If It Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems
by Brian P. Cleary
illustrated by Andy Rowland
Millbrook Press 1/1/2014
978-1-4677-4412-6
Age 7 to 10 32 page
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“What is a haiku? It sounds like a sneeze. And isn’t a lantern a light source? Actually, they are two types of ancient Japanese poetry. Award-winning author Brian P. Cleary explains how each form works—and shows how these little poems can contain big surprises! If It Rains Pancakes is packed with poems to make you chuckle, puzzle, and ponder. And when you’ve finished reading, you can try your hand at writing your own haiku and lanterns!
“If it rains pancakes,
I’ll need no umbrella, just
syrup, fork, and plate.”
Opening
“Haiku is a short, Japanese form of poetry that has been around for more than four hundred years. That’s much longer than your teacher or your parents have been alive.”
Review
I like books that, even though written for a kid, teaches me something. I know a Haiku has 7 syllables in the first line, then 5 in the next, finishing with 7 in the third and final line. Everyone knows that, right? But, did you know that in Japan syllables are not what matters. Maybe they don’t even have syllables. In Japan, they count sounds and each Haiku has 17 sounds known as on (pronounced a faster than normal “one”). That I did not know, until I read If It Rains Pancakes. Traditionally, haikus are about nature, but Mr. Cleary takes liberties with this and writes Haikus on all sorts of kid-subjects: pets, pizza, and pancakes. I also love something else Mr. Cleary wrote,
“Poetry’s not a spectator sport, so try your hand at this ancient form, and be sure to have fun!”
I love fun as much as I love humor, so here is my haiku.
RAIN
It may rain kittens and pups.
It may rain water.
To be safe, watch where you step.
**I now challenge you to follow Mr. Cleary’s advice and write a haiku or a lantern (see below) in the comment section. I know there are lots of writers, poets, and aspiring writers and poets reading this blog. NOW is the time to show what you have!
Returning to the review: If you don’t like my haiku, Mr. Cleary wrote 20 for you in If It Rains Pancakes. Here are some of the titles, though many will not help you with the subject of the poem. Color Me Confused, City of Brotherly Lunch, The Mind and Yummy. There is one that is helpful to all of us not as poetically inclined as Mr. Cleary is. Kids will want to remember this one for when school resumes—much too soon.
HAIKU
When you’ve written one
without enough syllables,
you add words. Football.
The other half of If It Rains Pancakes is about Lanterns. This is all new to me. A lantern, or lanturne, is also Japanese. This poem has five lines. Line 1 is a 1-syllable noun and the subject of the poem. Line 2 “sheds light” (describes) the subject in two syllables. Line 3 has three syllables, line 4 has four, and line 5 has a 1-syllable word. The poem will look roughly like a lantern, hence the name. Mr. Cleary wrote 15 lanterns, all very cute, most very funny. Since I am a pet person and would have written a lantern about pets, and could not write one better than Mr. Cleary, the example I will share—by Mr. Cleary—is about a pet I know well.
Cat:
“Feed me.”
“Pet me too.”
“Feed me. Pet me.”
“Now.”
The illustrations, which play out the poems, are colorful and as crazy as the poem it represents. If the illustrations do not amuse you, I am lost for words. I love the images that perfectly match each poem. At the end of If It Rains Pancakes is a list of reference books to learn more about haikus and lanterns, and other poems, including one of the author’s, entitled “Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry
If It Rains Pancakes is a wonderful little book that packs a punch. Teachers would do well to have this on hand when teaching haikus or other Japanese poetry like lanterns. Kids will have fun learning about haikus and lanterns when reading these 35 mostly hilarious poems. Mr. Cleary is a master at teaching kids about writing of every type. If It Rains Pancakes upholds his genius.
IF IT RAINS PANCAKES: HAIKU AND LANTERN POEMS. Text copyright © 2014 by Brian P. Cleary. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Andy Rowland. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Millbrook Press, Minneapolis, MN.
Buy a copy of If It Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems at Amazon
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Learn more about If It Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems HERE.
Meet the author, Brian P. Cleary at his website: http://www.brianpcleary.com/
Meet the illustrator, Andy Rowland, at his website: http://andrewrowlandillustration.blogspot.com/
Find more books at the Millbrook Press website:
Millbrook Press is a division of Lerner Publishing Group: https://www.lernerbooks.com/
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Bookmarks (4) are available free HERE.
Also by Brian P. Cleary in 2014
Feet and Puppies, Thieves and Guppies: What Are Irregular Plurals?
Madam and Nun and 1001: What Is a Palindrome?
Ode to a Commode: Concrete Poems
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A Bat Cannot Bat, a Stair Cannot Stare: More About Homonyms and Homophones
-ful and -less, -er and -ness: What Is a Suffix?
Review HERE
Also by Andy Rowland in 2014
Ode to a Commode: Concrete Poems
The Elves and the Shoemaker (November, 2014)
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**PLEASE DON’T FORGET — SHOW YOUR STUFF! WRITE A HAIKU OR A LANTERN OR REALLY BLOSSOM AND WRITE BOTH IN THE COMMENTS! It is as easy as RAIN.
Filed under: 6 Stars TOP BOOK, Children's Books, Favorites, Library Donated Books, NonFiction, Poetry, Top 10 of 2014 Tagged: Andy Rowland, Brian P. Cleary, children's book reviews, haiku, Japanese poetry, lantern, Lerner Publishing Group, Millbrook Press, poetry
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The standard of the animation looks poor – like the sort of thing they were churning out about five-ten years ago – was this done on the cheap?
This animated trailer is already better than the live action film.
There is no superhero fatigue. The average audience member just don’t wanna go see a bad movie featuring a character they don’t know. The final Batman movie will prove this.
I’m sure my nephew will be all over that series. Looks great for the kids, which is the intended audience.
Although I’m really surprised the Red Lanterns are going to be part of this? Are they going to vomit blood like in the comics? I don’t understand why they would pick some of the most violent and disgusting characters in the DCU to include in a kids show.
I hope Cartoon Network treats this better than they did the Justice League cartoon. They kept ordering seasons of that and then running it so sporadically you never knew it was on.
heck, they’re still doing that with the Brave and the Bold, which is a real shame.
They should have released the cartoon first and maybe then the movie could have made more sense to people. Still be a bad movie…but might make it a little easier to swallow
I wouldn’t be too surprised if CN runs this show inconsistently during inconvenient time slots. This seems to be their usual M.O. for DC animated fare for several years now.
However you can buy, for a quite reasonable price, entire seasons of DCU shows, on iTunes. I’ve got season passes to Brave & Bold and Young Jusitce right now, and also the new season of Doctor Who.
No commercials, superb definition, and downloaded by iTunes when they’re available. Bliss!
Green Lantern: The Animated Series … Why can’t they just call it “Green Lantern”?
“The average audience member just don’t wanna go see a bad movie featuring a character they don’t know.”
This doesn’t make any sense, and never did. If people don’t want to see a movie featuring characters they never heard of, how did STAR WARS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK become mega-hits? Obviously, someone saw the trailers and thought they looked good.
Does anyone really need to KNOW Green Lantern prior to seeing a movie? If the trailer looks interesting, people will see it. If it doesn’t, they won’t.
“how did STAR WARS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK become mega-hits? Obviously, someone saw the trailers and thought they looked good.”
Actually, this is untrue. STAR WARS became a cultural touchstone over the course of an entire year or so from audience word-of-mouth. RAIDERS became an overnight hit because people were already aware of the already earned pedigrees of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who seemed to be promising an homage to old fashioned movie serials. I never saw the trailer for RAIDERS, and yet I was first in line at my local cinema on opening day.
This trailer looks like it’s for a bad video game.
There is something about this CGI animation that turns me away. If it’s not Pixar, it just looks cold and lifeless with no soul to it like that terrible MTV Spider-Man cartoon. Kids may like it but clunky animation like this looks like the newer CGI Strawberry Shortcake and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse stuff and is stiff. I’d rather this be 2D instead.
Rich, the key word is bad movie. I haven’t seen it yet, and I do intend to, but the word of mouth is bad and the trailers didn’t do it for a lot of people. You can have a well-marketed and well-made movie without a big name and people will go (Iron Man) or a well-marketed and mediocrely made movie with a big name and people will go, but mediocrely made without a big name? This is not a recipe for success.
Indiana Jones and the original Star Wars had the singular advantage of being mind-numbingly awesome.
“Actually, this is untrue. STAR WARS became a cultural touchstone over the course of an entire year or so from audience word-of-mouth.”
Sorry to go off topic, but this is false. Star Wars is pretty well known for being an instant hit. According to wikipedia:
“It immediately broke box-office records, effectively becoming one of the first blockbuster films, and Fox accelerated plans to broaden its release. Lucas spent most of the day in a sound studio in Los Angeles. When he went out for lunch with his then-wife Marcia, they encountered a long queue of people along the sidewalks leading to Mann’s Chinese Theatre, waiting to see Star Wars. Even technical crew members, such as model makers, were asked for autographs, and cast members became instant household names.”
I can’t speak for Green Lantern as I haven’t seen it, but I don’t think audiences have a problem with new characters. It’s just a higher risk for the studio.
As someone who saw Star Wars in the movie theater as a kid….yes it was absolutely a SENSATION right from the git go. My family was talking about seeing it weeks ahead of time and were counting the minutes until we could go. And the toys and phenomenon launched IMEDIATELY.
Same thing with RAIDERS. My grandfather couldn’t wait to see it.
Bear in mind, at this time there was little cable of home video, so people had fewer choices. If something new and interesting opened at the theater and got good reviews, they would go see it. It isn’t like now where “pre-awareness” is what you need to cut through the chatter.
Heck when I was thirteen- I hitchhiked 10 miles on Rt 287 from my house to a theater in Morristown to see Star Wars on opening weekend- all because my stepdad refused to drive me there unless I got a haircut.
I sure showed him who was boss.
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Coat
Smells like Star Wars: The Clone Wars teen spirit to me.
You know both shows are just begging to be paired up back to back.
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Coat