In bubbly verse and playful imagery reminiscent of Mary Ann Hoberman’s classic A House Is a House For Me (1978), Scanlon expands the idea of a “pocket” to include bowls, balloons, and bathtubs, hats, horseshoes, homes, and more: “A phone is a pocket / for a ring, / a bell is a pocket / for a ding. / A pocket for a duckling is a shell, / and a pocket for a farmer is a dell— / hi ho.” Glasser sends a diverse quartet of families with young children through a day of shared and individual encounters with all of these pockets, depicting figures and settings in various combinations with typically fine, sketchy, exuberant pen work. Tucked in with the closing thought that hearts are pockets full of love, the children at last snuggle into their beds—leaving young readers and listeners seeing their own worlds in a new way, and primed for Ruth Krauss’s antediluvian, but still mind-expanding A Hole Is to Dig (1952). (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-06-029526-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
Categories: CHILDREN'S POETRY
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Iffy art cramps this 25th-anniversary reissue of the joyful title poem from Greenfield’s first collection (1978), illustrated by the Dillons. As timeless as ever, the poem celebrates everything a child loves, from kissing Mama’s warm, soft arm to listening to a cousin from the South, “ ’cause every word he says / just kind of slides out of his mouth.” “I love a lot of things / a whole lot of things,” the narrator concludes, “And honey, / I love ME, too.” The African-American child in the pictures sports an updated hairstyle and a big, infectious grin—but even younger viewers will notice that the spray of cool water that supposedly “stings my stomach” isn’t aimed there, and that a comforter on the child’s bed changes patterns between pages. More problematic, though, is a dropped doll that suddenly acquires a horrified expression that makes it look disturbingly like a live baby, and the cutesy winged fairy that hovers over the sleeping child in the final scene. The poem deserves better. (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-009123-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
Categories: CHILDREN'S POETRY
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What leaves bubbles of water and air on a lily pond? What leaves a path across the sand to the sea? What leaves shadows on the ground? The “wattled” and “warty” bullfrog creates bubbles on the lily pond. The turtle drags its way across the sand to the sea. Children playing follow the leader cast shadows on the ground. These questions and more are raised and answered in this quiet exploration of the traces different creatures and things leave as they pass on their way. The fox leaves its trace in a wooded glade. The snake leaves its trace in the tall wild grass. A jet airplane leaves its own trace across the sky. Even prehistoric dinosaurs and the wind leave unique marks on nature. Kuskin’s watercolor-and-collage illustrations brilliantly follow bubbles, tails, footprints and shadows across double-page spreads tracking clues left by the not-quite invisible passage of someone or something. A fascinating look at an overlooked part of nature. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-932425-43-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Front Street/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2008
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S POETRY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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