Poetry Book Review - Biographical Poem

George Washington’s Teeth

by Deborah Chandra & Madeleine Comora

Brock Cole (Illustrator)

Introduction
Bring in small jars of baby food and share with students, having them taste with plastic spoons. Remind them this is the type of food one has to eat when one has no teeth to chew with! Eeewww! Then read aloud this humorous “tongue-in-cheek” poetic dental history of our first president.

 Excerpt:

Poor George had two teeth in his mouth

The day the votes came in.

The people had a President,

But one afraid to grin.

From battling toothaches while fighting the British, to having rotten teeth removed by his dentists, the Father of Our Country suffered all his life with tooth problems. Yet, contrary to popular belief, he never had a set of wooden teeth. Starting at the age of twenty-four, George Washington lost on average a tooth a year, and by the time he was elected President, he had only two left! In this reverentially funny tale written in verse and based on Washington’s letters, diaries, and other historical records, readers will find out what really happened as they follow the trail of lost teeth to complete “tooflessness.”

Illustrated in watercolors with subtle humor by Brock Cole, the main story is followed by a four-page time line featuring reproduced period portraits of Washington.

Extension
Since you will probably have plenty of baby food left over, have children mix the food with bird seed and spread the resulting paste on bread slices. Place the slices outside where the birds can find them and within sight of a window, if possible, so the children can watch other creatures without teeth eat!

Another good biographical poem choice:

Rough, Tough Charley

by Verla Kay

Charley was rough. Charley was tough. Charley wore fancy gloves.

This picture book biography tells in spare rhyme the story of Charley Parkhurst, one of the most respected stagecoach drivers in the Old West, who lived a life without limits – and who kept a startling secret.

 

Chandra, Deborah & Madeleine Comora. 2003. George Washington’s Teeth. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Kay, Verla. 2007. Rough, Tough Charley. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.