November 23, 2015
In illustrator Archer’s first book as author, rich, multilayered collages illuminate a celebration of nature’s beauty. At the city park gates, a boy with brown skin and dark curly hair sees a sign advertising a poetry event on Sunday. “What is poetry?” Daniel wonders. A page turn shows him gazing through a spider’s web hung with hundreds of tiny, rainbow-colored droplets of water. “To me,” the spider says, “poetry is when morning dew glistens.” Each spread brings an encounter with an animal and a new thought about poetry. Daniel peers wide-eyed into a chipmunk’s hole (“Poetry is a home with many windows in an old stone wall”) and trails a hand in a frog pond (“Poetry is a cool pond to dive into”). When Sunday comes, he’s seen in silhouette in the park in front of a small audience, reciting a poem woven from the animals’ answers. A story like this might take place in the country, but in setting hers in a large urban park, Archer (The Wise Fool) asserts that poetry and nature belong to city children, too. Ages 5–8.
November 15, 2015
Collage illustrations offer early readers an introduction to the beauty of poetry through the warmhearted relationships between a young boy and the friendly animals in his local park. Readers meet young Daniel, a light-skinned black boy. He is befuzzled on a Monday morning walk through the park by the sign "Poetry in the park / Sunday at 6 o'clock." Drawing on his Dr. Dolittle-esque friendships with the resident animals, he spends the week on a journey through serene landscapes to learn "What is poetry?" Thanks to Spider, Chipmunk, Turtle, Owl, and more, inquisitive Daniel collects hints in the form of metaphor along the way. Spider says that "poetry is when morning dew glistens." Frog says poetry is "cool pools to dive into." The liveliness of the language discloses early poetic mechanics such as alliteration ("sun-warmed sand"), onomatopoeia ("crisp leaves crunch"), a pinch of consonance (those internally rhyming "cool pools"). Readers travel from morning to evening, from Monday to Sunday, until Daniel arrives at the reading, assembling these textured phrases for his own poetic performance in front of a respectful crowd. In accessible yet colorful language, Archer reminds readers that poetry exists all around us. A vividly illustrated, inventively told opportunity for early readers to grasp the power of language to observe, entertain, and mystify. (Picture book. 4-8)
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January 1, 2016
Gr 1-3-Daniel, a curious boy with dark curly hair and wide wondering eyes, discovers the meaning of poetry in this enchanting picture book. On Monday, he notices a sign advertising an event called Poetry in the Park. He wonders, "What is poetry?" His friend Spider informs Daniel that poetry is "when morning dew glistens." Proceeding chronologically through the days of the week, Daniel asks a different denizen of the park the same question and receives a new answer every time. To the wild creatures who live in the park, poetry is everything from "when crisp leaves crunch" to "singing at twilight." Finally, on Sunday, Daniel realizes that all of the responses he received are correct. He will find poetry around every corner within the boundaries of the beautiful park. Archer's atmospheric and evocative collage illustrations enhance the sense of peace and contentment shared by Daniel and his animal friends. The final picture, in which the boy sits quietly contemplating a kaleidoscope of colors splashed across the mirrorlike water, reveals what poetry is for him: "the sunset sky reflecting in the pond." VERDICT Readers who revel in the everyday small miracles in nature will identify with Daniel and appreciate this lyrical story.-Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 1, 2016
Preschool-G In this fetching testament to the maxim that poetry is all around us, Daniel spends his days in a dreamy park exploring nature and finding answers to the question, What is poetry? Glorious flora and handsomely textured rocks are abundant in Daniel's park, and friendly fauna each has a different answer to his question. On Monday, Spider offers, To me, poetry is when morning dew glistens. On Tuesday, Squirrel tells him, Poetry is when crisp leaves crunch. Chipmunk, Frog, Turtle, Cricket, and Owl all give input in succession. By Sunday, Daniel's question is answered, and he is able to infuse each critter's sense of poetry into his own poem for the Poetry in the Park Program. The lush oil illustrations, which consist of collages made from tissue paper and patterned with handmade stamps, create a world saturated in color and texture, complementing the animals' well-chosen words about beauty and poetry in the natural world. Readers will take many repeat visits to Daniel's inviting park.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2016
Daniel, a young brown-skinned boy who knows every inch of his city's park, discovers something new to explore when he sees a sign announcing "Poetry in the Park" on Sunday. Curious about what poetry is, he asks the animals around him and learns that poetry means something unique to each. Vibrant oil, stamp, and paper-collage illustrations complement this simple yet lyrical meditation.
(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)