KIRKUS REVIEW
Chorao (Mother Goose Magic, 1994, etc.) clearly states her intentions for this anthology in her introduction and in the selection of the first two pieces. Overlaid against a phantasmagoric scene of sunshine on water, two poems face each other: James Weldon Johnson's Christian ``Up from the bed of the river'' and the ``Dakota Prairie Hymn.'' Thus the collection, ``created in the hopes of encouraging children to think about giving,'' is to be both pious and inclusive; the tiny figures in that spread's foreground could be either Madonna and the Christ Child or a Native American mother and baby. The scope broadens to include offerings from the Bible, Langston Hughes, Eleanor Farjeon, William Blake, Tu Fu, Rabbi Moshe Hakotun--a divergent religious spectrum for a subject matter and artistic style that are consistently traditional. The predominance of rural scenes may make city children wonder if their surroundings are as praiseworthy. A sentimental and somewhat overwrought collection whose gifts will be best appreciated by browsers. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)
