I was intrigued by the illustrations of large, brightly colored seascapes with multiple fish personified to dress and behave in very human-like ways. In this book, we find it to be a narrative poem, it tells the story of a soldier crab and a pearl trout who fall in love, but their love and very existence is threatened by a greedy groper fish who is poisoning their coral reef home. It's up to the hero soldier crab to put a stop to him in order to save his home and true love  As I began reading, I fell right in sync with its slow rhythm. The poem is actually quite long and each line in the stanza is long and filled with descriptive, multisyllabic words that almost paint a picture in your mind as well as the illustrations. The following is a sample stanza that describes the son of the herione pearl trout in the poem I feel most middle school students could find humorous and could even relate:

"Despite the shock of spiky hair and earrings in his snout,
Young Finneus was really just your normal teenage Trout.
The Catfish Gang looked tough and mean- no manners, no respect.
But deep inside they meant no harm and dressed up for effect."

The same AABB rhyme scheme is used throughout the entire poem. The poem itself is actually quite long, and Grame Base himself chose to publish the book into two acts. When using this in the classroom, I could see this story being spread out of the course of several lessons. I think it would be a good idea to start out this book as a whole group read aloud. Then in the subsequent lessons, you might break the students into pairs and give them each a stanza or two to dissect and even illstrate. Some of the big questions you could ask would include: What word or words indicate the rhyme scheme? What is the meaning of this stanza? How does this stanza contribute to development of the story?

I found this to be a longer, but entertaining picture book to read. I think students would really enjoy looking at the illustrations and would enjoy listening to rhythm of this poem.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.5 Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning