POETIC FORM

ORANGUTANKA: A STORY IN POEMS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Engle, Margarita. 2015. Orangutanka: A Story in Poems. Ill. by Renée Kurilla. New York: Henry Holt and Company.  ISBN 9780605860810.

SUMMARY

Orangutanka follows an orangutan family during a typical day in the rainforest.  Baby orangutan and big sister orangutan wake mama. Through a series of 17 poems written in contemporary tanka form, readers follow big sister as she takes them on a wild ride: swinging on vines, feasting on fruits, exploring the forest floor, and performing an orangutan dance in the rain while the rest of the family sleeps. Sister orangutan wishes for shelter from the rain and longs to be back in the treetops. Grandma orangutan comes to her rescue as children dance like orangutans on the forest floor.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Poet

Margarita Engle is a prolific children’s author and famous poet. She was awarded the Newbery Honor for The Surrender Tree, becoming the first Latina to receive this honor, and the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award for Enchanted Air. Engle is also the recipient of three Pura Belpré Awards. She is best known for her verse novels.

Layout

All 17 poems in this verse novel are arranged to tell an overall story.  They follow an orangutan family, particularly big sister orangutan, and invite readers into a day in the life of orangutans.  Each poem follows the modern tanka form, which Engle explains as having a “mostly…loose line length structure rather than adhering to strict syllable counts.” In “A Note About Tanka Poems” at the beginning of the book, Engle provides a thorough explanation of the traditional tanka form and what it entails.  True to the form, the poems in this book do not have titles and have minimal punctuation.  Some poems take on a concrete poem form to better illustrate the experience to readers, such as the fourth poem that describes big sister as she “leaps and clings, swings/on vines,” the lines themselves curved to mimic the swinging motion.  Each page in the book is accompanied by beautiful illustrations. Renée Kurilla’s colorful and detailed illustrations complement the poems’ mood, helping narrate the overall story and adding depth to the characters, especially big sister orangutan. 

Poetic Elements

Engle nicely strikes a balance between creating both concrete and abstract meaning in her Orangutanka poems. While the poems serve to narrate a concrete story, a metaphorical feel lies behind them, allowing readers to interpret Engle’s complexity of ideas.  Due to the nature of the tanka form, these poems have a steady rhythm that is not tracked by syllables or meters but by line length. This gives the story a calm, carefree feel that matches the storyline. Engle also nicely uses sound devices such as alliteration and onomatopoeia. Readers will enjoy the “cha-cha-cha” sounds and the “flip-flop” descriptions, which further add to the sensory imagery that already appears throughout.  Readers will enjoy this light-hearted story.

Appeal

Engle’s modern take on a traditional form will surely capture readers’ attention. Thanks to the brevity of the poems and the simple yet sensory language, young readers will easily follow along. Young children will enjoy the steady rhythm behind each line and, even more, will enjoy reading about orangutans.  This book will also greatly inspire readers to learn more about orangutans, as they will want to hear more about how they live. Engle provides additional orangutan facts as well as sources for further research to encourage readers to continue learning about these creatures. In a final poem, Engle also presents “An Orangutan Activity” in which she invites children to “imagine/rainforest music” and perform a “happy orangutan” dance.

Overall Quality

Each poem in this book reflects Engle’s careful craftsmanship.  As the story follows a narrative plot, each poem helps develop that plot in its own unique way.  Engle clearly put a lot of thought behind the construction of each poem, meticulously arranging the lines by length in a way that helps the words flow seamlessly. Readers will appreciate the poems whether as a whole storyline or as individual poems that serve as snapshots of the lives of orangutans.

SPOTLIGHT POEM AND ACTIVITIES

“An Orangudance Activity” by Margarita Engle

imagine

rain forest music—

insects

buzz, zoom, and hum

while green leaves swish

twigs rattle

branches drum, and thunder booms—

can YOU dance

like a happy orangutan

with energetic arms and legs?

This concluding poem would be perfect as either an introductory or post-reading activity. It involves readers by directly addressing them, bringing them into the story by making them imagine the sounds of the rain forest and encouraging them to dance like orangutans. This poem is a great example of Engle’s impressive sensory details and rhythm that students will enjoy.

To introduce this poem, I would play an audio clip of sounds of the rain forest. As we listen to the audio clip, I would ask students if they could identify what some of those sounds are. I would also ask them to describe how they feel upon hearing these sounds. Afterwards, I would tell them to close their eyes as I read the poem aloud, telling them to sway and dance to rhythm of the poem. As a follow-up activity, I would have students discuss how they imagine a happy orangutan dances, and w would write a class poem describing this orangutan dance.