Ambitious but flawed.
Jensen’s debut yields 15 skinny poems, 10 of which are meant to be read from bottom to top.
The untitled poems’ subjects range from the lofty—stars and rockets—to the mundane—a winter jacket’s zipper, a ladybug’s hike up a dandelion stem. Each line consists of just one word. Neither punctuation nor capitalization appears, rendering natural breaks tricky to discern. A waterfall poem reads “roaring / crashing / sparkling / and / white / oh / what / a / thunder / heaving / its / mighty / heart / the / waterfall / splashes / out / its / lovely / blue / music / on / the / slippery / rocks / below.” Poems soar, as in one about a kite, but they can also fall a bit flat, without rising from reportage to evocative engagement. Tusa’s quirky watercolor-and-ink illustrations invite browsing; black-and-white vignettes alternate with full-color pages. Rather than visually extending the poems, the pictures seem catapulted beyond them: A simple verse narrating an elevator ride appears against a double-page spread showing the narrator in a penthouse with a rooftop pool, a deck with a swing and a bike, an open-air bedroom and fruit trees. The choice to depict successive children throughout rather than to visually capture a consistent narrator seems a missed opportunity in a title that could have profited from more cohesion.
Ambitious but flawed. (Picture book/poetry. 4-7)Pub Date: March 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-39007-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
A book unafraid to go on beyond choo-choo.
A poetry book for the early-elementary train lover looking for some clever verbiage to complement the cabooses.
It’s no mean feat to conjure up an original train book for kids, but, by gum, Brown and Christoph manage it. With both old favorites (freight, steam, bullet) and some new eclectic additions (zoo train, whistle-stop tour, shoulder ballast cleaner), young train enthusiasts will have plenty here to whistle at. Thirteen poems touch on a wide range of train travel and experiences. From the quiet of the early morning train yards through the power of a train snowplow to the comfort of a sleeper car, each poem is worked in a different form of verse, paired to the type of train that fits it best. There’s certainly some sophisticated wordplay at work here, as in “Electric Train”: “Power from the wire. / Pantograph required. / Cabled Line of Fire. / Tethered Train Flyer.” Don’t know the word “pantograph”? The “Train Facts” tucked in at the back of the book offer further information that is bound to be adored by expository-nonfiction readers. Digital art reveals a multiracial array of train enthusiasts, in both historical and present-day views. The overall package is a beautiful gift for locomotive lovers.
A book unafraid to go on beyond choo-choo. (Picture book/poetry. 4-7)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9047-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
A sweet first poetry collection takes young readers through the seasons.
Poems with kid appeal.
In the opening, titular poem, the main character declares that she is 5 years old. The poems that follow encompass the four seasons and explore topics that are meaningful to the age group, such as art projects, gardening with Mom, taking care of a pet, and more. The poems are accompanied by vivid illustrations to bring the symbolic language to life. Mora makes use of alliteration, onomatopoeia, and refrain to keep verses interesting. She reminds readers in the author’s note that not all poems rhyme, and she demonstrates this with a compilation of poems that largely don’t but still provide satisfying read-aloud potential. Each poem is a snapshot of what feels most important to a kindergarten-age child, including the death of a friend’s pet snail. As the poems continue, the passage of time is indicated with the lengthening of the protagonist’s hair, and the collection ends with a sixth birthday party illustration and poem. A handful of Spanish words and phrases appear in several poems, including one titled “Speaking Spanish,” in which the family travels to Mexico, but it is not a bilingual book. The main character, modeled on Mora’s granddaughter, has peach skin with blond hair and brown eyes. Other characters appear to have light brown or white skin and brown hair and eyes.
A sweet first poetry collection takes young readers through the seasons. (Picture book/poetry. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64379-085-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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