Imaginary animals

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

the poetry shelf Two new poetry anthologies present poetry as a key to unlocking the imagination. Charles Sullivan collects over 80 poems for Imaginary Animals: Poetry and Art for Young People. A companion to Imaginary Architecture, the entertaining volume encompasses poems on such subjects as the Loch Ness monster and talking to cats; featured poets include William Blake, Galway Kinnell, Sylvia Plath and Ogden Nash. The illustrations are unusually varied, ranging from paintings by Berthe Morisot and Winslow Homer to photographs of a Trojan Horse vase from ancient Greece, Henry Moore's sculpture Sheep Piece, Salvador Dali's Lobster Telephone, the gargoyles of Notre Dame and Bigfoot. Half of the 80 illustrations are in color. A more conventional compilation, The Children's Classic Poetry Collection by Nicola Baxter, illus. by Cathie Shuttleworth, puts nursery rhymes side by side with well-known poems by Tennyson and Byron, among others. The selections, divided into such categories as "Dreams and Wonders" and "Bright and Beautiful," represent a wide range of reading levels. The 50 color illustrations veer toward the precious; e.g., freckled girls with big bonnets, striped stockings and puffy skirts.

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-Beware the Jabberwock-and all of the other delightful animals, both real and imaginary, that appear here. From the Bible to Ogden Nash, William Butler Yeats, Aesop, and D. H. Lawrence, the voices of many poets are featured here. Each is matched with a work of fine art by talents as diverse as Andy Warhol, Marc Chagall, Frida Kahlo, and Winslow Homer; all of the creatures seem to be right at home on the page. Horses roam and fish swim-but readers must also be alert to prancing centaurs, rearing dragons, and the Loch Ness monster. Individually, Salvador Dal's photo of a lobster telephone might seem out of place, but collectively included with primitive sculptures and pencil sketches, it provides insight into how differently artists may interpret the same object. Familiar poems featuring animal references such as Carl Sandburg's "Fog" and William Blake's "The Tiger" are included as well as more obscure, but revealing, lines about rhinos, crows, fish, and purple cows. This is a first-rate edition of not just poems about animals, but also about how their existence affects everything around us. These pages are at once playful, realistic, and impressionistic. The selections may spark readers' interest in other works by the artists and poets represented. It's a great browsing book and a true delight.-Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI

Kirkus Reviews

That many of these animals are not imaginary at all hardly detracts from the excellent selection of more than 80 poems juxtaposed with stunning works of art—photos, paintings, drawings, and sculpture—in this sequel to Sullivan's Imaginary Gardens (1989).

Among the creatures are the Sphinx, the "Nessie" of Loch Ness, the gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral, and St. George's dragon. Poets writing about them include Jorge Luis Borges, e.e. cummings, Marianne Moore, Jonathan Swift, Sylvia Plath, Ogden Nash, and a host of others. It may be the illustrative material that sets this book apart. Richard Wilbur's poem "The Ride" is illustrated by one of Marc Chagall's gentlest paintings, "The Poet Reclining." A reproduction of Julia Kunin's "Red Suede Saddles" illustrates Rita Dove's "Horse and Tree." Barbara Angell's lyrical "The Crow" is accompanied by two pieces: Romare Bearden's "Morning of the Rooster" and Alexander Calder's "Cattails and Bird." It all makes for a book to be savored. Lovely.