Dirt on My Shirt

Dirt on My Shirt
Written by: Jeff Foxworthy
Illustrated by: Steve Bjorkman
Harper Collins publishers, 2008
25 pages
 Poetry

            This book is a collection of poems that are about a neighborhood filled with friends, family, fun, and more.  Comedian Jeff Foxworthy wrote these books to capture the essence of being a child.  In these poems you'll meet uninvited friends, Tommy Huff, Cousin Boris, Aunt Foo Foo, and even grandma. Many of the poems can relate to children on their everyday lives.  Children are bound to love the humorous and affectionate poems in Dirt on My Shirt!

            Bjorkman first starts off his illustrations using only a pencil. Then when he is satisfied with the picture he outlines it and adds color by painting.  He ends each picture by adding a little watercolor to the background.  Bjorkman likes to have the illustrations drawn around the text to incorporate what the child should be imagining as the poem is read.

            Dirt on My Shirt is a great book to use to demonstrate rhyming words and medial sounds in words.  While reading the book you can point out the words that rhyme and also give examples for the students to understand how middle sounds have the same sound but do not rhyme. You could also have the children pick their favorite poem and allow them to draw their own illustrations to go along with it.  Next, you could have the children draw a picture of a place they have always wanted to visit and then on the back you could have them write a paragraph about that certain place.  It could be real or imaginary; it's all up to the students’ imagination.