Clever.
A dozen classic poems, with Lewis’ playful revisions on the opposite pages.
The title poem is a reworking of Beatrice Schenk de Regniers’ “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket,” which touts the importance of imagination. The revision exalts the value of memories triggered by little objects—“red hawk feather, / silver penny, pinkie ring”—found in a pocket. Langston Hughes’ “Winter Sweetness” describes a snow-covered house as made of sugar. The revision, “Winter Warmth,” compares a book to a cup of hot cocoa on a frigid day. An excerpt from Jack Prelutsky’s “The Goblin” begins, “There’s a goblin as green / As a goblin can be.” Lewis begins “The Ogre” this way: “There’s an ogre as wide / As a flatbed truck.” He counters Robert Louis Stevenson’s two-line “Happy Thought” with a “Sleepy Thought”; David McCord’s “This is My Rock” becomes “This is My Tree.” Perhaps the cleverest revamping is that of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” In Lewis’ hands it becomes “Stopping by Fridge on a Hungry Evening.” (Said refrigerator is full of algae and mold and rotting food.) Lewis’ poems are a mixed bag—some come off poorly by comparison to their originals—but the book could provide wonderful inspiration for young would-be poets. Wright’s illustrations, in acrylic paint and ink on canvas, add much color, notably including the multiracial cast of children she depicts.
Clever. (Picture book/poetry. 5-8)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-59078-921-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
A fine synthesis of poetry and science.
Twelve poems present a variety of animal homes and mate-attracting constructions.
Arachnids (trapdoor spider, garden spider), birds (red ovenbird, white stork), fish (stickleback, pufferfish), insects (termite, paper wasp), mammals (star-nosed mole, beaver, prairie dog), and a reptile (the king cobra) are each introduced by way of a double-page spread and a simple two-to-eight stanza poem. In four sections—building underground, on land, in the water, and in the air—animals are shown building webs, nests, food traps, and tunneled homes, along with their mates, eggs, or young. Laroche’s layered, cut-paper illustrations are clear and intriguingly detailed, handsomely supporting the informational content of each poem. Rich colors and varied textures allow this 3-D original artwork to work well in two dimensions. Harrison’s poems employ varied voices, rhythms, and formats; all are memorable and easy to understand. Some are humorous: a busy stickleback male appeals to a potential mother of his family: “The best nest / that’s ever been! / Please, / Ms. Stickleback, / swim in.” Backmatter gives each animal an explanatory paragraph and, for several, a suggestion of books for further exploration. The author’s and illustrator’s own sources are not indicated. A bonus poem and terrific illustration on the last page describe “A different kind of builder,” sun coral, which creates coral reefs by congregating together.
A fine synthesis of poetry and science. (Informational picture book/poetry. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58089-748-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
While the Irish connections are often opaque, repeated recitations are a must.
Webb and McCarthy present 69 nursery rhymes, poems, songs, and verses in a humorously illustrated read-aloud anthology.
The subtitle is meant literally, as the anthologist is Irish, rather than as a promise of all-Irish content. Many familiar and not iconically Irish rhymes, such as “She’ll Be Coming ’round the Mountain” and “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,” are here, as well as Irish staples like “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” Many of the verses selected are anonymous, but in addition to William Butler Yeats, such Irish notables as James Joyce and Padraic Colum are included. Non-Irish poets of renown also appear, with Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Happy Thought” and Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussycat,” among others. Although Webb’s introduction alludes to research that yields Irish connections, she provides little expatiation beyond informing readers that Irish-born labor organizer Mother Jones may have been that woman coming around that mountain. One verse per page is the norm, although on occasion a second complementing verse or one-liner is added. For example, Oscar Wilde’s “Symphony in Yellow,” about a yellow omnibus crawling across a bridge like a yellow butterfly, shares a page with the quip “What is a butterfly? At best, he’s but a caterpillar dressed.” Digitally composed illustrations featuring cartoonishly quirky animal and human characters (racially diverse) in muted, opaque colors decorate the book.
While the Irish connections are often opaque, repeated recitations are a must. (Picture book/poetry. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-84717-794-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: O'Brien Press/Dufour Editions
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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