Children of all ages will be charmed by this collection that demonstrates that poet-translators often make the best...
A charming collection of poems finds an American audience in a splendid translation.
Though unknown to the vast majority of American readers, Rasmussen (1915-2002) was a beloved Danish poet, known both for his human-rights writings as well as nonsense verse for children. A sweet compendium of the latter is translated here by the award-winning Nelson and Espeland and animated by Hawkes’ dynamic, colorful acrylic-and-pencil renderings, effectively capturing the playfulness of Rasmussen’s verse in both sound and image. As he explores life’s many processes, activities and imagined situations, Rasmussen’s delightfully warped sense of humor is in full view. It ranges from potty humor—“Feet are to jump on, / drums are to thump on. / Tiptoes to snoop on, / and potties to poop on!”—to outright silliness—“The elf puts on his winter coat […] and then, before he goes, / puts on an empty ice-cream cone / to insulate his nose.” But the poet also does not shy away from more serious subjects, such as the cultivation of friendships, using a light touch to convey his pacifist message: “Those fierce grown-up soldiers / who shoot guns and fight / should learn from us children / to fight a war right. / First, fight with toy guns. / Then, if your war won’t end, / you tickle your enemy / into a friend!”
Children of all ages will be charmed by this collection that demonstrates that poet-translators often make the best ambassadors. (Picture book/poetry. 3-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-2379-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams.
Readers learn about a keystone species and the habitat they create.
In a “House That Jack Built” style (though minus the cumulative repetition), Sonenshine introduces children to beavers. Beginning with a beaver who’s just gnawed down a willow near their lodge, the author moves on to the dam that blocks the stream and protects their domed home and then to the yearlings that are working to repair it with sticks and mud. Muskrats and a musk turtle take advantage of the safety of the beavers’ lodge, while Coyote tries (and fails) to breach it. Then the book turns to other animals that enjoy the benefits of the pond the beavers have created: goose, ducklings, heron, moose. While the beavers aren’t in all these illustrations, evidence of them is. And then suddenly a flood takes out both the dam and the beavers’ lodge. So, the beavers move upstream to find a new spot to dam and build again, coming full circle back to the beginning of the book. Hunter’s ink-and–colored pencil illustrations have a scratchy style that is well suited to the beavers’ pelts, their watery surroundings, and the other animals that share their habitat. Careful observers will be well rewarded by the tiny details. Beavers are mostly nocturnal, which isn’t always faithfully depicted by Hunter. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams. (beaver facts, glossary, further resources) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1868-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Useful, if not vital, for a back-to-school collection and good for reading aloud.
Poems about school staff aim to reassure anxious young students.
Prolific anthologist Hopkins encourages his audience with a series of poems describing school personnel, from the bus driver and crossing guard to the librarian and sympathetic nurse. He opens with the building’s welcome—“I am waiting—come on in!”—from Rebecca Kai Dotlich. Most adults are described from a child’s point of view. Matt Forrest Esenwine’s bus driver has a “good-morning smile.” In Michele Krueger’s art teacher’s room, “my imagination soars.” Irene Latham’s music teacher makes us “walk in music like morning rain.” Shi’s digital illustrations show students of varying ethnicities and a staff diverse in age and gender though not so much in race. They add significant details. The white custodian smilingly feeds a guinea pig; the brown-skinned, male librarian wears groovy shades. A small dog follows the children who walk to school and is waiting for its owner, a little brown-skinned child, at the end of the day. This surprisingly even collection includes short poems by 14 different authors including the compiler. These are mostly free verse, with two exceptions. The rhyming couplets Darren Sardelli uses to describe the custodian come as a pleasing change of pace. Alma Flor Ada takes advantage of the rhyming sounds of Spanish to celebrate learning that will “spice up / a world / twice as flavorful.”
Useful, if not vital, for a back-to-school collection and good for reading aloud. (Picture book/poetry. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62979-703-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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