PUSH-Pull Morning:

Dog-Powered Poems About Matter and Energy

REVIEWS FOR PUSH-PULL MORNING

Kirkus:

A dog and a child joyously demonstrate gravity, friction, inertia, and other physical phenomena.

With an eye to her STEM-centric theme, Peters outfits her free-verse romps with titular references to physics and parenthetical identifications of relevant topics or principles—so that, for instance, in “Extra Electrons #2 (Electricity),” “My generous dog / gives me electrons / on cool, dry days” by rolling on a carpet until she is “excessively negative” and then bestowing a nose kiss: “Zap!” Likewise, digging claws into a carpet at bathtime and then escaping when soaped and slick demonstrate friction and its lack; zooming down a playground slide shows gravity in action; and if the poet mentions only three stages of matter in “Phase-Crazy Dog” (“My amazing dog / is like a Gas / whenever she chases flies. / She leaps! She jumps! / She’s everywhere at once!”), she does hint that there are others in the expansive set of notes on each poem at the end. In exuberantly drawn sketches, Bloch places a hyperactive canine of indeterminate breed and a dark-skinned child of ambiguous gender with a lighter-skinned Aunty Rosa as caregiver amid stars or jagged lines and other indicators of motion or energy flow. The final entry leaves physics behind for a loving “Paradox”: “My cosmic dog and I / are just / specks / in outer space,” but “we are in the center / of our universe.”

Playfulness and pedagogy intertwined. (Picture-book poetry/science. 7-9)

Booklist:

Gr. 2–4. Peters’ energetic and educational book follows a child and their dog as together they explore unconditional love and the world of science. Each scientific topic, focused on matter and energy, is expressed through a delightful first-person free-verse poem and a lively, vivid illustration from Bloch that demonstrates movement and fluctuation of energy. Teaching everything from friction during doggy bath time to light, sound, and states of matter from canine and human perspectives, the book offers a fresh take on important concepts, dissected in strange and interesting ways and ultimately using the curious dog as a focal point. Peters concludes with "Dog-Powered Notes" that go into further detail on the concepts mentioned in the book, with more of a literal than artistic slant this time. Covering more physical and tangible concepts as well as the metaphysical existence of a human and their dog in the wide universe, Peters and Bloch take on important educational concepts and, in classic scientific fashion, transform them into something wholly original and interesting. — Stephanie Cohen

School Library Journal:

Deft blank verse and energetic, comic line drawings follow the daily doings and fun moments of the dark-skinned narrator, his homely white and gray-spotted dog, and pale-skinned Aunty Rosa, with whom they apparently live. The dozen or so physics ideas embedded in 19 poems include inertia, gravity, relative motion, paradox, and more. “My stinky dog/ remembers friction/ when I tell her it’s time for a bath./ ‘Let’s go,’ I say, but/ she digs her claws into the carpet./ My stinky dog knows that/ Carpet + Claws = Friction.” The pertinent science term is stated below each poem and all the terms are defined briefly with short paragraphs of explanation in the book’s concluding “Dog Powered Notes.” Quick references in this back matter to the work of Sir Isaac Newton and many scientific ideas seem geared to adults and may be useful teaching prompts. VERDICT The dual thrust should interest fans of Peters’s many other books and may invite or challenge pet lovers, as well as readers and teachers of poetry or science. –Margaret Bush

The Story Behind the Story

I am not an expert in physics. I never even took physics in high school, but I always regretted that. During an especially chaotic time of my life – we were moving, and we had to ditch half of our stuff -- I couldn’t concentrate enough to write. So I launched my physics phase. That whole idea makes little sense to me today, but that’s what I did. And here’s how I explained my plan to my ever patient and tolerant daughter who happens to be a scientist:

Me: I'm studying physics now.
Daughter: The physics of what?
Me: Well, regular physics.
Daughter: No formulas?
Me: No formulas.
Daughter: So, Mom, you're reading children's books about physics, right?
Me: Right. 

Aren’t children’s books the best entrée into a difficult subject? I started with books by Vicki Cobb and books with titles like Can You Feel the Force? I see now there’s a board book called Quantum Physics for Babies. If it had existed in 2006, I would have read that, too.

I moved on to adult books for a lay audience, people like me who know nothing about gravity, magnetism, or inertia. Books like Physics for Dummies. But I moved on from those. My favorite author became K. C. Cole, who long wrote a science column for the Los Angeles Times. Her writing was magical and mind-bending, and I read several titles: The Universe and the Teacup, First You Build a Cloud, Mind Over Matter. Her books generated the heat and light I needed to start my own writing project.

My first drafts were apparently fun and intriguing but not accessible enough or tied closely enough to elementary science curriculum to work, according to the editors who rejected them. As a writer, I love my freedom and don’t always like to be told that my round writing doesn’t fit into square boxes. I know a six-year-old who is deep into black holes, and I doubt black holes are a significant part of first grade science curriculum. However, I do have a practical side, so I studied elementary science curriculum, revised many poems, wrote many new ones, and I added a dog. At some point during my long writing process, I went to hear celebrated poet Billy Collins speak in Minneapolis. He was promoting his latest book, Aimless Love, which features a dog on the cover. To paraphrase Billy Collins: If you put a dog on the cover, people will buy the book. 

From start to finish, Push-Pull Morning took about 17 years to write. My clever editor at WordSong, Rebecca Davis, gently pushed and pulled me through the editing of poems and notes, and she was also the force behind the warming up of the dog-child relationship. Billy Collins and gifted illustrator Serge Bloch can share credit for the very cute dog on the cover.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR

Lisa Westberg Peters is the author of 20 children’s books, including Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story, the winner of the Minnesota Book Award; and Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up, which was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. She says, “Scientists and poets look at the same thing and see something different. It’s valuable to hear both interpretations.” Lisa enjoys science, poetry, and friendly dogs at her home in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Serge Bloch has received many awards for his illustrations, including several international prizes and gold medals. He is the illustrator of A Bunch of Punctuation, which was selected as a Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts, and author-illustrator of Reach for the Stars and The Big Adventure of a Little Line, among other books. He also illustrates for magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times and Time magazine. He lives in New York City and Paris.