by Justine Rowden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2005
Rowden pairs 14 paintings from the National Gallery with prosaic ruminations about their colors, imagined commentary from their subjects or observations on a selected detail. The art, which includes two American folk paintings, Leonardo’s Ginevra de’ Benci and works from the likes of Renoir, Derain and Rothko, is reproduced with fair fidelity, labeled on the page and followed up at the end with paragraphs of random facts about each artist. Though the designer tries hard to pump up the poems with changes of color, line shape and typeface, there’s not much that can be done with lines like, “The ladies with hats that flatter / Don’t permit cups to clatter / Nor tea to splatter / On silvery platters,” (“Oh So Perfect”) or “The sky is full / Of fuzzy white polka dots.” (“Moving White Fluffs”). With better pairings of art and words like Jan Greenberg’s Heart To Heart (2001), Charles Sullivan’s Imaginary Gardens (1989) or the classic Talking to the Sun (1985) available, this is an additional item at best. (Poetry. 7-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-59078-289-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2005
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edited by Bobbi Katz & illustrated by Marylin Hafner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2004
With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-525-47172-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
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by Giles Andreae & illustrated by David Wojtowycz ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2005
A dozen familiar dinosaurs introduce themselves in verse in this uninspired, if colorful, new animal gallery from the authors of Commotion in the Ocean (2000). Smiling, usually toothily, and sporting an array of diamonds, lightning bolts, spikes and tiger stripes, the garishly colored dinosaurs make an eye-catching show, but their comments seldom measure up to their appearance: “I’m a swimming reptile, / I dive down in the sea. / And when I spot a yummy squid, / I eat it up with glee!” (“Ichthyosaurus”) Next to the likes of Kevin Crotty’s Dinosongs (2000), illustrated by Kurt Vargo, or Jack Prelutsky’s classic Tyrannosaurus Was A Beast (1988), illustrated by Arnold Lobel, there’s not much here to roar about. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-58925-044-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2005
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