American Poetry, Freshwater & Marine Ecology, Poetry - General & Miscellaneous, Poetry - Nature
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Overview
Award-winning poet Constance Levy leads youngsters on a poetic exploration of how water runs through our daily lives.
Water runs through our lives; it is, in fact, essential to all life. And it takes many forms-it can be the liquid that quenches our thirst, the rain that pours from the sky, the juice of a ripe tomato, even a dramatic white tower in a polar landscape. These poems observe nature and also invite young readers to make observations of their own.
More than thirty poems celebrate water in its myriad forms, from the ocean to a droplet of dew.
Editorials
Children's Literature
Whether writing poems from the point of view of water, observing a butterfly seek a drink on a child's hand, or playing with the water sloshing in us that matches the water sloshing outside of us, Levy helps readers explore the many states of water. The strength of this collection is the wide range of its subject matter of water as salmon ladders, a tea-time necessity, a rainbow, or bathwater with a memory. Solman's watery blue wash paintings don't add much to the clarity of these water poems but rather suggest setting or mood. Some of the poems have more child appeal than others but as a companion to the classroom study of water in science, as a partner with Walter Wick's A Drop of Water (Scholastic, 1999), or as a thought-provoking look at the ubiquity of water, this book works well. 2002, Orchard Books,— Susan Hepler
School Library Journal
Gr 2-6-A collection of 34 poems about water in all its many forms. Many of the selections are descriptive, such as "Ocean Rhythms," using and repeating simple words to great effect: "Wave after wave, each wave a beat each beat repeating each stretch receding. This is Earth's old wild heart beating." Others are personifications of things like icebergs or bathwater, while still others speak directly to-or in praise of-water's many appearances and uses. In "Tasty Snowflakes," the praise is ebullient and direct; in "Fog" the tone is as soft as the subject. The variety of voices, all a mixture of praise, delight, and celebration, makes this a first choice for all collections. Jane Yolen's Water Music (Boyds Mills, 1995), with photographs by Jason Stemple, is visually beautiful and also addresses water in all its forms, although without the variety of voices and moods that Levy's collection contains. Soman's two-color watercolors are perfectly suited to the individual selections. In classrooms, at home, in library programs, these poems can be recited-and enjoyed-again and again.-Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Book Details
Published
March 1, 2002
Publisher
New York : Orchard Books 2002.
Pages
40
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780439293181