A musical treat for parents as well as their children.
An American singer-songwriter’s two-CD album becomes a children’s poetry collection.
For her 2010 hit album with the same title, Merchant composed music for 30 19th- and 20th-century British and American poems, some written for children and some written about childhood. For this volume, she’s selected 19 of those poems (18 from the CD set and one other), describing them as “representing the long conversation I had with my daughter during the first six years of her life.” Both traditional and modern in style, they range widely in subject and mood. There are examples of wordplay by Prelutsky and Nash, nursery rhymes, verses by Stevenson and Lear, poems by cummings and Graves and more. Not all the texts, nor their authors, will be familiar. Not really “classic,” but classy, what they have in common is splendid language and McClintock’s engaging illustrations. Done with pen and ink and gently colored (except for a flamboyantly dressed giantess resting against a red velvet curtain), these detailed drawings add to the old-fashioned look. They vary from tiny vignettes and character sketches to scenes stretching across a spread. The end matter includes black-and-white photographs of the poets as well as music credits for the special-edition CD that will be included.
A musical treat for parents as well as their children. (Poetry/CD. 5 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-374-34368-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
Rich, naturalistic details will delight lovers of marine life.
A Monterey Bay sea otter comes of age.
Odder’s mom told her to stay away from sharks, humans, and anything else she didn’t understand, but after saving her friend Kairi from a shark attack, she encounters all three. Injured herself during the rescue, Odder ends up recuperating at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, or Highwater as the otters call it, where she once lived as a young orphaned pup. Last time, the humans helped her reintegrate into the wild, but because of her injuries this time the outcome might be different. Soon Kairi is there too, stricken with “the shaking sickness” and having lost her newborn pup. Now Kairi is fostering a new pup, and soon one is introduced to an initially reluctant Odder in hopes that she will help raise it so it can return to the wild. The free verse effortlessly weaves in scientific information, giving Odder a voice without overly anthropomorphizing any of the animals. The natural appeal of sea otters will draw readers in, but the book doesn’t shy away from real-world threats such as predators, disease, and pollution. Loosely based on the stories of real sea otters rehabilitated at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, this novel will give readers lots to talk about, but uneven pacing and a rushed ending may leave some unsatisfied. Charming black-and-white spot art captures the world and life of the sea.
Rich, naturalistic details will delight lovers of marine life. (glossary, author’s note, bibliography, resources) (Verse novel. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-14742-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Lovely pictures newly elucidate this renowned, euphonious work.
A picture-book adaptation of Frost’s pensive poem.
Its four rhyming quatrains are divided into six couplets interleaved with several wordless double spreads; the last four lines each appear on a separate page. Notably, Lynch visually subverts several of the poem’s customary narrative interpretations, depicting a young, light-skinned rider astride a dappled gray horse. While the poem’s line “He gives his harness bells a shake” implies a horse-drawn wagon, Lynch supplies a bell-trimmed bridle instead. Such innovations shift the poem’s authorial voice away from that of the venerable poet, adding a fresh layer of mystery to the purpose of this traveler’s journey. The narrator’s clothing, suggestive of the late 19th or early 20th century, includes a long dress, a belted jacket, a sturdy, wide-brimmed hat, and thick work gloves; a bedroll is stowed behind the saddle. Where the poem mildly personifies the horse, who “must think it queer / To stop without a farmhouse near,” Lynch depicts the dismounted rider fondly cradling the animal’s head as twin puffs of breath exit his nostrils. Belying this “darkest evening of the year,” Lynch illuminates the blue-grays of snow-laden conifers and frozen lake with a pallid gold winter sunset and a fleeting moon. Variable perspective—from bird’s-eye to close-up—bestows a quasi-cinematic sense as the coming dawn draws the rider’s furtive look. Endpapers bracket the journey, from twilit village to sunup, horse and rider long gone. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Lovely pictures newly elucidate this renowned, euphonious work. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2914-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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