Genre 3 Book 1 - Poetry

1. Bibliography
Lewis, J. Patrick. 2004. SCIENTRICKERY - RIDDLES IN SCIENCE. New York: Silver Whistle.
Illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
ISBN 78015216686

2. Plot Summary
In this book, J. Patrick Lewis composes a collection of poems that in essence are riddles for readers to guess. The humor used adds an undeniable attraction to readers who are not necessarily interested in science as well as those that are intrigued by the subject. In “The Old Switcheroo”, Lewis playfully describes how we need electricity for lights. Other subjects covered are stars in “Revealing Ceiling” and dinosaurs in “T-Bones”. The catchy titles, colorful pictures, and riddles create a wonderful book of poetry for young readers.

3. Critical Analysis
The catchy titles and illustrations that Lewis uses heighten the excitement of this book. Each poem is written on a “sheet” of notebook paper surrounded by colorful illustrations that incorporate people and animals with exaggerated expressions. In “I’m Lost Without You” the page expose depicts a young girl with a lost look on her face. The background looks like a map without any actual directions, and the point Lewis is making is that she would not be lost had she brought a map with her.

The use of humor and integration of riddles is a definite attribute of this book. The clues to the riddles are in the illustrations and in the poem. Though the answers are listed upside down at the bottom of each poem, one really wants to guess the right answer before looking. It is almost a game. Lewis’ poem versus do rhyme which is what many young readers look for in poetry. However, he does an excellent job of varying the length of the poems as well as which versus rhyme. While “It’s the Pits!” is only a six line poem with every two lines rhyming, “Go, Moon, Glow!” is a poem with 3 versus containing four lines each with the second and fourth lines rhyming. Reading Lewis’ poems with children is a fun and interesting way to learn some science facts.

4. Review Excerpt(s)
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “The jokes are lively, entertaining, and moderately challenging, with answers provided on the bottoms of the pages.”
BOOKLIST: “Remkiewicz adds energetic art with zippy colors and accessible wit.”

5. Connections
While SCIENTRICKERY does not introduce new topics, it does add the element of humor to concepts that need to be reinforced. It would be a great warm-up each morning. Using a smart board or something similar and display a page up on a large screen (have the answer covered), and have the students read the poem and try to guess the answer. As an extension, give students a science term and have them create their own poem.
Other books of poems for students:
ARITHME-TICKLE- AN EVEN NUMBER OF ODD RIDDLGE RHYMES by J. Patrick Lewis. For this book, Lewis was called a “wordplay master” by School Library Journal.