Independent Reading Level: Grades K-3

Summary: The Burger and the Hot Dog is a book of short silly rhyming poems. All of the poems are about characters who are food. The illustration is cute and perfectly accompanies the poems.

Personal Reaction: The poems are really cute, I was actually laughing out loud when I read them. The pictures are cute too. There are a lot of short poems, so it can be read a little at a time, or all at once.

Extension Ideas: This book as rhyming poems. After reading it students could write their own rhyming poems and create a book of poems written by the class. It would also be cute to use when learning about food or nutrition as a little mental break in between tasks. ( )

This book of poems is all about food. Each poem is about a character or characters that happen to be a type of food. It is humorous and has great drawings that accompany each poem. The book ends with a poem that inspires the reader (or listeners) to write their own poems about food.

I absolutely love this book! It is the cutest poetry I have come across…keeping in mind, though, that I have only just begun reading children’s literature. These poems are so clever and cute, I cannot wait to share it with my daughter and the kindergarten class I am reading to for one of my college courses this semester. The pictures are great, too. I am very glad I bought this book.

This book can be used for discussion and understanding the humor behind the poems. I would read one to the class (smaller children) and discuss with them why it is funny. For example, there is a poem in this book that consists of blueberries looking sad. When asked what is wrong, they say they are just feeling blue. So, with the class I would ask them what blue might mean in this poem, other than their color. Another idea would be to follow along with the end of the book and let them write their own poems about their favorite food or food they like the least. Then the students could share them with the class. ( )