A PICNIC OF POEMS IN ALLAH'S GREEN GARDEN

Name: A PICNIC OF POEMS IN ALLAH'S GREEN GARDEN
Author: Dawud Wharnsby
ISBN: 978-0-86037-444-2

by Dawud Wharnsby & illustrated by Shireen Adams ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2012

The more engaging musical version is available separately through iTunes and other distributors. You won’t hear the typos.

bookshelf

Purposeful and saccharine-sweet, these poems on religious and secular topics take on new life on the accompanying CD.

Wharnsby, a musician, has an appealing folk style, but the poetry on the page sounds forced and often trite. To interest young children in diversity, he writes such lines as “People are a lot like candy! / There’re [sic] all so different and dandy.” Describing “Piles of Smiles” that have been hidden away, he laments: “Someone misplaced the key, / causing global tragedy.” The poems range from the personal “I had a Chirpy Chick,” in which the narrator focuses on love for a pet and love for her grandmother, to a didactic poem entitled “The Mosque.” Typographical mistakes abound, with the use of “their” for “they’re” in the poem “Prayer” and in the example above, among others. Vibrantly colored flowers and plants, echoed in the handsome prayer rugs that illustrate “Prayer,” curl their way around multiracial children and adults. Most adult women wear hijab, as do some girls. With more and more Muslim families in North American communities, there is certainly a need for books of this type. Unfortunately, as with much other religious poetry collections for children, the message takes precedence over the words.

The more engaging musical version is available separately through iTunes and other distributors. You won’t hear the typos. (Poetry. 5-9)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-86037-444-2

Page Count: 44

Publisher: Kube Publishing

Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S RELIGION | CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
COLOURS OF ISLAM
by Dawud Wharnsby ; illustrated by Shireen Adams

bookshelf

WILDERNESS DISCOVERIES

From the Nature of God series

by Peter Schriemer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2011

“Within every ecosystem, each plant and animal is designed to serve a specific purpose in God's creation.” While this...

bookshelf

From Lake Michigan’s dunes through transition forests to the boreal forests and wetlands in the region’s north, a television host introduces inhabitants of three Great Lakes ecosystems from an intelligent-design perspective.

“Within every ecosystem, each plant and animal is designed to serve a specific purpose in God's creation.” While this proposition is not accepted by the great majority of scientists, it is repeatedly put forth, through examples and Biblical quotations, in this appreciation of the Great Lakes’ natural world. Schriemer defines his terms, introduces "HOMES" as a mnemonic to remember the five lake names and provides a map showing Michigan at their heart. He then introduces each ecosystem, with examples of characteristic animals and a plant for each. Each creature has a page with an explanation of its name, a short description of its appearance and behavior, a “crazy cool fact” and several color photographs. The images are not large, and a few are difficult to see—as are the animals themselves—but most will give young readers a good idea of what to look for. A DVD (not seen) is packaged with books in this series, which also includes the less well-written Ocean Adventures, about habitats of Hawaii. There are no sources or index in either book.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-310-72142-0

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Zonderkidz

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S RELIGION

bookshelf

OUT OF THIS WORLD

POEMS AND FACTS ABOUT SPACE

by Amy E. Sklansky & illustrated by Stacey Schuett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2012

bookshelf

Each of these 20 short poems for young readers is accompanied by information on the geography of space and its human exploration, exemplified by the Apollo 11 mission.

A cover showing an old constellation map and endpapers with a Hubble-like image of a spiral galaxy set the stage for this combination of facts and poetry. Sklansky (Skeleton Bones and Goblin Groans, 2004) uses a variety of simple forms, some rhyming, some free verse. She touches on superstition (wishing on a star), science (the sun is “[f]usion profusion”) and mythology. There's an acrostic about the moon and a shape poem about the universe. Each poem is set on a digital-and-gouache image which extends most of the way across a spread or page, leaving a narrow column of black for a paragraph or so of related information. Though science terms are used (but not defined), the narrative sometimes talks down to the reader. “In order to reach space, a spaceship has to go really fast to break free from the powerful pull of Earth’s gravity.” Similarly, all the astronauts shown in the illustrations are children. Likely to appeal to a younger audience than Douglas Florian’s Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars (2007), this would be a satisfactory, if rather mundane, companion. (Informational picture book/poetry. 5-9)