Readers, too, may want to return to these explorations over and over.
Twenty-six poems with varied structures offer quiet observations of the natural world.
Vanderwater’s studies are spare and sometimes personal. Loosely cast as a series of forest visits at different times of the year, they focus both on the large, as in the opening “Invitation,” and the small—fiddleheads, lichens, a cardinal, a squirrel. The poet’s imagination invites readers and listeners inside her subjects’ heads. A chickadee considers taking food from a child’s hand; an owlet worries about its first flight. She listens to the voices of snowflakes and maples. Some poems describe the forest visitor’s actions: In one haiku, she plays with a rotting branch; in another, she marvels at the taste of wintergreen. Two children enjoy the surprise of a mushroom puffball. Listeners will appreciate language play like the tree frog’s: “Hoping. / Hopping. / High above. / Crooning. / Plopping. / Finding love.” The imagery is fresh and original; it’s accessible, too. Watercolor images of each poem’s subject add to the appeal. Some are vignettes, others show a child or a family enjoying the out-of-doors. Although the same young girl appears in these pictures, her clothing and apparent age vary, implying a series of encounters over many years.
Readers, too, may want to return to these explorations over and over. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)Pub Date: March 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-618-84349-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
A superlative union of verse and visual art.
The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet’s tribute to the relationship between goldfinches and thistles finds new life in picture-book form.
In languorously unfolding phrases, Oliver, who died in 2019, notes that the birds wait all summer for the thistle flowers to disseminate their seeds. The finches then use the fluffy, silky pappus—which, attached to the seeds, helps them disperse in the wind—to line their nests, while the seeds themselves feed both parents and young. Sweet ingeniously nestles hand-lettered finch facts into spreads that teem with vibrant color charts keyed to the poem’s imagery. She depicts the poet as a young woman, wandering fields and woods, notebook at hand and trailed by a dog, as a diverse group of birdwatchers look on. Using vintage papers, old maps, and photographed objects including a nest, the artist subdivides her layered compositions into multiple rectangles, inviting close observation and delighted discovery, while reserving plenty of airy space for Oliver’s poem to shine. Sweet’s palette, rich in pinks and yellows, derives from the bright plumage of male goldfinches and the brilliance of flowering thistles, “each bud / a settlement of riches— / a coin of reddish fire.” Oliver concludes: “Is it necessary to say any more? / Have you heard them singing in the wind…? // Have you ever been so happy in your life?”
A superlative union of verse and visual art. (text of poem, Oliver’s handwritten bird list, illustrator’s note, quote from Oliver, sources) (Picture book/poetry. 5-9)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780593692417
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A charming exploration of children’s special relationship with nature.
The story of a young Black boy who “fell in love with a field.”
The book opens with a peaceful scene of Emile sitting in a field overrun with wildflowers of various colors. This is his favorite haunt, where he and his little black dog spend countless hours undisturbed, daydreaming and communing with blossoms and insects. Emile—who often whispers lovingly to the field and regards it as a sentient companion—reflects on all the things the field will never get to experience. Although the field knows the four seasons and “how many stars / there were / and just how far,” it will never get to see the sea and skyscrapers. When winter comes and snow covers the field, Emile worries, wondering where the field goes when it disappears. And when some noisy children invade the field to sled and build snowpals, Emile hates that he has to share his beloved sanctuary, until his dad teaches him that love is not about possession but appreciation. Although some readers may pause at the unconventional punctuation, Young’s gentle, sparely worded narrative endearingly captures the animistic, magical thinking of children and the joy of tranquil childhood hours spent in nature. The impressionistic, atmospheric artwork—rendered in watercolor and ink—underscores the dreamy, spontaneous nature of Emile’s outdoor adventures and features open compositions that create a sense of expansiveness. All characters present Black except one White background character.
A charming exploration of children’s special relationship with nature. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-984850-42-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Make Me a World
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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