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Awards & Honors

Lion of the Sky: Haiku for All Seasons

Written by Laura Purdie Salas
Illustrated by Mercè López
Publisher: Millbrook Press, 2019
ISBN: 978-1512498097 32 pages

Description

Have you ever looked at a firework and thought it looked like a lion’s mane? There is wonder and magic everywhere in our world, and these riddle-ku celebrate that. 24 riddle-ku capture iconic images and events of the 4 seasons, from baseball to the first day of school to a pair of cozy mittens. Look at the always-changing world around you with a new sense of imagination and curiosity with this gorgeous book!

you gasp as I roar,
my mane exploding, sizzling--
lion of the sky!

Journal Reviews

The eloquent language...the wonderfully evocative, vivid imagery in text and art also make this a welcome addition for poetry classroom units.

—Booklist

Richly rewarding and clever: a visually arresting, inventive treatment of a popular subject.

—Kirkus Reviews

Salas’s innovative language steals the show. What is “firelight from the past” or “a yellow train / CARRYING thoughts from your brain / to the waiting page”? (Answers: stars and a pencil.)

—The Horn Book

This well-crafted work contains versatile possibilities for classrooms and libraries.

—School Library Journal

The book’s meditative tone and resonant images invite readers to embrace new ways of seeing the world around them.

—Publishers Weekly

The concept is inviting, adding a slightly mysterious note to the familiar form of haiku, and Salas skillfully knits her verses together with consonance and wit.

—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Her exuberant haiku-riddles are a celebration of seasons, describing but never naming.

—Minneapolis Star Tribune

…this is a beautiful and thoughtful book. Salas also gives tips on how to create your own riddle-ku. We think it could become addictive…

—UK National Poetry Library

Reader Reactions

Lion of the Sky encourages young reader to look closely at the world around them and think creatively. Get caught up in a copy today!

—Wrapped in Foil

Laura Purdie Salas is one of children’s literature’s most prolific and inventive poets, and her newest book, Lion of the Sky: Haiku for All Seasons, is a sheer delight. If you work with children in any way or find yourself reading to them, be sure to have a copy on hand to celebrate National Poetry Month.

—Kirkus: Getting Ready for April

Lion of the Sky is a delightfully inventive take on a timeless subject.

—Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California

Readers will have fun trying to solve each of the clever “riddle-kus,” combinations of a riddle, haiku, and mask poem in which something nonhuman narrates or speaks, in Laura Purdie Salas’ collection of seasonal poems.

—International Literacy Association

The subjects described are familiar but lifted to wondrous.

—Librarian's Quest

Videos

Playlist

7 Videos

Lion of the Sky Book Trailer

1:23

How and why I wrote Lion of the Sky

2:06

A musical based on Lion of the Sky

4:17

About the illustrations

25:13

A timeline to publication

Writing and editing this book

Reading some of the poems at TLA

Downloadable Activities

Write

Download

Photo Gallery

laura purdie salas signing lion of the sky

This is the best!

Student riddle-ku!

Student riddle-ku

More for Educators or Writers

Fabulous riddle-ku written by 2nd graders at Richmond Elementary School in Vermont, illustrated by kindergartners and a multi-age class. <3
Jules Danielson: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Check out a number of interior pages and admire Mercè López’s gorgeous art!
Margaret Simon: One way to write riddle-kus in the classroom. I love her popsicle stick idea!
My 2014 National Poetry Month posts--here's where riddle-ku began!
Did you write a riddle-ku? Share it publicly here on Laura's Riddle-ku Padlet--must be an educator or other adult to share your own or your students' work, please.

How this Book Got Started

I love riddles, and for National Poetry Month in 2014, I created the riddle-ku form and shared one every day on my blog all month. A few years later, when I was thinking about possible next projects, I was pulled back to this addictive form. I wrote all new riddle-ku about the four seasons. It was one of my most enjoyable books to write ever!