THE PEDALING MAN

For children, for adults, for smiling over silently, for reading aloud, for reciting on a program, even—an eminently likeable collection, concrete, supple, allusive but not abstruse. Like "School Buses" in summer, "hunting on the roads of August. . . smirking with their mirrors in the sun—/ But summer isn't done! Not yet!" Or the "Friendly Cinnamon Bun" that, once eaten, leaves "his friendliness inside." Or the haunting "Empty House" where shadows move to "the silent striking of the no-cloak in the hall." Or the title poem, of the pedaling man on the roof who could "only take just so much north wind, even if he's iron." Or. . . or. . . The rhythms are varied and natural; rhyme is or isn't but isn't obtrusive. Another surprise from the author of The Mouse and His Child.