PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO KEEP

Fifteen poems, mostly about the adults who loom large in the world and imagination of a small girl. With even meter and unforced rhyme, these encourage a close observation of people who can be encountered in the course of a child's day. The child who speaks these verses is obviously well-cared for and her thoughts are often sparked by those less comfortably fixed. Most of these poems are successful, emphasizing the courage, hard work and dignity of the people observed. However, the poems about a crippled seller of pencils, a deafmute milkman and a day worker miss the Weltschmerz mark to touch the schmaltz level of response. This is particularly true of the poem ""Miss Hortense Rogers, The Grade School Principal."" a stereotypical conception common to schoolgirls -- the middle aged teacher softening in a reverie of remembered puppy love. To offset these, there is a grandiloquent itinerant, a school friend Leona, and a Railroad-Crossing watchman who are well-realized characters. On the whole, we liked the author's hailstones and Halibut Bones better. (1961, p. 261, J-115). The illustrations by Paul Galdone are swiftly sketched (ome in color), accurately reflecting the person and mood for each poem.