Stimulating exchanges, often veering off in unexpected directions.
Sallies and responses in verse make up a dialogue between two poets living on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
Many of the paired poems here have previously appeared in separate collections, but all are well integrated into this new work. Following introductory squibs (“I’m John Agard. / I’m supposed to be a poet.” “Be on your guard with Agard, / and with Lawson, use caution”), the two exchange pithy, usually lighthearted observations on multiple themes from hats to fingers, pigeons to silly pets. Though Agard’s love story of a cow and a cat prefaces Lawson’s tale of a romance between an octopus and a seahorse, the connections are seldom so direct; Agard refers to “Salt” in one poem, for instance, and Lawson writes of “Peppercorn.” Similarly, Lawson’s cautionary tale of what happened when Humpty Dumpty took refuge under a chicken leads Agard to reflect on nature vs. nurture: “Was it a little gene / that caused Jack Sprat / to eat no fat / and his wife to eat no lean?” Kitamura opens with caricatures of the two authors, then goes on to add generally tongue-in-cheek monochrome images of relevant animals, human figures with paper-white skin, decorative bits of abstract patterns, or informally drawn spot items. A page of suggested activities at the end invites readers intrigued by this interplay of poems, pictures, and ideas to create similar conversations with their own words or pictures.
Stimulating exchanges, often veering off in unexpected directions. (Poetry. 7-11)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781536238990
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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
BOOK REVIEW
Broad and subtle in turn—verse to stay with readers for years to come.
A tasty mix of visionary and nonsense verses, lavishly illustrated by a recent Caldecott Medalist.
Systematically gathered into seven loosely thematic groups, the poems, likewise tidy of rhyme and scansion, range from meditations on “Zero” and the many colors of the sky to silly wordplay (“What kind of pizza / do you like to eatsa?”) and a droll paean to pasta that rhymes spaghetti with yeti. The notion of flying away almost serves as a running theme; in various entries, a piñata, a child on “Jetpack Sneakers,” a breaching whale, and, for a moment, a boy waking to a sparrow’s song take off into the sky. Salati depicts a menagerie of creatures both real and imaginary that share space with a rich and racially diverse assortment of small figures who often resemble Maurice Sendak’s Nutshell Library outtakes for their large-headed, stubby-limbed looks and balletic poses. The entries are lighthearted overall; several read like nursery rhymes. Burgess displays a keen intuition for what will get kids laughing—and what will make them think. One poem, perhaps a reference to current politics, invites them to “leave the shouters with their schemes / while we continue with our dreams,” while another urges them to “live your dream / Reign supreme / King or queen / or something / delightfully / in between.”
Broad and subtle in turn—verse to stay with readers for years to come. (index) (Poetry. 7-11)Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781774880289
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
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