Ask your students: What was the last book they read that they related to? How did it feel? Can they understand the feeling this poem demonstrates?
LISSY MARLIN
Surprise
This poem celebrates the joy we feel when we find that perfect book.
By Beverly McLoughland
From the September 2018 Issue
Learning Objective: In this descriptive, rhyming poem, students will explore the main idea about the thrill of reading books that connect to the reader’s life experiences.
Audio
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Activities
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Skills Activities
Answer Key
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Can't-Miss Teaching Extras
Poetry in the Classroom
Lissy Marlin
The illustrator of the poem, Lissy Marlin, was born and raised in the Dominican Republic, and studied illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. If any of your students have read the Goldie Blox series, they’ll recognize her work from the covers! To see more of Lissy’s work, go to her site.
Curious...
Here’s a fun story about how this poem came to us: Editor Kara Corridan remembered her children loving a book of poems called Good Books, Good Times. There was one poem in particular that really spoke to them. Kara unearthed the book, found the poem, and discovered it was written by Beverly McLoughland, the same wonderful poet who has written several poems for Storyworks Jr. and Storyworks. Talk about a surprise!
Related Content
For more poems from Beverly, check out a book of animal poems she wrote!
More About the Article
Key Skills
main idea, inference, rhyme, expressing an opinion
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
1. PREPARING TO READ
Set a Purpose for Reading (25 minutes)
Begin by reading the Main Idea bubble for the class. Point out that some poems have a main or important idea that tells what the poem is about. Ask students to look for the main idea as they read the poem.
Direct students to the illustration and the title of the poem. Ask: What is happening in the picture? What do you think the “Surprise” in this poem might be?
2. READING AND DISCUSSING
Read the poem for the class or play our audio version.
Project or distribute the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking questions and discuss them as a class while students refer to the poem in their magazines.
Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions (15 minutes)
- Why did the poet title this poem “Surprise”? (main idea) A surprise is something you didn’t expect. Finding a library book that reminds you of your own life is like getting a wonderful surprise.
- What is the “hidden you” that readers can find inside a book? (inference) The “hidden you” is a reader’s personal feelings and thoughts that other people might not know about.
- What words in this poem rhyme? (rhyme) shelf, yourself; you, knew
- How does reading this poem make you feel? (expressing an opinion) Answers may vary. Students may say that the poem makes them feel excited about reading new books or happy thinking about a book that is special to them.
3. SKILL BUILDING
Call on a volunteer to read the Think and Write box at the bottom of the page
Distribute our Write Your Own Poem activity. Remind students to include details that explain how the book connects to their own lives. Students can read their poems in small groups.
Text-to-Speech