Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night

Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night
by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen, 2010. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. (9780547152288).

Author Website: http://www.joycesidman.com/

Illustrator Website: http://www.beckieprange.com/

Media: relief prints, handcolored with gouache

Awards and Honors: Newbery Honor Book, 2011; CCBC Choices, 2011; NCTE Notable Children's Trade Book, 2011; New York Times Bestseller, 2011; ALA Notable Children's Book, 2011; Horn Book Fanfare Selection, 2011; Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2010; Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, 2010; Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book; Boston Globe/Horn Book Award Honor Book; Cybils Poetry Award Finalist; Booklist Editor's Choice; CBC Bank Street Best Book of the Year (starred); Chicago Public Library Best book of the Year; NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book


Annotation: Joyce Sidman's poems explore the bustling, buzzing nocturnal forest and shed light on the woodland creatures who inhabit the night.

Personal Reaction: A beautiful and ingenious blend of non-fiction book and poetry collection. Sidman's poems are haunting and evocative, imbuing the nighttime forest with a beguiling enchantment. These poems are a sensory feast and emphasize the smells, sounds and feelings of the night, accentuating the importance of all the senses for nocturnal animals who don't rely primarily on vision:

"Come feel the cool and shadowed breeze,
come smell your way along the trees,
come touch rough bark and leathered leaves:
Welcome to the night." (p.6)

    Each spread highlights one denizen of the night forest through a poem accompanied by an informational sidebar. Sidman often writes these poems in first person, using the animals or plants as narrator. Her factual sidebars provide the reader with additional information that expounds upon the poems. "Cricket Speaks" is narrated by a cricket eager for the "trilling hour" to come so that he can "sing, sing, till the branches tremble" (p. 20). The sidebar teaches readers that a cricket's trill is called stridulation and female crickets will pick a mate based on the strength of his song. Sidman provides a glossary at the back of the book for words and concepts with which children may be unfamiliar. 

    Allen's illustrations, gouache colored linoleum prints, are beautifully textured and rich with detail. Double spread, full bleed illustrations at the beginning and end of the book act as wordless opening and closing scenes; one depicts the sun setting and an owl- the eponymous "Dark Emperor"- taking wing, the next shows the sun rising and the owl roosting in the tree tops. 

Use of Onomatopoeia: (p. 6) "To all of you who crawl and creep,/ who buzz and chirp and hoot and peep."
(p. 12) "What symphonies of/ squeaks and skitters, darts/ and rustles, swell the vast,/ breathing darkness of your realm?"
(p. 18) "We mew and coo a soft duet." 

Use of simile: (p.22) "Like noses pink/ in midnight air,/ like giants' ears,/ like elfin hair,/ like ancient cities/ built on cliffs,/ the mushrooms come,/ the mushrooms come."

Curriculum Connection: 3rd grade, science- nocturnal/diurnal animals, language arts, poetry