Rhyming reads for every need
Prolific poet and Newbery Medal-winning author Kwame Alexander releases a poetry gem, and a few other rhyming tales bring verse to late-winter blues.
“When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons” by Julie Fogliano; pictures by Julie Morstad; A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press; 56 pages; $18.99.
Arranged like a diary with date entries, this celebration of all things seasonal and natural is sweet and whimsical, with folksy fun illustrations. Beginning with March 20, Julia Fogliano describes spring: “from a snow-covered tree/one bird singing/each tweet poking a tiny hole/through the edge of winter/and landing carefully/balancing gently on the tip of spring.” Her ode to all the joys of the outdoors makes floating in a river, pondering wildflowers’ names, welcoming a firefly, jumping in leaves and donning a favorite hat in the snow seem magical and serene.
Julie Morstad’s almost thumbprint-like characters are wide-eyed, innocent depictions of children and animals. “When Green Becomes Tomatoes” is a simply lovely wonderfilled capture of life and childhood self-expression.
“Old MacDonald’s Things That Go” by Jane Clarke; illustrated by Migy Blanco; Nosy Crow/Candlewick Press; 32 pages; $15.99.
“Old MacDonald had a farm. He loved things that go!” starts Jane Clarke’s zesty, energetic picture-book rhyme, a moving-things take on the original. With funny, vintage-looking illustrations, and hilarious farm animals zipping about on bikes, in 1950s-era sedans, purple tractors, speed boats and a turquoise crop duster, her rhyming singsong is a hoot and a holler. Going from “With a wee-ooo here, weeooo there. Here a wee, there an ooo, everywhere a wee-ooo,” to “With a ding-ding here/ and a ding-ding there,” and then finally back to the beginning refrain, Clarke’s barnyard vehicle read-aloud is a knee-slapping winner.
Funniest is Old MacDonald himself; With big, round eyes and a full silver beard, he’s always smiling and zooming about with his rambunctious animals.
“Love Is” by Diane Adams; illustrated by Claire Keane; Chronicle Books; 28 pages; $15.99.
Diane Adams’ retro-tinged smaller picture book is the tender, funny and heartwarming story of a little girl (an African-American girl, for those searching for tales starring multicultural kids) and a personable duckling. The girl learns that “Love is holding something fragile,/ tiny wings and downy head,” and that “Love is waking up together,/ side by side, and beak to nose.” Eventually, though, as the duckling grows and runs amuck in the house, “It’s sensing when the time is right/ to lift those wings, to travel on.” Though the girl is a bit sad after her duckling leaves the nest, she returns to the park and realizes “love is also watching, waving, wondering if love remembers you, and knowing in a happy instant that love has lasted ... and grown some, too.”
A precious book celebrating love, growing and even the importance of taking proper care of animals, “Love Is” is a perfect spring gift book for young children.