This book would be good for intermediate students. This book is "Sail Away" written by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Ashley Bryan, published in 2015. This book is a book of a bunch of poems about the sea on the shore of Maine and how magical and mystical the sea can be. I think this shows a good view of culture as the illustrations are very cultural and it has a good representation in it. I would use this in my class to teach about poetry and use this as a good example for kids to learn to write poetry.

Independent Reading Level: Grades 1-2
Awards:
ALA Notable Children's Books
CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children's Book Council)
NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
Kansas NEA Reading Circle List Intermediate Title
Bank Street Best Books of the Year - with Outstanding Merit
NCTE Notable Poetry List

This book is a collection of poems by Langston Hughes with illustrations by Ashley Bryan. The poems are all about aspects of waters including mermaids, seas, rivers, bridges, sailors, and the nature surrounding bodies of water. I found the poems to be very beautiful and descriptive of the nature they were describing. Almost every poem had a rhyme scheme, alternating between lines. The illustrations were vibrant and colorful. The illustrator used the technique of collage to make her illustrations come to life. ( )

Book has descriptive passages that are great for helping children to visualize what is being read to them. Pierce County Library. 1st through 3rd grade

This book was a difficult one for me to read, but that may also be particularly because poetry is not my favorite genre to read. However this book did an excellent job of drawing me in anyway due to the pictures and language. Normally poetry can lose you sometimes in all of the large vocabulary that is hard to understand, but Hughes did an excellent job of eliminating that. Overall this book revolves around the central theme of the “sea” and the life that revolves around the sea.
Some things I liked about this book, is the multi-cultural touch to it. On each page (which represents a new poem) there is different cultures, races, and ethnicities displayed through the pictures. Some are reflective of jobs, while others reflect transportation in relation to the sea. For example it has a relation to the coast of Ireland and it’s people passing by an Indian merchantman.
Another thing I liked about this book was the pictures. Each of which was full of bold, bright colors that made it easy to suck the reader in. Bryan had different ways of displaying the sea in each page through textures, colors, and lines to keep it interesting.
One of my favorite poems in this book was called “F” and it just as the title, it as a simple easy read. The language in this poem is suitable for any age and easy to follow along with. For one of the first times I actually understood what the poem was talking about, which was nice for a change as I am not particularly fond of this genre! ( )