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MOTHER GOOSE’S LITTLE TREASURES

Name: MOTHER GOOSE’S LITTLE TREASURES
Author: Iona Opie
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3655-5

by Iona Opie & illustrated by Rosemary Wells ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2007

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“When the rain raineth / And the goose winketh, / Little knows the gosling / What the goose thinketh.” Naming herself (with some justice) “Mother Goose’s self-appointed treasurer,” Opie digs deep into the coffers for 22 lesser-known nursery rhymes—“mysterious fragments,” she calls them, “long-ago laughter of little meaning and echoes of ancient spells.” The illustrations pick up on this air of otherworldliness; Wells’s smiling human and animal figures, all in antique dress, are a bit smaller in these settings, and look less solid than in her bigger, more intimate collaborations with Opie, My Very First Mother Goose (1996) and Here Comes Mother Goose (1999). The pictures may suggest scenarios for some of the more abstract lines here, but young goslings will still benefit most not by trying to make sense of the gnomic verses, but just listening to the rhythms of sound and language in them. (Poetry. 4-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007

ISBN: 978-0-7636-3655-5

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
HERE COMES MOTHER GOOSE
edited by Iona Opie

- BOOK REVIEW
MY VERY FIRST MOTHER GOOSE
edited by Iona Opie & illustrated by Rosemary Wells

- BOOK REVIEW
I SAW ESAU
by Iona Opie & Peter Opie & illustrated by Maurice Sendak

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TOMORROW IS WAITING

by Kiley Frank ; illustrated by Aaron Meshon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 8, 2019

There’s always tomorrow.

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A lyrical message of perseverance and optimism.

The text uses direct address, which the title- and final-page illustrations suggest comes from an adult voice, to offer inspiration and encouragement. The opening spreads reads, “Tonight as you sleep, a new day stirs. / Each kiss good night is a wish for tomorrow,” as the accompanying art depicts a child with black hair and light skin asleep in a bed that’s fantastically situated in a stylized landscape of buildings, overpasses, and roadways. The effect is dreamlike, in contrast with the next illustration, of a child of color walking through a field and blowing dandelion fluff at sunrise. Until the last spread, each child depicted in a range of settings is solitary. Some visual metaphors falter in terms of credibility, as in the case of a white-appearing child using a wheelchair in an Antarctic ice cave strewn with obstacles, as the text reads “you’ll explore the world, only feeling lost in your imagination.” Others are oblique in attempted connections between text and art. How does a picture of a pale-skinned, black-haired child on a bridge in the rain evoke “first moments that will dance with you”? But the image of a child with pink skin and brown hair scaling a wall as text reads “there will be injustice that will challenge you, and it will surprise you how brave you can be” is clearer.

There’s always tomorrow. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-101-99437-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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KIYOSHI'S WALK

by Mark Karlins ; illustrated by Nicole Wong ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 9, 2021

See, hear, touch, taste, smell...and imagine poetry all around you.

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A neighborhood walk unleashes the power of poetry.

Kiyoshi, a boy of Japanese heritage, watches his poet grandfather, Eto, write a poem in calligraphy. Intrigued, Kiyoshi asks, “Where do poems come from?” So begins a meditative walk through their bustling neighborhood, in which Kiyoshi discovers how to use his senses, his power of observation, and his imagination to build a poem. After each scene, Eto jots down a quick poem that serves as both a creative activity and an instruction for Kiyoshi. Eventually Kiyoshi discovers his own poetic voice, and together the boy and his grandfather find poems all around them. Spare, precise prose is coupled with the haiku Kiyoshi and his grandfather create, building the story through each new scene to expand Kiyoshi’s understanding of the origin of poems. Sensory language, such as flicked, whooshed, peeked, and reeled, not only builds readers’ vocabulary, but also models the vitality and precision of creative writing. The illustrations are just as thoughtfully crafted. Precisely rendered, the artwork is soft, warm, and captivating, offering vastly different perspectives and diverse characters who make up an apparently North American neighborhood that feels both familiar and new for a boy discovering how to view the world the way a poet does. Earth tones, coupled with bright yellows, pinks, and greens, draw readers in and encourage them to linger over each spread. An author’s note provides additional information about haiku.

See, hear, touch, taste, smell...and imagine poetry all around you. (Picture book. 4-7)