HOME SWEET HOME

A prayer honors all living things, but neglects truths about humans' relationship with nature, and romanticizes life in modern times. Marzollo (with Walter Wick, I Spy School Days, 1995, etc.) uses rhyme to express thankfulness for ``each cloud in the sky, each stalk of rye''—the details of nature that vivify our existence on earth. Except for a scene of a bear about to devour a fish, Wolff's illustrations mostly echo the words, portraying a world full of abundance and wonder. Apple and pear boughs are laden with fruit, ants creep, dolphins dive, and people fly kites on a sunny day while laundry flaps in the breeze. Unfortunately, this is thankfulness for a benevolent, orderly, idealized world, where creatures live without fear and amid plenty in their homes. It's a place where there are only nuclear families and no Nintendo64; adults long for it, but children no longer live in it—if they ever did. (Picture book. 4-8)