WELCOME TO THE WONDER HOUSE

Set within 12 ethereal “rooms,” 29 poems contemplate the wonders of Earth, sea, sky, and beyond.

Co-authors Dotlich and Heard each offer one or more poems on each double-page spread. For “Room of Curiosity,” Dotlich lists 10 questions about Earth (as well as Saturn and meteorites), while Heard presents a two-line, koanlike verse: “Keep an open heart, / that’s where curiosity likes to start.” In “Room of Praise,” poems celebrate raindrops, house spiders, and paper: “the way it is so papery / as it waits for me / to trace my hand / or spill my heart.” The poets infuse their verse with vibrant, child-accessible imagery. A pond’s whirligig beetles twirl “like tiny bumper cars that never touch.” “Thunder drums the skin of sky, / striking / an / electric / scar / from cloud to cloud.” Freedman’s depictions of vaporous clouds and starry skies have a watercolorlike look. Against these miasmas, she places images of tools and utensils (a pencil appears repeatedly), windows, fire escape ladders, visual jokes, and more, in a palette contrasting warm earth tones with blue-grays that evoke water and sky; several pages are reminiscent of vintage scientific illustration. This slim volume teems with STEAM extensions, from exploring poetic forms and devices to investigating scientific facts and hypotheses. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A beautifully conceived invitation: to look, see, wonder.