Orangutanka

Reviewed by: Patti Francis - Pownal Elementary School, Pownal, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 6, 2016

Review

Written in a series of tanka poems*, this book creatively tells the story of an orangutan family living in a zoo as seen by the zoo's visitors. Though the poems are short and simple, the author does a beautiful job conveying emotion, smells, taste, feeling and sound as the orangutan family plays in the trees, eats fruit and then takes a nap. Sister orangutan alone is not sleepy. Engle's words and Kurilla's illustrations work creatively together to show sister's mischievous movements as she swings down from the trees and dances her way over the to noisy human onlookers. The illustrations, created in pencil and ink, are bright, colorful and effortlessly flow across the page in several double-page spreads. Kurilla cleverly incorporates the movement of Engle's words into her illustrations. A bonus for any poetry collection, this book is also a wonderful mentor text for elementary teachers working with their students on different forms of poetry.

Includes a note about traditional tanka poems at the beginning of the book. Also includes facts about orangutans at the back as well as a brief list of both book and online resources.

*Tanka poems originate in Japan. Traditionally they consist of five lines with a syllable count of 5,7,5,7,7.

Overall Book Score: very good