Weather Report

Children's Literature - Jan Lieberman

Let Jane Yolen's selections inspire classroom Weather Reports in rhyme. On a windy day, children can quote Shakespeare, "Blow, blow, thou winter wind" or Mother Goose, "When the wind is in the east, / 'Tis neither good for man or beast." Archibald McLeish is right for that first snowfall, "Quietness clings to the air. / Quietness gathers the bell / To a great distance, / Listen...," and Frank Asch will set classmates dreaming of sleighing in summer "...through sundrifts and sunbanks, / we could ride a sunmobile, / and we could touch sunflakes-I wonder how they'd feel."

Hazel Rochman

Arranged into sections on rain, sun, wind, snow, and fog, this anthology includes a nice mix of classic and contemporary, adult and children's poems, including some by Yolen herself. Several old favorites are here (from Shakespeare's "Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind" and Rossetti's "Who Has Seen the Wind?" to Frost's "Dust of Snow"), and there are also some poems new to children's anthologies (including the beautiful lines in William Stafford's "Note"). Each section begins with a brief folk rhyme, and the overall design is spacious and attractive, with unobtrusive black-and-white motifs and abstract shapes linking the pages. The settings for the poems are almost all the idyllic countryside, though a few--such as those by Eve Merriam and Langston Hughes--do celebrate snow on sidewalks and on windshield wipers, blending contemporary experience with the elemental weather.