Seasons: A Book of Poems

When I read a picture book from my youth, I usually undergo a warm feeling of nostalgia for a time and place I've never been. This tends to happen when I reread Tasha Tudor's incredible, "A Time to Keep", or the little known, "Minnikin, Midgie, and Moppet" by Adelaide Holl. I haven't felt that way for a while. That is, until I picked up Charlotte Zolotow's unassuming "I Can Read Book" entitled, "Seasons: A Books of Poems". Containing forty poems that hinge around the changing seasons as well as the day to day goings on of children, the book's amazing. The poems rich and evocative. The illustrations magical. If you know any children at all, please buy them this book. Please. I don't know the history behind this collection of poems, so there's not much I can really tell you about it. As far as I can determine, it was first published in 2002. The illustrations initially strike you as old fashioned. Lots of country scenes mixed with the occasional cityscape. Then you notice that the kids are wearing contemporary clothing. A child and her mother sport trendy bike helmets as they observe birds flying in formation. Erik Blegvad is the illustrator of this book, and I'm ashamed to say that I don't know a thing about him. Certainly the pictures are particularly Tasha Tudoresque. But unlike Tudor they're pictures that contain very particular moods and emotions. There is a safe world in these illustrations where children are free to run around in fields of golden fallen leaves and have parents and grandparents to play and listen with them. When you read this book to your kids (or they read it to you) it'll create all kinds of wonderful feelings within the child. The watercolors used with these pen and ink pictures display lighting excellently. From the gray skied dawn of a winter morning to the pink summer setting of the sun along a boggy pond. Matching these illustrations word for word are Zolotow's poems. A premiere children's author in her own right (check out "William's Doll" if you get a chance), I think I'll copy down one of the book's forty poems to give you a sense of her style. This is entitled The Crickets: "The crickets fill the night with their voices - It is like a message in another language spoken to a part of me who hasn't happened yet". These are poems about the pains and the joys of being young. It's as if Zolotow hasn't forgotten what it was once like. For all her age and experience, she's tapped perfectly into the experience of seeing the world with fresh new eyes. Your child should own books that stay with them the rest of their lives. When you give a child specific stories to hold on to, you give them wonderful memories and fantastic new ways of seeing the world. Charlotte Zolotow's, "Seasons: A Book of Poems", will be the book I give to every small child that crosses my path from now on. It is infinitely beautiful and incredibly well written. Honor your kid with a copy.

Charlotte Zolotow graces the pages of this gentle book of poetry with imagery and magic as she details the changing seasons from a child's point of view. From Winter Bits "There is a special kind of quiet/every household knows/we hear it in our sleep/the first night it snows." and Spring Things "There is a wind/light as a feather/against your skin/a soft wind/gentle as a dove." to Summer Thoughts "One night I saw/flying low/a little flash of fire/like a star/fallen from the sky./"Look," my mother said./"a firefly!" and finally The Feel of Fall "There is a strong fresh wind/like an eagle flying by./It snatches someone's kite/and keeps it flying high.", Ms Zolotow's simple, easy to read verses are clever and joyous, sometimes playful and witty, often quiet and dreamy, but always captivating and engaging as they celebrate special moments in each passing season. Erik Blegvad's evocative pen and ink illustrations complement each poem with insight and wonder, and help bring it to life on the page. Perfect for emerging readers, or as a cozy read aloud for younger children, Seasons is a warm and inviting collection to share with friends and family now, and future generations in the years to come