Countdown to Summer: A Poem for Every Day of the School Year

Welcome again to guest reviewer and teacher, Erin Lewis-Morris. Erin is a wife, a third grade teacher as well as the the mother of two sons, ages 10 and 13 years old. Reading, and creating fun, learning experiences based on books are her passions. She also enjoys running, baking, the beach and hiking in local mountains.

School supplies have returned to the stores and as you plan your back to school purchases, one new book is perfect for the teacher or student in your life. J. Patrick Lewis is a poet for children, whose books include one of my class’s favorite Blackbeard: The Pirate King. His newest book is Countdown to Summer: a Poem for Every Day of the School Year and is illustrated by Ethan Long.

This book offers just what it says, a poem for the 180 days of school, counting backwards so that on the last day of school you will be reading poem number one. The poems are well balanced between older and younger children, as well as poems about school and not, with many different styles of poetry throughout the book. From food fights to cows in France, the poems are amusing and some will even challenge your thinking. For teachers, the book gives an easy way to incorporate poetry every day of the school year. For parents, if you pack your child’s lunch each day, start a new family tradition and use this book to add poetry to their lunches. Keep it in the car and enjoy a poem on the way to or from school or use the poems as an enjoyable ending to each day. It is worth spending those precious book dollars on Countdown to Summer as it will be read over and over.