Let the effervescence in the pictures leaven the didacticism of the poems.
Indie best-seller Clayton (An Awesome Book!, 2012) offers this light collection of didactic verse for young readers as his traditional-publishing debut.
Accompanying these short lyric poems are Clayton’s own free-wheeling illustrations done with “two parts positive vibes and three parts watercolor sprinkles,” making for two-page spreads that give these potent messages added levity and much-needed breathing room. Many of these works make no bones about driving home clear imperatives like those found in the volume’s title piece: “Make magic / do good. / Be who you are. / Be what you should.” But Clayton’s more compelling poems are those that are downright silly—“Did you hear about the race? / Hooray! I came in second place. / And second place will do just fine / in a race to hug a porcupine”—or whose lessons are slightly muted, as in “Butterfly”: “If you find a caterpillar / and you keep it in a jar, / just think of how your life would be / if you weren’t where you are, / if someone put you in a bowl / or in a tiny box / or in an old aquarium / filled with shiny rocks.” While Clayton succinctly delivers a number of behavioral tips looking to foster kindness, generosity, courage and spontaneity in the next generation, his poetic touch is sometimes heavy-handed.
Let the effervescence in the pictures leaven the didacticism of the poems. (Poetry. 6-10)Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5746-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
Delightful.
A gifted poet demonstrates the remarkable versatility of words through one kind of found poetry.
The idea here is that “nested” poems are hidden inside larger poems like nesting dolls. Latham begins with a 37-line poem, describing a robin’s nest from its construction in spring through the other three seasons. She finds, nested within the 276 words of this initial poem, 161 new poems built from words in the original. These short poems cover simple themes, such as colors, days, seasons, and animals, as well as more complex ones: emotions and relationships: “What Hope Is:” “a cup / of stars.” Only the titles of the nested poems employ words not found in the initial poem—and the titles are charming, often longer than the poems themselves: “What To Do When You Know Something Is Wrong”: “mouse / squeaks.” The invitations to think metaphorically and to discover poetry that might be right at hand are friendly and clear: “The Power of Imagination:” “turtle tucked in moonlight / makes cathedral / inside” The repetition of words becomes an echo of a familiar melody running throughout the collection as they become the molecules of new poems and become fresh again. Latham’s note explaining the process for this collection mentions a few other kinds of found poetry. Wright’s art in full-page section-introducing illustrations, along with spot illustration and margin art, gives a warm and lighthearted dimension to the pages.
Delightful. (introduction, index) (Poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-363-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
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Clever but of limited use.
In loose, mostly free-verse poems, readers learn a lot about a variety of hoofed animals.
The lesser mouse-deer, for example, is “Only 12 inches tall, / 18 inches long, / and 4.5 pounds in weight.” And the Arabian oryx “was the first (nearly) extinct animal / to be returned to the wild.” Each entry is accompanied by an illustration of the animal in question, in renderings that vary from cartoony depictions to splashy watercolors, often with a hint of the surreal. While each poem contains at least a nugget of interesting information, and many use humor (scatological or otherwise), several may find a less appreciative audience in the United States than they did in the Netherlands. The poem about the wild Bactrian camel, for example, references a harem and uses the slur “lame”; the hippopotamus entry relies in part on fatphobia for effect; and the Japanese serow’s poem opens by just throwing out a variety of Japanese words including Toyota and Sudoku. As it’s a translation, it’s hard to say exactly where these choices originate. The collection does neatly balance humor with scientific information, but poetry lovers may be daunted by the scantily leaded small type, and children who want to learn about animals are more likely to seek books with more robust nonfiction elements (though they may appreciate the factual backmatter).
Clever but of limited use. (further reading) (Picture book/poetry. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5548-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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