A CRACK IN THE CLOUDS

These smal, winsome poems look hard at nature with the eyes of a child; the brief, clear-eyed tributes to the natural world often capture it with a flash of humor. In “Corn Smiles,” Levy (A Tree Place, 1994, etc.) sees inside the ear of corn: “Corn teeth/in the widest grin.” “Herb Garden” merrily rhymes “bouquet” with “gourmet,” and “Jack-o’-Lantern” notes “you can’t be any/oranger than that.” A few poems play with shaped text on the page; sometimes there’s a lesson: “Spiders never hesitate;/when there’s work/they don’t wait.” A lovely addition to any poetry shelf. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Poetry. 7-12)