Whether capturing fun or chronicling items that disgust, Cleary and Watson again brilliantly open the world of verse,...
The sixth installment in the growing list of Poetry Adventures focuses on just that: lists.
Here Cleary and Watson present illustrated rhymed and unrhymed poems cataloging zany subjects ranging from wished-for delights to unsavory remnants moldering away in the school microwave or under one’s bed. Though one might expect the 16 poems collected here just to center on objects, like things that are “Yellow” or left “At the Lost and Found,” Cleary also provides inventories of what happens, for example, in April, at the bus stop, in the classroom, or at camp, inspiring children to observe not only things, but actions they encounter. He cleverly points to the irony of the “glove compartment” that contains nearly every household item except gloves and, in an especially hilarious poem, suggests that dinosaurs went extinct out of boredom and deprivation, due to their having “no skateboards, / … / no ice cream, / no smartphones, / no bicycles, / no french fries, / no amusement parks, / and / no Oreos.” Throughout, Cleary’s creative lists are animated by Watson’s light, vividly colored, and warmly drawn illustrations, spotlighting deliciously gory details like bug bites and scratches earned at camp or slimy, lime-green “snot” covering everything an allergy-plagued boy touches.
Whether capturing fun or chronicling items that disgust, Cleary and Watson again brilliantly open the world of verse, enticing young readers to dive in. (further reading) (Picture book/poetry. 6-10)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4677-9343-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A luminous call to think about what is and to envision what might be.
In U.S. Poet Laureate Limón’s debut picture book, soaring images and lyrics invite contemplation of life’s wonders—on Earth and perhaps, tantalizingly, elsewhere.
“O second moon,” writes Limón, “we, too, are made / of water, // of vast and beckoning seas.” In visual responses to a poem that will be carried by NASA’s Europa Clipper, a probe scheduled for launch in October 2024 and designed to check Jupiter’s ice-covered ocean moon for possible signs of life, Sís offers flowing glimpses of earthly birds and whales, of heavenly bodies lit with benevolent smiles, and a small light-skinned space traveler flying between worlds in a vessel held aloft by a giant book. Following the undulations of the poet’s cadence, falling raindrops give way to shimmering splashes, then to a climactic fiery vision reminiscent of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night before finishing with mirrored human figures made of stars. Visual images evocative of the tree of life presage what Límon writes in her afterword: that her poem is as much about “our own precious planet” as it is about what may lie in wait for us to discover on others. “We, too, are made of wonders, of great / and ordinary loves, // of small invisible worlds, // of a need to call out through the dark.”
A luminous call to think about what is and to envision what might be. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781324054009
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
No substitute for blankets or shelter, but perhaps a way of securing some warmth for those in need.
Gaiman’s free-verse meditation on coming in from, or at least temporarily fending off, the cold is accompanied by artwork from 13 illustrators.
An ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the author put out a social media appeal in 2019 asking people about their memories of warmth; the result is this picture book, whose proceeds will go to the UNHCR. For many refugees and other displaced persons, Gaiman writes, “food and friends, / home, a bed, even a blanket, / become just memories.” Here he gathers images that signify warmth, from waking in a bed “burrowed beneath blankets / and comforters” to simply holding a baked potato or being offered a scarf. Using palettes limited to black and the warm orange in which most of the text is printed, an international slate of illustrators give these images visual form, and 12 of the 13 add comments about their intentions or responses. The war in Ukraine is on the minds of Pam Smy and Bagram Ibatoulline, while Majid Adin recalls his time as a refugee in France’s “Calais jungle” camp. “You have the right to be here,” the poet concludes, which may give some comfort to those facing the cold winds of public opinion in too many of the places where refugees fetch up. The characters depicted are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
No substitute for blankets or shelter, but perhaps a way of securing some warmth for those in need. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063358089
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
