Tap Dancing on the Roof

From Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park, a unique poetry collection with Korean roots. A "sijo", a traditinal Korean verse form, has a fixed number of stressed syllables and a humorous or ironic twist at the end. Like haiku, sijo are brief and accessible, and the witty last line winds up each poem with a surprise. The verses in this book illuminate funny, unexpected, amazing aspects of the everyday-of breakfast, thunder and lightning, houseplants, tennis, freshly laundered socks. Carefully crafted and deceptively simple, Linda Sue Park's sijo are a pleasure to read and an irrestible invitation to experiment with an unfamiliar poetic form. Istvan Banyai's irrepressibly giddy and sophisticated illustrations add a one-of-a-kind luster to a book that is truly a gem. "Introduction, author's note, bibliography, Some Tips for Writing Your Own Sijo."


Genre: Children's Fiction