Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night

Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night

• author:  Joyce Sidman  http://www.joycesidman.com/
• illustrator:  Rick Allen  http://www.beckieprange.com/
• medium:  gouache relief prints
• year of publication:  2010
• city of publication:  Boston, MA
• publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• ISBN:  978-0-547-15228-8
• Newberry Honor Book, 2011

Annotation:  A collection of poetry focused on the natural history of nocturnal creatures and night life in a forest.  Full double page spreads include poetry, gouache relief prints, and factual notes on nocturnal creatures.

Personal Thoughts:   I really appreciated the creative combination of forest poetry and the non-fiction information sidebars.  The poems were each different, some rhyming, some in first person, some third.  Some poems were more realistic/scientific in their representations of mushrooms or baby porcupines. 

Perhaps my taste in poetry differs from Sidman's and I was thrown off by the personifications of the creatures, giving them human emotional ties.  One instance is the Primros Moth, who states, " I have only one true love:/ it is the primrose moth."  Is this the way moths feel?  Or is this how Sidman feels the moth would feel?  Is this book an artistic expression through poetry, or is it more a scientific lesson on nocturnal creatures?  Can it be successfully both?

Still, the poems creatively presented.  Dark Emperor, for instance is written in the physical shape of an owl.  Night - Spider's Advice is sort of a philosophy lesson in work hard and eat your winnings and mistakes.  It's a very zen poem, but does it really teach us about the nature of nocturnal spiders? 

As for the artwork, it's my favorite aspect of the book.  The gouache relief prints are wonderful in their complexity. There's so much going on in each print, full of texture and color.  I think the artwork alone is worth the price of the book.