Four new friends turn a dull summer around with creative projects and energetic play. Greenfield’s form gets attention right away; the narrative unfolds via 34 free-verse poems in six parts, beginning with “One. Drummond.” Drum introduces himself and describes his boredom, perking up when a new family moves in down the street. Drum and the new kid, Doreen, play a series of games. Their bright verses (and many that follow) could also be viewed as short scenes, suitable for classroom use. Louis comes next, then Rae. Each voice has its own color—red, green, blue and purple—as they talk to each other and plan. The quartet is crackling with ideas, like a makeshift town made out of cardboard and paint in Drum’s back yard. They act out various scenarios in their town’s many establishments. Gilchrist’s watercolor illustrations work in harmony with the text, in a variety of configurations vis-à-vis the verse. All that can end this summer idyll is the start of a new school year. A lively tribute to children’s imagination as well as an inviting introduction to free verse. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-000759-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This heavily earnest celebration of multi-ethnicity combines full-bleed paintings of smiling children, viewed through a golden haze dancing, playing, planting seedlings, and the like, with a hyperbolic, disconnected text—``Dark as leopard spots, light as sand,/Children buzz with laughter that kisses our land...''— printed in wavy lines. Literal-minded readers may have trouble with the author's premise, that ``Children come in all the colors of the earth and sky and sea'' (green? blue?), and most of the children here, though of diverse and mixed racial ancestry, wear shorts and T-shirts and seem to be about the same age. Hamanaka has chosen a worthy theme, but she develops it without the humor or imagination that animates her Screen of Frogs (1993). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-11131-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-525-47172-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
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