Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Like their previous collaborations, The Great Frog Race and Old Elm Speaks, this volume by George and Kiesler is as delicious as a toasted marshmallow treat. George's poems are well crafted, varied and easily accessible. The topics range from a tent-shaped poem about the careful raising of the family's canvas lodging to post-trip unpacking, in which a child tucks away a flannel shirt perfumed in scents of pine, wood fire and forest moss in her "bottom drawerD/ where no one will find it/ and wash away [her] memories." Though Kiesler's human figures are sometimes wooden, she suffuses her acrylic landscapes with light filtered through leaves. A few of the illustrations seem too idyllic and scrubbed (in the "Abandoned Cabin," its "crumbling fireplace" looks newly constructed; in another, the brother's "grubby hands" seem freshly washed). Yet George's poems shine, the images clear and startling. A "panther cloud crosses the sky"; after a storm, a "confetti of birds... dance another rain shower." A concrete poem in the shape of a waning moon is exquisite: "Tipping/ a slender/ silver ear,/ Moon tries/ to pretend/ she isn't/ listening/ to our/ secrets." Readers will definitely want S-mores. Ages 6-10. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-George has penned 30 sublimely simple poems that capture the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations of a family's camping trip, from pitching the tent to pulling up stakes and returning home. All of the selections convey a child-focused sense of wonder as the campers explore the lakefront and surrounding terrain, enjoy the marvels of the natural world, relish meals round the campfire, and toast marshmallows ("This is art-/a time of serious reflection/as my pillowed confection/slowly reaches golden perfection"). The poems are varied and inventive, replete with marvelous images and universal truths. There's even a selection devoted to the "Mosquito Song." Each one is accompanied by a well-executed and evocative acrylic painting. Some of Kiesler's artwork sweeps across double pages to provide a dramatic vista-a meandering hiking trail, a field of wild mustard, a star-studded night sky-while other pictures reveal small, but equally telling details. In "Flannel," the child is shown holding her pine-, smoke-, and moss-scented camping shirt to her face, paired with the words, "I keep it hidden/in my bottom drawer-/where no one will find it/and wash away/my memories." A terrific idyll for summertime sharing, even for confirmed couch potatoes.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
The pleasure and surprises of going camping are conveyed in eighteen brief poems. Familiar camping experiences--including pitching a tent, sleeping in a sleeping bag, and watching a chipmunk--are described, in addition to more unusual experiences like walking through a field of mustard, seeing a moose, and discovering a cave. Richly colored paintings enhance the verses. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
George deftly describes the satisfying sequence of familiar events in a summer camping experience in this collection of 30 related poems perfectly paired once again with Kiesler's inviting oil paintings ( The Great Frog Race and Other Poems , 1998, etc.). The daily rhythms of a camping trip are presented from the Tent to exploring an Abandoned Cabin to observing A Doe. Shared common experiences include Sleeping Bag: "It's so cold outside, I'm getting dressed inside / my sleeping bag. I wriggle, scoootch, scrunch, and jiggle. Flop. / Front flips, back flipsI'm a caterpillar / in a cozy cloth cocoon / that zips." Short pieces like Mosquito Song demonstrate pointed wordplay with a witty use of alliteration and onomatopoeia: "Its M eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ! / Mosqu eeeeeeeeeeeeee to! / Is that you , Dinner? / Gr eeeeeeeeee tings." Kiesler expresses the changing vistas of the countryside from the uneasy, dark palette of the double-page spread for Storm to the bright, sunshiny view of a field for Wild Mustard. The changing layout of each page gives a sense of surprise to the most ordinary of events, the words of the concrete poem, Eavesdropping, "Tipping / a slender / silver ear" placed in the shape of crescent moon, the stanzas of Flashlight positioned in the beams of light, to name just a few. Altogether, an engaging trip. (Poetry. 7-10)
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