The Llama Who Had No Pajama

Hoberman, M. A., & Fraser, B. (2006). The llama who had no pajama : 100 favorite poems. Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt. ISBN: 0-15-200111-5

Plot Summary:

This collection of 100 poems are all illustrated. There are several instances of more than one poem to a page.   There are different types of poems that

compile this collection, which could be classified as an individual poet compilation.  Fraser’s illustrations are done in bright colors using watercolor and are

mostly small and include details.

Analysis:

This book of poems can be a great introduction to poems for young readers. The varying level of reading complexity in the different poems allows to have

a large range of students to benefit from this collection, as they are not overwhelming for early readers.  The range of subjects from animals, people,

childhood fun, and other concepts like time, opposites, and up comparisons, would make this a great addition to an elementary campus/classroom library.

One thing that I noticed was how when there are more than one poem on a page, the poems relate to each other, and sometimes even share the same illustration,

such as in “Let’s Dress Up” pg 30 & “Here We Go” pg 31.  Having mentor texts is great during instruction & this collection would be a great one as

Hoberman does a great job of including different poem types.

 

Review Excerpts:

Review on BOOKLIST (April 15, 1998) “Animals and bugs, as well as a variety of ordinary childhood experiences, are featured in poetry that is

sometimes funny, and often playful in its rhythm and repetition of sounds. Fraser's illustrations add a cheery, appealing look to the book without

overwhelming the text.”

Connections:

Text-to-Text Connection- The large range of topics allow readers to make text-to-text connections within the collection. Students could be asked to find 2 poems and have them create a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the poems they chose.  
Writing Connection- This would be a great book to use as a mentor text when  creating a class/grade level poetry collection as the author included a large variety of poem types