Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night

Written by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Rick Allen

Published in 2010

Grade Level: 5th-8th

Synopsis: Joyce Sidman presents a collection of twelve poems that celebrates the wonder, mystery, and danger of the night and describes the many things that hide in the dark. From the tiniest snails to the mightiest oak tree, her poetry presents a typical night as animals and plants stir, eat, grow, and then fall back to sleep with the setting of the moon.The information is intended for young audiences, featuring little-known facts like “most orb spiders eat their damaged webs” or “young snails add a layer to their shells each night.” Dark Emperor has a very interesting layout because on the left side of the page there is a poem and on the right side is a more in-depth description of the poem. The right side included more details and vocabulary describing how night creatures use their senses to move through their world.


Theme/Skill: Nature, art, and poetry are presented wonderfully in this book by Sidman and Allen.  The poems are about a variety of animals that thrive and come alive in the night.  Teachings could use this book to teach the from the science aspect (habitats/ecosystems, life cycles, species, nocturnal animals, etc), the art aspect (how the images were created and various ways to create art such as drawing, painting, carving, metalwork, etc), or the poetry aspect (rhyming couplets to free verse).  The book lends itself nicely to a variety of topic areas. 

Pre-reading activities: In order to help students become more comfortable and familiar with poetic terms, the teacher will guide students as they generate meaning from one of Joyce Sidman's poems from Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night.  The teacher will choose one poem, perhaps "Welcome to the Night," to read to the students.  After the reading, the students will share how they feel about the poem and what they noticed about it.  The teacher will then put a copy of the poem on the projection screen and give all students a copy of the poem.  With guidance and modeling from the teacher, students will identify poetic elements such as rhyme, rhythm, and imagery.  Students will make notes on their copy of the poem that will act as a reference for the next poems. 

Post-reading activities: This book may interest children from a range of ages, however, the context and teachable material in the book may be more appropriate for students in upper elementary school and middle school.  The teacher could assign a project that would relate to science, art, and poetry (English Language Arts).  Students could choose an animal or plant mentioned in the book and complete a research paper about that topic.  They would also have to create some sort of artistic representation of their research topic whether it be a poster, collage, painting, sculpture, etc.  Students must also write a poem about their subject of choice in which they include facts through elements of poetry.

Assessment: Students will be graded on their research paper, artistic representation, and poem.  The research paper will be graded on spelling/grammar, flow, structure, proper citations, and clarity of writing.  The poem will be graded on how well the student has included the factual information into their writing.  The poem should be informative, yet it should follow some structure whether it be ABBA, prose, multiple haikus, iambic pentameter, etc. 

Reflection: I had to do a project about the Newbery Award and books that have won or been named as honor books.  In my research I came across many books that had won the award over the past ninety years.  All the books that have been chosen have been wonderful additions to children's literature, yet none struck me as unique as Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night.  The setup of the book is what most intrigued me.  As a teacher, I immediately noticed the versatility of the content of the book.  Not only could this book be used in several grade levels, but in a variety of subjects as well.  The ability of the book to connect to art, science, and poetry is my favorite thing about this award winning book.  Students could learn about through this book in different settings and from different points of view and genres.  Science, art, and English teachers need to grab a copy as soon as possible!