This charming book, bearing the subtitle ``Poems to Celebrate Patterns in Nature,'' introduces many geometric patterns from the natural world and establishes an agreeable link between aesthetic enjoyment and natural history. Any pedagogical intent quickly succumbs to the tone of wonder and delight at patterns found throughout the universe in phenomena immense and small. In ``Branches,'' Esbensen (Dance With Me, 1995, etc.) juxtaposes the branches and roots of a tree with the veins of a leaf, then with the lightning in the sky and the veins in a hand. The final poem, ``Circles,'' begins with the ripples in a pool after a fish jumps and the rings in a tree trunk, then moves to a circle of musk oxen defending their group, a dappled fawn, the planets, hibernating bears (curled in sleep), and, finally, a bedtime scene of parent and child, an arm curved around a book, the moon shining, and a cat rolled up cozily at the foot of the bed. Soft watercolors accompany the free verse; the layout reflects a use of patterns as well. A welcome collaboration. (Picture book/poetry. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 30, 1996
ISBN: 0-06-024398-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1996
Franco adds to her mathematical oeuvre with this clever collection of poems written in the form of equations and grouped by seasonal themes. The first, for example, is vertical-like addition. “Crisp air / shadows tall / cat’s thick coat / signs of fall.” Another has few words (“orchard, baskets, ripeapples”), but it is presented as a division problem and reads “orchard divided by baskets = ripeapples.” Salerno’s illustrations, rendered in watercolor and gouache, with bright colors and broad, grainy brush strokes, have a nostalgic feel. In one full-bleed spread, green and yellow frogs leap from forest-green lily pads with pink and yellow water lilies. Raindrops streak the page, making circular splats in the blue pond. Except for the use of mathematical symbols and forms, this really has nothing to do with math; there are no problems to solve. Without some mathematical knowledge, however, the poems lose meaning. By incorporating the language of mathematics, Franco pushes readers to view the poems through a different lens—and with a more critical eye. (author’s note) (Poetry. 8-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-84357-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The team behind Footprints on the Roof (2002) returns to present another slim, elemental celebration. Poems on such subjects as “Spring in the Garden” and “Water Guns” seek to explore many different aspects of water, inviting readers to muse on the mountain origins of a fire hydrant or the many ways to cross a pond. It is an uneven collection, occasionally settling for the cute wordplay that seems to have become the standard in children’s poetry, but it can also soar. A blossom in a “Rain Forest” becomes a pond to its amphibious denizens; a grandmother’s memories of bringing water from “Wells” become almost tactile. And at its most breathtaking, it imagines the sadness of the “dry moon / tugging at the earth’s oceans / as if she could draw them up / to fill her vast dusty seas.” So’s illustrations are appropriately enough rendered in washy blue ink, her naturally liquid style finding its apotheosis here. The typography, too, is rendered in blue ink, for a total design that barely escapes preciosity. Take it for its frequently splendid parts, not its whole. (Poetry. 8-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2003
ISBN: 0-375-82376-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2003
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