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MAKE THINGS FLY

Name: MAKE THINGS FLY
Author: Dorothy M. Kennedy
ISBN: 0-689-81544-1

POEMS ABOUT THE WIND

edited by Dorothy M. Kennedy & illustrated by Sasha Meret ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1998

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``I wonder if a little breeze,/too small to play upon the trees,/can play on spider webs?'' asks Aileen Fisher, in a typically short poem in this collection on the subject of the wind. Among the contributors of the 27 selections are those associated with children's poetry—e.g., Eve Merriam and Norma Farber—as well as such familiar writers as Carl Sandburg, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Christina Rossetti. The mood ranges from wishful musing to adventurous to scary. The book is a pleasing, practical size, with one-color illustrations in sepia pencil. Meret offers literal interpretations of the wind's pranks, with women's hair flying, stormy shipwrecks, galloping horsemen, and furniture sailing in a tornado. Although so many of the pieces are available in other volumes, the wind's ways form a benevolent umbrella under which to collect them anew. (indexes) (Poetry. 7-11)

Pub Date: April 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-689-81544-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: McElderry

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
I THOUGHT I'D TAKE MY RAT TO SCHOOL
by Dorothy M. Kennedy & illustrated by Abby Carter

- BOOK REVIEW
TALKING LIKE THE RAIN
edited by X. J. Kennedy & Dorothy M. Kennedy & illustrated by Jane Dyer

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THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN

by Robert Browning ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1999

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The dramatic events that Browning recorded in 1842 unfold as if they occurred yesterday in Peen’s computer-generated illustrations, which show a historical setting but are unmistakably contemporary. Tugging at both the medieval and modern time periods, these scenes have bold, black, shivering lines and flat expanses of colors in subdued hues, overlaid by different color shapes. The details in this city, from the pillaging rats to the gluttonous council members, bring Browning’s lesson home, although the details of the narrative, in the stylized art, are more abstract. Combining the Kate Greenaway edition and this one at a story hour would comprise the perfect launch for discussion of illustrators and their choices, and the stylistic differences between children’s book art of the last century and this one. (Picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: May 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-8109-4351-4

Page Count: 38

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL SCIENCES

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THE BUG IN TEACHER'S COFFEE

AND OTHER SCHOOL POEMS

by Kalli Dakos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 31, 1999

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PLB 0-06-027940-0 Dakos’s collection of 23 poems from the perspective of items found at school satisfies the I Can Read requirements of simplicity and word repetition, but may not lure beginning readers back for a second time. The material is uninspiring: The school’s front door says, “Keep me shut,/I have the flu,/Achooooooooo!/Achooooooooo!/Achooooooooo!/Achooooooooo!/Keep me shut,/I have the flu.” A book sings “Happy Birthday” to a ruler, then sings “Happy Unbirthday” when the ruler says that it is not its birthday. Also appearing are a couple of clever items—one on a kidnapped pencil and another on a comb pulling hazardous duty—along with some typographic elements that amiably convey the idea that words are malleable; Reed’s illustrations possess geniality and character, making some inanimate objects very personable. (Picture book. 4-8)