The Horn Book Guide

LITERATURE

Janeczko, Paul B.

Very Best (almost) Friends: Poems of Friendship

37 pp. | Candlewick | January, 1999 | Trade ISBN 0-7636-0475-5 $$12.99

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Christine Davenier. That friendship is composed of thorns as well as roses, to borrow a metaphor from Betsy Hearne's "Listening," is central to this collection of two dozen poems--though most of the selections cling to the more traditional definition of the subject. The watercolors depict every possible attitude of friendship; most of the poems appear in other collections but rarely in such an appealing format.

Reviewer: Nancy Vasilakis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 1998