Grasshoppers and Water Striders Summary

Joyful Noise is a book of poems made to be read by two people simultaneously, with one person reading the lines on the left side of the page and the other person reading the lines on the right. Each poem is about a species of insects and uses human emotion and perspective to help people to better understand the insect world around them.

"Grasshoppers" describes the hatching of grasshoppers and their bounding movements and energy. In this poem the viewer is observing the actions of the grasshoppers as they hop through their environment. "Water Striders" describes the simple action of this insect as it walks on water and its confusion when other creatures are not capable of walking on the water as well. Unlike "Grasshoppers," this poem is from the perspective of one of the water striders...