THE POET WHO COULDN'T WAIT FOR SPRING

by Bronson Potter ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 29, 1965

A poet who evidently scorns all financial aid from either government or academic sources, lives through a stereotypically spare and freezing winter with his companion, Spotted Dog. The poor dog is colder than an equatorial lizard in the Arctic and the poet desperately employs his art in descriptions of a promised spring. His poetic prose has the exaggeration often found in children's efforts at description --""...flowers will be bursting from the ground like a hundred Roman candles! ...so many bees humming away they will sound like a thousand carpenters sawing a thousand logs!"" The result is that Spotted Dog comes down with a bout of pneumonia. After nursing him through, the poet shows the dog that only one bird, bee or flower are just as good on the first day of spring as the magnified versions of the winter. While the author's intentions are noble, after all is said and done, young listeners will still be waiting for a story to happen. The illustrations show a caricatured, Dylan thomas-like figure complete with scruffy scarf, mopsy hair and button eyes.

Pub Date: March 29, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Reilly & Lee

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1965

Categories: CHILDREN'S