(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Robin Bell Corfield. Cricket song, icicles, weeds, and comets are some of the closely observed subjects of these poems. Using simple language and varied cadences, Levy's brief, humor-imbued poems render the familiar fresh. A bur is "a pod / of seeds / with an urge / to travel / but no wings to fly"; a large spider web is "lacy and round / a tablecloth / for a manhole cover." For fostering new ways of seeing the everyday world, this is accessible and engaging.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Katya Krenina. On a long ago Halloween, three children dress as ghosts and visit the house of Boo Scoggins. Illustrated with spooky artwork that emphasizes shades of black and gray, the children encounter bats, a phantom, and a freshly dug grave as they make their way up the hill to Boo's house. The poem's rhyme occasionally falters, and a typo in the explanation of the rhyme scheme on the last page will confuse readers.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Gary Kelley. Lewis proves himself a stellar student of Lear in an affectionate tribute to "that crazy old Englishman, oh!" Some poems are based on actual events from Lear's life; the introduction states that others are pure nonsense. Dark-hued illustrations provide a seemingly striking contrast to the verses' playfulness, reflecting the starchy world of Victorian England, but a closer look reveals they, too, contain drollery worthy of Lear. A chronology of Lear's life is included.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Debbie Tilley. Brief rhymes indirectly describe common objects, such as a kite, a raisin, and a fire truck. The reader must identify these items using the clever hints in the verses and the sometimes more obvious clues displayed in the lighthearted color illustrations. A fine sense of fun and wordplay make this unusual work succeed as both a poetry volume and a riddle book.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Lisa Desimini. Through fanciful design and illustration, these poems take both shape and flight as they soar through the imaginative landscape. Inventively rhymed, each of the small, witty poems is a concrete poem--designed to take the form of its subject. Desimini's mixed-media collage provides a wide variety of backdrops for the poems. A true collaboration of text and art presenting poems that are pictures that are poems . . . .

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 1998

(3) K-3 Doodlebugs, black widow spiders, ladybugs, cockroaches, crickets, stink bugs, and fleas are some of the creepy-crawly stars of twenty-four mostly rhyming poems. Full of clever wordplay and sly humor, the verses will equally amuse both children and adults. Comical and campy, the watercolors capture the poems' buggy subjects with droll perfection.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Thomas Locker. Thirteen authors, including John Muir, Willa Cather, Joseph Bruchac, and Eloise Greenfield, describe in prose and poetry the landscape of different parts of the country and how it affects their vision of "home." Locker's lush oil paintings capture a sense of each place, from the Pacific Ocean and the southwest to the prairies and New England.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(2) PS Translated by Empress Michiko of Japan. Illustrated by Mitsumasa Anno. Capturing the voice of earliest childhood with simple and limited vocabulary, Mado crafts his second book of poems available in English, each composition accompanied by the original Japanese on the verso. Although certain poems teeter on the precious, the best create strikingly childlike original images. Anno's monochromatic decorations honor the book's understated simplicity.

Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1998

(4) YA Jamaica Kincaid, V. S. Pritchett, and several Nobel laureates are featured in an anthology that showcases multinational perspectives on growing up. Although unquestionably well-rendered, the stories are often written from a distanced adult perspective, which forfeits immediacy. Additionally, the protagonists range from Santa-believing youngsters to teenagers, making the audience for the book uncertain. Helpful biographical notes are included.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) K-3 Champion spitters, fish with legs, aliens, giant gorillas, and neighborhood bullies populate sixty-five plus poems brimful with irreverent, often subversive, silliness. In "It Must Be the Devil in Me" McNaughton unapologetically offers that he'd like to write nice poetry, "but I yam what I yam--I'm juvenile!" And kids will surely take to these poems for their sophomoric sense of humor. Lively watercolor pictures on every page add to the puerile fun. Ind.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. This book might be more appropriately titled The Complete Poems of Christopher Robin, since Pooh Bear appears only a few times in this collection of the full texts of When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. Milne's charming verses belong on every bookshelf, but the uneven colorization of Shepard's line drawings mars this presentation--some of the dark shades nearly obliterate the fine pen marks that provide definition, movement, and character. Brief biographical sketches of Milne and Shepard are included.

Reviewer: Anne St. John

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jan Brett. The classic Christmas poem is illustrated with Brett's characteristically detailed paintings, which feature scenes of the adventures of two stowaway elves on Santa's sleigh. Many of the familiar events of the narrative are illustrated along the borders, and it is jarring for the text to have so little in common with some of the large, main pictures.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(4) K-3 Around the turn of the last century Arthur Rackham, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Thomas Nast, among others, created illustrations for the well-loved poem. The work of more than twenty artists graces the pages of this volume, giving Santa Claus an impressive variety of faces and providing readers with a glimpse of early versions of the story. The book will appeal more to adults than children.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(4) K-3 Translated by Pat Mora. Illustrated by Francisco X. Mora. Young readers experience a noche de fiesta complete with mariachis, salsa, and delicious fruits, and attended by various nocturnal desert animals. The somewhat stilted poem, presented in both English and Spanish, rhymes in both languages. The simple geometric patterns and warm colors of the illustrations help convey the southwestern setting.

Reviewer:

(3) K-3 The landscape, animals, and people of the Southwest are vividly described in this lyrical collection. Mora's poetry resonates with lush images, from the quiet immensity of the desert night sky to the tension before a desert storm and the songs of all living things following a refreshing rain. Jenkins's cut-paper collages extend the earthy yet mystical tone of the poems. A glossary of Spanish words is appended.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 4-6 Books of Wonder series. This handsome volume encompasses a wide range of spooky stories, including a folktale adaptation by James Haskins, a Southern gothic narrative by Madeleine L'Engle, and tales by masters of the genre H. P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, and--represented by a chilling vignette--Arthur Conan Doyle. Each story is accompanied by a suitably atmospheric illustration by Moser.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Loretta Krupinski. With a few small changes Clement C. Moore's Christmas classic becomes a rodent's-eye view of St. Nick's immortal visit. A sleepless mouse witnesses St. Nick's arrival and his dispersal of gifts; nestled in the jolly man's cap is his tiny counterpart, a mouse Santa who busily distributes his own bag of gifts. Many of the precisely rendered and vividly hued illustrations appear stiff, but they depict an appealingly cozy and diminutive Borrower-esque world behind the baseboards.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 4-6 Archival black-and-white photographs of African-American children and families illustrate Myers's poems about the love between mothers and their offspring. The rhythmically varied verses range in tone from the spirited "Don't Mess with Grandmama and Me" to the reflective "Trees." Although the subject is more likely to appeal to adults, the images of turn-of-the-century black families are intriguing.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(2) YA Nye invites us to alter our images of this most complicated region and get behind the stereotypes to see the human connections in themes as universal as reverence for the child, love of family, passion for one's homeland, and sadness and anger about exile from one's land. Although much of the book presents ponderous issues, this collection is everywhere lightened with joyous language and fanciful art. Ind.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(4) YA This collection of over thirty chilling stories, accompanied by suitably atmospheric pen-and-ink illustrations, encompasses a number of genres, including fantasy, mystery, and horror. Many of the tales concern adults, and the repeated technique of ending a story just before the imminent demise of a lead character becomes somewhat weary. A scattering of short dark comedy pieces is a welcome relief.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.