TAKE OFF YOUR BRAVE

An imaginative young poet makes his debut.

Whether one should look at the art or the artist is an age-old question. In this case, the artist is a 4-year-old who wrote a poem in preschool, fell in love with poetry, and continued to create poems that were then recorded by his mother (and later, as he learned to write, by himself). Accompanied by energetic illustrations full of buoyant, frolicking children of varying races, the results of his first year of writing are striking: imaginative phrases, perceptive moments, and poems that feel finished in a unique way, with some bits and pieces you’d expect from a 4-year-old, not at all a bad thing. As a picture of a precocious and talented child’s perceptions and expressions, these poems are fresh and exciting, while as a collection of memorable poems, this selection presents a preschooler's world. Teachers can use the structures of some of the lines as jumping-off points for students, and kids will be delighted to see the work of a peer in print. The poems themselves capture the newness and excitement of being a child, making friends, loving your mom, hoping, wishing, and learning how to express feelings by painting a picture with words. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A colorful, warm collection that young readers and poets will savor.