Another inviting, well-crafted introduction to an American poet's work, and a companion to Rainbows Are Made: Poems by Carl Sandburg. ""Shut not your doors to me proud libraries, for that which was lacking. . .yet needed most, I bring. . ."" For all its other beauties, Whitman's poetry seldom strikes young readers as funny, making this opening sally all the more startling. Hopkins follows a brief biographical introduction with 53 selections from Leaves of Grass, mostly short--though ""When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd"" is here in its entirety, arranged in five broadly thematic groups. The poet's dense rush of words is counterbalanced by a spacious layout, and many of his images are reprised in gray but suitably dramatic full-page illustrations, as well as occasional head- or tail-pieces. Readers who find Frasconi's Overhead the Sun too brief and picture-bookish will welcome this handsome new sampler.