A fine, child-friendly introduction to Keats by way of one of his most accessible works.
An adaptation of the well-known John Keats poem endorses youthful discovery.
There’s really nothing that naughty about the English boy in the Keats poem who “would not be quiet” and “would not stop at home.” The boy is full of energy, ever moving, ever exploring. When he follows his curiosity “to the mountains / and fountains,” then eventually runs away to Scotland, it’s with the intent of finding something new and different. Instead, while there, he realizes that the ground is just “as hard,” a yard just “as long,” and a song just “as merry” as they are in England. Slighter, jollier, and sweeter than much of the Keats corpus, the poem is illustrated with delicate watercolor sketches in green and sepia on white space (these come across as long-cherished memories or dreams) interspersed with full-bleed pages of impressionistic full-color art that introduce each of the poem’s four stanzas. The lively illustrations incorporate vignettes, montages, and continuous narration. One could quibble that they are too itemized, a painted play-by-play of every line of the poem, but given its straightforward nature, this doesn't feel like a misstep. Silverstein resists the temptation of modernizing the poem for contemporary audiences, instead opting for a timeless aesthetic that recalls European illustration of the golden age of children’s literature. All characters present White. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A fine, child-friendly introduction to Keats by way of one of his most accessible works. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-58988-162-4
Page Count: 54
Publisher: Paul Dry Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and quiet homage to friendship, nature, and the power of words and poetry.
A little girl enjoys writing poems and gets an unexpected surprise when she writes a poem and gives it to a tree, making “the world more splendid."
Sylvia marks the end of winter with a poem about springtime. After reading it to a squirrel, she ties it to a tree (“hoping that it didn’t count as littering”). When she passes the tree on her way to school the next day, she finds a surprise—another poem on the tree. “She never imagined the tree might write back.” Sylvia continues to write poems to the tree and waits to find the next poem. When she realizes a teasing classmate, Walt, is the author of the other poems, she is sad: “Had the tree she loved so much not given her a thing?” Not too unsurprisingly, the two poets become friends, harmoniously trading rhymes beneath the tree that has brought them together. Using precise, intelligent prose, Reynolds captures moments of a child’s innocence: “ ‘So what’s your name?’ Sylvia asked the tree. But the tree stood in silence. ‘Are you shy like me?’ The tree nodded in the breeze. Sylvia understood.” Maydani’s delicate, pencil-and-watercolor paintings, suffused with spring pastels, affectionately invest Sylvia (who has brown skin), Walt (who presents white), and even the tree with personality.
A sweet and quiet homage to friendship, nature, and the power of words and poetry. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-399-53912-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
A poem about the pandemic with vivid illustrations and a strong environmental message.
During a period of quarantine, people discover new ways to live—and new lessons about how to care for the planet—in this debut picture book.
In this work’s poem, O’Meara describes lockdowns experienced by many across the world during the first days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Beginning with the title phrase, the author discusses quiet activities of solitude and togetherness as well as more boisterous ways of interacting. These times of being apart give people a new perspective, and when they reunite, “they grieved their losses, / and made new choices” to restore the planet. The spare verse allows the illustrations by Di Cristofaro and Pereda to take center stage. The colorful, slightly abstract cartoons depict a rainbow of people and pets, many of them living in apartments but some residing in larger, greener spaces. Images of nature healing show the author’s vision of hope for the future. While this was written in March and originally published as an online poem, the lack of an explicit mention of the reason behind the lockdowns (and the omission of the experiences of essential workers) could offer readers an opportunity to imagine a planetary healing beyond the pandemic that inspired the piece. The accessible prose and beautiful images make this a natural selection for young readers, but older ones may appreciate the work’s deeper meaning.
A poem about the pandemic with vivid illustrations and a strong environmental message.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73476-178-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tra Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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