This loving, welcoming introduction to one of the most important American writers of the 20th century centers young black...
Award-winning illustrator Crews breathes new life into the poetry of the late Wright, who found solace and wonder in the traditional Japanese haiku form before he died.
Wright is world-renowned as a master of language and chronicler of the African-American experience whose works remain discussed and relevant today. As his health began to fail him in 1959, Wright took to haiku as a way to try something new and to teach his teenage daughter about the natural wonders he remembered growing up among in the American South. In her photo-collage illustrations, Crews accents the haiku through the perspective of African-American boys, positioning readers to imagine the everyday sights and sounds of plants and animals, forests and farms through a young brown boy’s eyes. Overlapping images fragment the landscapes but never the humans depicted, underscoring the longevity and permanence of the African-American people. Following that formula, the illustration for the titular haiku shows a young black boy with stick in hand and eye to the sky, which is so many blue squares, white space underneath promising a world without limits. The verse offers a warm natural optimism that may show an aging Wright’s renewed hope: “A spring sky so clear / That you feel you are seeing / Into tomorrow.”
This loving, welcoming introduction to one of the most important American writers of the 20th century centers young black boys as supreme observers and interrogators of the natural wonders that surround them. (biographical note, further reading) (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5124-1865-1
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing.
Both technique and imaginative impulse can be found in this useful selection of poems about the literary art.
Starting with the essentials of the English language, the letters of “Our Alphabet,” the collection moves through 21 other poems of different types, meters, and rhyme schemes. This anthology has clear classroom applications, but it will also be enjoyed by individual readers who can pore carefully over playful illustrations filled with diverse children, butterflies, flowers, books, and pieces of writing. Tackling various parts of the writing process, from “How To Begin” through “Revision Is” to “Final Edit,” the poems also touch on some reasons for writing, like “Thank You Notes” and “Writing About Reading.” Some of the poems are funny, as in the quirky, four-line “If I Were an Octopus”: “I’d grab eight pencils. / All identical. / I’d fill eight notebooks. / One per tentacle.” An amusing undersea scene dominated by a smiling, orangy octopus fills this double-page spread. Some of the poems are more focused (and less lyrical) than others, such as “Final Edit” with its ending stanzas: “I check once more to guarantee / all is flawless as can be. / Careless errors will discredit / my hard work. / That’s why I edit. / But I don’t like it. / There I said it.” At least the poet tries for a little humor in those final lines.
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-362-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Every educator knows the bathroom pass is an escape route for students. While neither condemning nor condoning that...
Dakos adds another collection to the poetry shelf, this one taking its inspiration from the school bathroom.
Every educator knows the bathroom pass is an escape route for students. While neither condemning nor condoning that behavior, Dakos’ poetry explores the many reasons kids might need that release: to get away from a bully, to chat with a friend, to cry about something happening at home, to celebrate a victory or agonize over a defeat and, of course, to use the toilet. Standouts among the silly poems include "Trapped!," about a boy stuck in a stall during recess and "The Bathroom Dance," which speaks for itself. The highlights of the serious offerings focus on telling secrets ("Blabbermouth") and divorce ("Crying in the Bathroom"). Many, while outwardly funny, challenge kids to delve a little deeper: “We were in the bathroom, / the bully and I. / He punched me, / I punched him back, / and that’s when he cried!” While there is some potty humor, Dakos keeps it from getting too disgusting, and several poems focus on good bathroom hygiene. Reminiscent of Quentin Blake’s drawings, Beech’s vignettes masterfully capture the essence of each poem, and children will be able to read his characters’ facial expressions and body language like an open book.Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8075-2675-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
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