BAREFOOT

This pleasant collection of diverse verse celebrates the feats our feet help us complete and the joys of going shoeless. “Naturally / naked feet / don’t need / superglue / or superheat / No supernatural / supersonic / supercharging / supertonic / Naturally / naked feet / are / entirely / complete. . . . ” Some touch on family relationships: “If” on the love of being danced around on Daddy’s feet, and “Mama” on energizing a tired mother with a foot massage at the end of her work day. Others observe feet on trampolines or in bubbling Jacuzzi’s or feeling the wind out a car window. Form-wise, all the usual suspects are present: rhyme, list poems, free verse, shaped-verse. McElrath-Eslick’s realistic watercolors are somewhat uneven, but they all extend their accompanying verse. Author of one collection for adults, Weisburd’s first for children would fit in large collections or schools with a need for poetry on the body. (Picture book. 5-9)