Poetry Illustrated by Beth Krommes
Houghton Mifflin, 2006
$16.00
40 pgs.
For: Middle Grades
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: INCREDIBLE scratchboard meadow closeup
Wow wow wow wow wow, this eye-popping art blows me away. It's scratchboard, and it's really something. The cover just doesn't do it justice.
Two page spreads with two poems are followed by two pages that describe what's going on in the previous pages. Dew and grasshopper, Rabbit and fox, Spittlebug and Xylem & Phloem (I've seen all the bubbles on a weed-type plant, this tells you about it!), Milkweed and butterflies, Snake and toad, Goldfinch and hawk, Deer and trees......coordinated pairings with beautiful poetry, lovely descriptions, and artwork that is spectacular.
In the Almost Light
In the dark,
in the night,
in the almost-light,
in the leaf-crisp air just before sunlight,
sprouts a secret, silent, sparkling sight:
berries grown on the vines of night.
On the grass,
on the buds,
on the bark of trees,
on the small clear wings of the bumblebees,
on the spiderwebs (and the spiders’ knees),
come the jewels of the dawn
in the cool night’s breeze
And the sun
when it comes
through the purple haze
touches each clear gem with its sidelong gaze,
fingers each clear drop with its lazy rays,
gathers each one back for the summer days.
What is it?
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