NAUGHTY BOY

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.