LEMONADE SUN and Other Summer Poems

by Rebecca Kai Dotlich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1998

Dotlich (Sweet Dreams of the Wild, 1996) uses her poetry to call up moments in a summer. She celebrates the small tantalizing creatures--bumblebees and butterflies, ladybugs and fireflies--and takes year-around pleasures and puts them outside under the sun: a game of jacks, the reading of a book. The best of her imagery is startling and memorable--whispering through a dragonfly's wing, the sidewalk song of a marble game; there are a number of poems that warrant immediate re-reading, both to pick up on the intimations and to experiment with the beat and wordplay. At least two jump-rope rhymes are worth memorizing; one is a DoubleDutch ditty, while the other could serve as a geography lesson. Anchoring the collection is Gilchrist's artwork; it projects a clear sense that all the fun isn't going to last forever. The cityscapes are especially strong and evocative.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1998

ISBN: 1563979446

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998

Categories: POETRY