Forests & Trees, Poetry - General & Miscellaneous, Poetry - Nature

Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems

Name: Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems
Author: Kristine O'Connell George
ISBN: 9780618752423

by Kristine O'Connell George, Kate Kiesler

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Overview

This tree across the stream is a trickier bridge than it might seem... The author of The Great From Race and Other Poems has created a collection of short poems that celebrate trees and the amazing variety of ways they touch our lives. Deceptively simple verses reveal what trees think about and what they say to one another, as well as how they look and all the things they do for us. Humor and an unerring ear for the sounds of language make these poems an irresistible read-aloud; the luminous oil paintings evoke a country setting and the children who enjoy it through the year.

A collection of short, simple poems which present images relating to trees in various circumstances and throughout the seasons.

Synopsis

American Library Association Booklist Editors' Choice, SCBWI Golden Kite Award, SCCLCYP Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award, Best Science Books Reviewed by Appraisal, New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, Junior Library Guild

The original poems in this lovely, simple collection celebrate every aspect of trees in a variety of poetic forms including free verse, rhyme, and haiku....Kiesler's warm oil paintings beautifully complement the poems, making for a totally satisfying experience that is sure to be a favorite.

About the Author, Kristine O'Connell George

Kristine O'Connell George, one of the principal voices in contemporary children's poetry, has received the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and the Promising Poet Award. She lives with her family in Agoura, California.

Born in New Hampshire and raised in Vermont, Kate Kiesler began painting at an early age. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and now paints and illustrates full-time. Kate paints with oils, and her rich style has been highly praised. Kate Kiesler has illustrated numerous picture books, including THE GREAT FROG RACE AND OTHER POEMS. She lives in Frisco, Colorado.

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Editorials

From The Critics

Children's Literature - Mary Quattlebaum

With Old Elm Speaks kids can herald spring leaves by reading tree poems by Kristine O'Connell George. Her images capture well the small details of the natural world. A bud is "a tiny velveteen satchel / the color of pale cream" and changing leaves "rage yellow gold red, / setting the hills ablaze." Kate Kiesler's oil paintings are a sumptuous tribute to our woody friends.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 4-Trees in all seasons and used for many reasons are imaginatively captured in short poems and richly textured full-color oil paintings. The delightful use of language plays on the senses as it creates word pictures that are sure to entertain. The selections beg to be read-aloud and shared. Free verse, haiku, and bits of rhymes and rhythms reflect the joy children feel as they play in and about or observe all types of trees throughout the year. A celebration of these mighty living things and the people who love them.-Pamela K. Bomboy, Chesterfield County Public Schools, VA

Boston Globe

...a superb collection of simple, short, original poems...Kate Kiesler's illustrations are equally as strong and rich as the verses, and together the effect is dramatic.

Kirkus Reviews

In a paean to trees, George and Kiesler follow up on The Great Frog Race and Other Poems (1997), with a similar specialized collection of nature poetry, loosely organized around the four seasons. An astute beholder, George resists the obvious—acorns, apples, leaves falling—for tiny, honed observations on the knotholes in a fence, a hammock that "fills the empty space between two trees," or a jutting branch that doubles as "a tree horse" rather than a tree house. A dozen words or so are bound into small parcels; even as the contents are unwrapped, there is room for the imagination. Told from the point of view of an oak tree or a fisherman that snags a pine, this ode begs comparison to Janice May Udry's A Tree is Nice (1955). Kiesler has lightened her textured oil palette with the new greens of leaves and maple shoots, pale cream buds, and a bright wayward kite against a winter white snow sky. Her figures, particularly faces, are deliberately abstract compared to the portraits of her main characters—trees. A lovely, often luminous, collection. (Picture book/poetry. 5-9)