POETIC FORM
ISBN:
978-1-4403-1286-1
Ryan Mecum’s Dawn
of Zombie Haiku is the story of a zombie apocalypse as told from the view
point of a ten year old girl named Dawn. As the zombie apocalypse approaches,
Dawn, her father and others retreat to the Statue of Liberty where they feel
they will be safe from the zombie invasion. What follows is the tale of their
ruin told strictly in haiku form. First, as they fight the zombies and then from
the standpoint of the undead.
Appropriate for junior high students and up, readers
who enjoy stories about zombies and other supernatural beings will enjoy
reading about zombies eating eyeballs, brains and chewing on the bones of their
victims. The figurative language in this book adds to the appeal it will have
to its readers. Similes and metaphors such as “A trail of zombies float like
undead lily pads” and “Liberty Island is a plate we have licked clean” assists
the reader in getting a mental image of what the poet is writing about. This
book will have the reader’s imagination in full gear.
A standout feature of this book is that the poet has
also taken words from other famous poets and turned them into haikus. For
example on page 89 of the book, Mecum writes
Right beside the sea
I ate my Annabel Lee.
Quoth the raven, “Brains.”
This haiku combines words from the two poems Annabel Lee and The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe. Mecum also uses poems by Emily
Dickinson, William Shakespeare and others in this same manner.
The haikus are organized chronologically to tell the
story of the apocalypse as it is happening. It does include page numbers but does
not have a table of contents or any other access features. The pictures in the
book are a combination of photos from istockphoto.com and small illustrations
which were supplied by the Curio Press book design company. The illustrations
are small, simple and look like the drawings that a young girl would make. This
book follows the theme of the other books written by this poet entitled Zombie Haiku, Vampire Haiku and Werewolf
Haiku.
SPOTLIGHT POEM
This book is written totally in haiku so there are
many of them to choose from. Instead of one, I would share several such as the
three written below.
Excerpts from Dawn
of Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum
A man punches
one
whose face is
like a pumpkin.
A rotten pumpkin
(p 29).
A trail of
zombies
float like
undead lily pads
out into the sea
(p 58).
Liberty Island
is a plate we
have licked clean
and we need more
plates (p 88).
After discussing with the class about how the use of
figurative language enhances writing, I would use these haikus as examples containing
similes and metaphors. I would then assign the students a writing activity
where they would write and illustrate their own haiku in which they would be
required to include a simile or metaphor.
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