(2) K-3 Petite Poems series. Illustrated by Tatyana Feeney. In this entry in a series that illustrates existing poems, Feeney takes on Sandburg's 1916 poem, written from the point of view of a pumpkin. On double-page spreads with striking backgrounds, children gather pumpkins and celebrate Halloween. Cheerful hues dominate at first ("I light the prairie cornfields") and give way to Halloween night-appropriate shades of black ("Children join hands...Singing ghost songs / And love to the harvest moon"), but orange and the titular yellow are always present and help emphasize the holiday's festive atmosphere. The poem's full text and discussion of it, plus background on Sandburg, are appended.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2023

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Robert Crawford. These handsomely designed and illustrated books introduce the work and lives of these masterful poets; each book's editor explains the poet's intentions and much of the difficult vocabulary and ideas found in the verses. Frost's poetry is probably most accessible, though none of them were writing for youngsters, and many of the poems and excerpts may remain challenging. No harm in trying, though! Ind. Review covers these Poetry for Kids titles: Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger. Originally published as part of his Rootabaga Stories collection, Sandburg's text is a quirky, rhythmic recounting by a father to his daughter about the Dancing Slipper Moon. Litzinger's contribution of rounded country-dwelling characters and swirling nightscapes in watercolor, colored pencil, ink, and gouache makes the deliciously meandering story easier to follow (though some of the nonsense phrasing may still confuse readers).

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Maud Petersham & Miska Petersham. Colorful new jackets adorn these reissues, which inside retain the Petershams' original black-and-white drawings. [Review covers these titles: More Rootabaga Stories and Rootabaga Stories.]

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Maud Petersham & Miska Petersham. Colorful new jackets adorn these reissues, which inside retain the Petershams' original black-and-white drawings. [Review covers these titles: More Rootabaga Stories and Rootabaga Stories.]

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Lynn Smith-Ary. Eleven of Sandburg's most accessible poems are arranged to suggest the cycle of a day on his farm. Two of Sandburg's favorite verses by other poets--Emily Dickinson's "Bee! I'm Expecting You!" and "The Horse Named Bill" by Red Lewis--also appear in the collection. Crayon and colored-pencil pictures, although occasionally awkward, have a homespun flair, depicting a multicultural group of children spending a happy day with Sandburg.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(2) K-3 Illustrated by David Small. This selection from Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories is subtly sophisticated, rooted in recognizable fairy-tale conventions, and tempered with homespun ambiance. Figures are drawn in a style reminiscent of the regional artists of the thirties; they are always in action, a feeling reinforced by the artist's agile line washed in colors suggestive of the prairie setting.

Reviewer: Mary M. Burns | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1999

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Istvan Banyai. Pen-and-ink illustrations with an antic spirit illustrate a batch of previously unpublished poems for children by the American literary giant Carl Sandburg. The nineteen brief verses present ordinary objects--eggs, ears, buttons, pencils, and chairs--in a fresh, quirky manner. Sandburg's poems remind us that the obvious is worth revisiting and the world's imponderables are worth pondering.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(3) 4-6 The conversational tone of much of Sandburg's verse underscores his intimacy with the Midwest landscape he so adeptly evokes in these fifteen poems. From the shrilling of summer crickets to the bygone pageants of buffalo, Sandburg's images are both ordinary and mythic. Beautiful, precisely detailed watercolor paintings reveal Minor's affinity for American's heartland, which is as heartfelt as the poet's.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(4) K-3 In Sandburg's never-before-published poem, a young man smitten by love goes to Herculean lengths to bring his sweetheart an aurora borealis as a birthday gift. Echoing Sandburg's description of the Northern Lights as "shimmering and swimmering," the whimsical paintings depict a gauzy and ever-changing veil of chromatic luminescence. While charmingly executed in words and pictures, the concept of love as a struggle may appeal most to YAs and adults.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.