Wild in the Streets

A Singer writes poetry! I'm not a huge fan of the poetic despite having published a volume of my own short stories and poems, but you have to love this one which not only teaches about wild animals that have adopted a lifestyle among humans - for better or for worse, but which also teaches a bit about poetry, using several different forms to describe the various animals and discussing those at the end of the book.

As for the animals? Well! The book travels the world from Austin to Australia, Rome to Rio, and it looks at Coyotes in Chicago (although pick most places in the US and you'll find coyotes!), Agoutis in Brazil, Bees in Vancouver, Butterflies in California, Boars in Germany, Hyenas in Ethiopia, tree frogs in Taipei, badgers in burial grounds, and so on. The animals are fascinating: from charming to harming, and trooping to pooping. Just like the the pigeons with the deadly aim, you can't miss with this book, which was fascinating and engrossing. I commend it as a worthy read.

Citing hand-fed hyenas in Harar, Ethiopia, to the climbing rhesus monkeys of New Dehli, India, Marilyn Singer expands the directory of known city-dwellers to include many animals not found in the typical childhood lexicon. Wild in the Streets combines concise poetry and informational text to capture a broad view of animal adaptation in city environments around the globe. Wright’s illustrative paintings detail urban life from the animal’s perspective. Neither picture nor verse shies away from the complexities found wherever humans and animals interact in close quarters. Wild in the Streets resonates with the vast wildlife present in even the most urban of landscapes.

I loved the unique artwork and poetry in this book, and I would gladly add it to my classroom shelf. Wild in the Streets was both inviting and inventive.

This was a very complex book. I could see it being used in schools with younger children.
Due to the information my four year old lost interest after about two or three animals.
What I loved about it was the information. It taught not just about the animals, but about their habitats around the world.
Then to have the additional teaching about different styles of poetry was amazing!
I have children that are big into writing and animals and this will be a great resource to teach various styles.
Great teaching tool!

Across the world there are a whole host of animals living among city streets, mingling with humans and their domestic animals. Some are there by necessity, forced from their natural habitats as humans continue to ruin them. Some are there by choice, migrating great distances to find new pastures. Others know where the food is at. Either way, this collection of poems looks at a number of these city dwelling creatures, how they came to be there and some of the quirks they've adapted to get by in their new homes.

It's easy to forget, as we look around our cities and see pigeons more often than any other creature, that there are so many living so close to us, but in reality a number of people across the globe are adapting to their new furry city dwellers just as much as the furry creatures themselves are having to. Hyenas, for example, are being hand-delivered meat in some countries to stop them preying on the villagers livestock.

You might learn some of this from the poetry within this collection, but there are also really lovely extracts specific to each animal which function as a sort of fact-file with unusual or interesting anecdotes about their behaviour. Each page is also fully illustrated and the illustrations are really colourful and beautiful, completely capturing the buzz of city life.

Various forms of poetry are used to convey these messages from the better known haiku's and free verse to less familiar terza rima and villanelle. These styles are explained in the latter portion of the book, which was a thoughtful addition, and some are really well placed for their chosen animal; it's apparent a great deal of deliberation and care has gone in to the creation of this collection.

Despite this, there is something missing. For me was that I didn't feel the poems really captured the urban jungle - where the fact-file for each animal was interesting, the poems failed to deliver any information at all really about each animal, rather serving as an introduction to the animal over anything else. Ultimately, they just felt a little bit flat to me.

Nevertheless it's genuinely lovely to have a collection of animal based poetry which aims to educate the general public about the creatures around them. I really like what Marilyn Singer has tried to do here and agree with the need to spend more time looking around us and appreciating how close we really are to nature, but I didn't necessarily feel this worked particularly well as a poetry collection; perhaps it would have been better as an informative short story or novel.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved the illustrations and the information about the different forms of poetry towards the end of the book but I found some of the rhymes a bit forced, as though some of the words had been chosen just for the rhyme and not because they were the best fit. Overall I enjoyed it though. I liked the information about the different animals and feel it would be a nice addition to the school library.

Singapore, Austin, Cape Town, Munster, Sydney.

Pipistrelli, coyote, cicogne. Pitoni, farfalle, opossum.

Città popolate da animali che hanno abbandonato la vita selvaggia, adattandosi a quello che l'uomo offre - talvolta amati, talvolta, tollerati, talvolta temuti.

Brevi, suggestivi testi poetici danno voce a queste creature grandi e piccole (per citare il grande James Herriot), accompagnati da illustrazioni chiare, se non eccezionali,e  da brevi paragrafi che illustrano le abitudini e la vita di questi nuovi, curiosi abitanti.

Un libretto porta a fare un insolito giro del mondo, e ad osservare con occhi nuovi (e più attenti) i nostri concittadini pelosi, piumati, squamosi.

What a fun, different way to learn about animals in the city. I loved the movement across the world, the humanity of the animals and relationships to humans and the variety of poem types. I think this book is perfect for the classroom with many teaching opportunities.

Wild in the Streets is a lovely and unique book about animals that have adapted to living in cities across the world told by poems.

There are 20 poems included in the book with each being a different style of poem and on a different animal in a different city. Some of the poems I really enjoyed reading and they flowed well but others I felt were too forced and not ones I enjoyed reading but this didn't impact my enjoyment of the book as there is still plenty of information on each page that is not in poem form. Each page has a section describing the animal, location and a bit about them and how they came to adapt to that environment.

I like that there were a wide range of animals throughout the book. Some were animals I knew about and have seen like bees, butterflies and pigeons but there were also plenty I'd never seen in the wild like deers, hyenas and crabs. As a British person it is quite surprising to see the wide range of animals roaming the streets in other countries and I'm sure children would find it pretty cool that you might see a monkey in India!

The illustrations in the book are beautiful and show each of the animals and their environments perfectly with each page looking very different but fitting well with the cultures and sights from that city. This is a great way for children to see how different different parts of the world are which can be surprising and a culture shock to see that such places actually exist.

Having a glossary in the back is very useful as there are words I didn't even know the meaning of and having these words in bold is handy for a quick look without distracting from reading the book too much. I also love the page on the poetry forms, this really adds an extra element of learning to the book and provides different kind of poems that I hadn't heard of and would be good to encourage children to write their own poems.

This is a really interesting read and a great book to learn lots about different cities and their animals living in the wild. Some of the poems are not my favourite but as a whole it is a very good read and a book children will enjoy even if that is just looking at the pictures!

I loved how unique this book is! Wild in the Streets is a lovely book about animals that have had to adapt to living in cities across the world.

There are 20 poems in the book and each is a different style about a different animal in a different city. It's very diverse, but the issue is the same all around the world. Some of the poems I enjoyed more than others, but that is kind of how poetry works.

On one page you will hear about an particular animal, where it lives and how they have had to adapt to the area, turn the page, and it's a completely different animal and location.

The illustrations in the book are just gorgeous, they really showcase the animals habitats and environments.

I can see how this book can really teach children about this issue with animals, but also about other cultures and parts of the world.

Thank you to Netgally for an advanced copy of this book.

A collection of poems about animals taking over the streets that humankind took from them. They perch on high buildings, they slither in the sewer and they gobble up the gardens - they are the animals. Along with the poems are facts and descriptions of the animals and what country they live in. A beautiful collection that is educational too!
#Netgalley

Wild in the Streets by Marilyn Singer is a beautifully illustrated exploration of the many diverse animals that have found homes in urbanized centres throughout the world. Each animal is introduced with a short poem, and this is then followed by a brief paragraph or two of how this species has adapted to the challenges faced as a result of a constantly changing reality. The poetry is lyrical and beautiful, particularly when read aloud, and I believe it will appeal to the natural curiosity of children, who are always keen to absorb new information about the world around them. There are lots of interesting facts presented here, and adults, as well as children, will surely be surprised and enlightened. The gorgeous illustrations bring each cityscape to life, and I could almost feel myself being transported to the temples of Jaipur to walk among the monkeys.

I would be pleased to share this book with young readers, and will never again travel to these locations without being more aware of the many species that are thriving in our midst.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - words & pictures for this ARC.

Buzzing with city life and animal activity, Singer has brought the soul and spirit of worldwide urban landscapes to the comfort of your home through twenty fascinating and eye-opening poems of wild animals that patrol the streets and live amongst humans.

From pythons navigating Singapore's sewers to monkey's living within historic temples of New Delhi to wild boars travelling freely between East and West Berlin, a new world is discovered between the pages of Wild in the City as we witness wildlife both managing and struggling to adapt and survive within massively populated cities. At times amusing, and others poignant, each animal's story is introduced with a lively and lyrical poem, followed by a brief, informational paragraph that highlights how animals have adapted to the constant challenges faced due to a continuously changing society.

With eight different poetry forms and techniques (haiku, cinquain, sonnet, terza rima, villanelle, triolet, reverso, acrostic, and free verse) used throughout the book, with detailed definitions of these explained at the end, Wild in the Streets makes for a brilliant teaching resource as it does a family book to spark curiosity in children.

Wright's illustrations are the cherry on top of a perfect cake - as each beautifully, captivating spread showcase each animal within their city habitats.

All in all, a unique collection that will have many discovering new neighbours they didn't know they had!

I received this arc from NetGalley for an honest review. This is a book about different animals in the style of poetry. Fun illustrations go with each poem and there's information about each animal within each poem.

This interesting children's book checks a lot of boxes -- it's done in poetry, teaches about all kinds of animals in all kinds of cities around the world, and is a fun read. Singer tells the stories of all different animals that have made their homes among people's, whether we like it or not. It's a very interesting book and it was very interesting reading about how these animals influence life. I learned quite a bit myself and I'm sure my kids will learn even more, not just in terms of facts about animals and cities around the world, but about how to brainstorm on ways to live together. For instance, Singer tells of a city in Ethiopia that was being terrorized by hyenas after they moved into the city following the loss of their habitat. The hyenas were attacking livestock, pets and even people sometimes. The people came up with the idea of having a group of men called "hyena men" whose job it was to feed the hyenas scraps of meat so they would leave the people and animals alone. While they are still wild and dangerous, the plan has worked.

Each two-page spread features a poem on one page and information about the animal and city on the other. The poems are done in all different styles, and Singer tells about the poetry styles at the end. She also provides a brief glossary. The artwork is colorful and accompanies the poetry well.

This would be a great book for unit studies on poetry, animals, country studies or nature study. It is also just an enjoyable read. I liked some of the poems much more than others, but even that is helpful in discussing poetry with kids and helping them learn their own poetic preferences. Kids may choose to try some of the poetic styles profiled and write their own poems after finishing the book.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – words & pictures for Wild In The Streets – 20 Poems of City Animals by Marilyn Singer. This book includes 2o different poems about animals and then information about how and why an animal lives in that city. You can learn about honeybees to river crabs to tree frogs, and of course pigeons. The illustrations of the animals and the cities are great. There is also a section on types of poems and which animal poem uses which type. I was really impressed with the Reverso style which is written in two halves and the second half uses the same lines as the first, but in the opposite order, and only the punctuation and capitalization can be changed. The book ends with a glossary and then sources for more information including books, websites, tv shows, and organizations. This book presents a unique way to learn about animals.

This was an interesting book, with plenty of facts and information about many different city dwelling creatures. This book would make for a great story time read.

Wild in the Streets is a really fun poetry book. It contains both a poem and information on the animals represented and it has some amazing colourful artwork. There's also a glossary and information about the various poetry styles in the back. I think this is a book that could work well in a classroom.