Children's verse that celebrates playful wonderment

These two posthumously released collections recall pleasures for the child in each of us.

from the April 17, 2007 edition

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Valerie Worth's "Animal Poems," also released posthumously and illustrated by another Caldecott Honor winner, cut-paper artist Steve Jenkins, brings a similar creative observation to the animal kingdom.

Don't be fooled by the picture-book format of this 23-poem masterpiece. Worth's poetry is nuanced, sophisticated, beautiful – and often profound. Her bat, "cleaves to/ The cave roof / Like a grim/ Flake of flint,/ Or flings out/ Like a surly/ Stone thrown/ After the sun."

While her spider weaves a web "to wait out/ Her purpose of flies;/ But at dawn, when/ It hangs spangled/ With silver water, frail/ Crystals of wet light/ Caught so neatly and/ Needlessly, it is not/ Her web, but ours."

Indeed, inventiveness in this collection doesn't just infuse the poet's language; it extends even into the subject matter itself. Sure, these are all poems about animals. But Worth's poem about a hummingbird reaches back to touch on the origins of creation. And her poetic commentary on the cockroach reveals her own particular aversion, as she writes that it "plots to stalk/ And startle me better –/ Today I dart from/ Behind the sugar, tomorrow/ I skulk in her sneaker/ And twiddle her toes ... "

Suitable for early readers who still enjoy being read to, this collection seems an even better choice for the middle-to-late elementary crowd who, when forced to slow down and savor Worth's eye-opening descriptions, may be inspired to think about their own writing in new ways.

Even the generous cut-paper illustrations call for pause. There's the groundhog, complete with bristly whiskers and two nibbling front teeth, who is suitably rumpled after his long winter's nap. And the jellyfish, whose pale peach and purple tentacles both beckon and say "stay away."

Whether it's the art that captivates, or the language – or, as in the case of this reader, both – "Bronzeville Boys and Girls" and "Animal Poems" are worthy additions to any bookshelf. They're the kinds of collections that are best appreciated together, and again and again – by kids, of course, but by adults, too.

Jenny Sawyer regularly reviews children's books for the Monitor.

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