GINGERBREAD DAYS
by Joyce Carol Thomas & illustrated by Floyd Cooper
An amiable companion to Thomas and Cooper's Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea (1993). Once again, art and poetry are restrained and disarmingly inspirational. The 12 poems, one for each month, quietly celebrate the power of extended family, the strength passed from father to son, the comfort of a mother's touch, a birthday, the coming of summer vacation, faith, and love. Perhaps the book's message is best expressed in the last line of the book, in ``December Song'': ``I'll always remember/That people are more important than things.'' Cooper's characteristic soft-focus paintings are perfectly pitched and never sentimental. They heighten and extend the affectionate tone of a text that is full of feeling as it trumpets simple togetherness. (Picture book/poetry. 6-10)