Poetry: Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku

The book I chose for a poetry example was Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin.

This story, told exclusively in the poetry format of haiku, is about a shelter cat's adoption and adjustment to his new home. His new owner gives him the name of Won Ton, but you will have to read the story to learn his real name!

The poems in the book are set up to be the inner monologue of Won Ton. There is no dialogue and he is not really a "talking" cat. The mood of the book is sassy and cute, especially for talking about something as serious pet adoption. The language used is very appropriate for younger children, with illustrations to support vocabulary. You could even read/sign the story to students and have them create their own illustrations to go along with it. These could the be compared with the original book and classmates to demonstrate varying perspectives and interpretations. For older students this would be a non-intimidating way to introduce the concept of haiku.

This book is not very diverse though because the only two humans you see in the book (a hand at the shelter and the boy that adopts Won Ton) are both light skinned (white). This could be a reflection of the backgrounds of both the author and illustrator. Wardlaw is a white woman from Kansas and Yelchin is a white Russian-American man. I do not think the lack of diversity impacts the successfulness of the book. It was published in 2011 and has not recieved any specific awards but has very high ratins online.