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BOOKJOY, WORDJOY

Name: BOOKJOY, WORDJOY
Author: Pat Mora
ISBN: 978-1-62014-286-8

by Pat Mora ; illustrated by Raúl Colón ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 10, 2018

Joy indeed.

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The virtues of reading and playing with words collide in Mora and Colón’s latest collaboration.

Mora begins with an appeal: “Let’s read, let’s write, let’s explore galore!” The subsequent series of poems demonstrates the dual importance of bookjoy, “the fun of reading,” and wordjoy, “the fun of writing.” For the latter, see the second poem, entitled “Collecting Words,” which encourages readers to treasure words like “ding-dong” and “sssssssssssssnake.” Some poems follow a didactic arc (“Writing Secrets,” for example, aims to reassure budding writers), but most bask in wordplay and whimsy with aplomb. “Our Cottage in the Woods” focuses on a mother and her child in the woods, the garden, the “cool creek” as they watch hummingbirds and bake and read together. In the wonderful “Antelope Canyon,” the author describes the creation of a canyon, with “waterfalls / buffing sharp corners into curves, / careening around boulders.” In the accompanying illustration, Colón’s artwork shows a dark-skinned child at the bottom of a vibrant canyon gazing up at the night sky while an antelope does the same from above. Overall, the superb pictures feature a racially diverse cast—often with elongated, lively bodies—and landscapes full of curves and curls in bright, earthy colors. Not all poems hold up well, but the author peppers Spanish phrases here and there to add some new layers to a gratifying collection.

Joy indeed. (Picture book/poetry. 6-12)

Pub Date: July 10, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-62014-286-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Lee & Low Books

Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
MY MAGIC WAND
by Pat Mora ; illustrated by Amber Alvarez

- BOOK REVIEW
MY SINGING NANA
by Pat Mora ; illustrated by Alyssa Bermudez

- BOOK REVIEW
THE REMEMBERING DAY / EL DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS
by Pat Mora ; illustrated by Robert Casilla ; translated by Gabriela Baeza Ventura

COUNTING IN DOG YEARS AND OTHER SASSY MATH POEMS

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COUNTING IN DOG YEARS AND OTHER SASSY MATH POEMS

by Betsy Franco ; illustrated by Priscilla Tey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 11, 2022

Readers can count on plenty of chuckles along with a mild challenge or two.

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Rollicking verses on “numerous” topics.

Returning to the theme of her Mathematickles! (2003), illustrated by Steven Salerno, Franco gathers mostly new ruminations with references to numbers or arithmetical operations. “Do numerals get out of sorts? / Do fractions get along? / Do equal signs complain and gripe / when kids get problems wrong?” Along with universal complaints, such as why 16 dirty socks go into a washing machine but only 12 clean ones come out or why there are “three months of summer / but nine months of school!" (“It must have been grown-ups / who made up / that rule!”), the poet offers a series of numerical palindromes, a phone number guessing game, a two-voice poem for performative sorts, and, to round off the set, a cozy catalog of countable routines: “It’s knowing when night falls / and darkens my bedroom, / my pup sleeps just two feet from me. / That watching the stars flicker / in the velvety sky / is my glimpse of infinity!” Tey takes each entry and runs with it, adding comically surreal scenes of appropriately frantic or settled mood, generally featuring a diverse group of children joined by grotesques that look like refugees from Hieronymous Bosch paintings. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Readers can count on plenty of chuckles along with a mild challenge or two. (Poetry/mathematical picture book. 8-11)

Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-5362-0116-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
A SPECTACULAR SELECTION OF SEA CRITTERS
by Betsy Franco ; illustrated by Michael Wertz

- BOOK REVIEW
DOUBLE PLAY
by Betsy Franco & illustrated by Doug Cushman

- BOOK REVIEW
METAMORPHOSIS
by Betsy Franco & illustrated by Tom Franco

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WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!

by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater ; illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020

Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing.

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Both technique and imaginative impulse can be found in this useful selection of poems about the literary art.

Starting with the essentials of the English language, the letters of “Our Alphabet,” the collection moves through 21 other poems of different types, meters, and rhyme schemes. This anthology has clear classroom applications, but it will also be enjoyed by individual readers who can pore carefully over playful illustrations filled with diverse children, butterflies, flowers, books, and pieces of writing. Tackling various parts of the writing process, from “How To Begin” through “Revision Is” to “Final Edit,” the poems also touch on some reasons for writing, like “Thank You Notes” and “Writing About Reading.” Some of the poems are funny, as in the quirky, four-line “If I Were an Octopus”: “I’d grab eight pencils. / All identical. / I’d fill eight notebooks. / One per tentacle.” An amusing undersea scene dominated by a smiling, orangy octopus fills this double-page spread. Some of the poems are more focused (and less lyrical) than others, such as “Final Edit” with its ending stanzas: “I check once more to guarantee / all is flawless as can be. / Careless errors will discredit / my hard work. / That’s why I edit. / But I don’t like it. / There I said it.” At least the poet tries for a little humor in those final lines.

Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)