Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
French poet Simeon doesn't explain what poetry is: he portrays a poem in the making. Arthur's fish, Leon, languishes in his bowl. "Hurry," his mother says, sailing off to her tuba lesson, "give him a poem!" But Arthur doesn't know what a poem is, so he asks a charming collection of eccentric neighbors, each painted by Tallec in delicate pencil lines and wet strokes of vibrant color. "A poem, Arthur, is when you are in love and have the sky in your mouth," says Lolo, the bicycle repairman. Mahmoud, who "comes from the desert," says, "A poem is when you hear the heartbeat of a stone." "A poem," says Arthur's grandmother, "turns words around, upside down, and-suddenly!-the world is new." Tallec paints what Arthur sees as he listens: Lolo flying through the clouds with his girlfriend, Mahmoud kneeling close to a rock under the desert sun, a giant whale swimming upside-down through an inverted city street. When Arthur returns to Leon and strings together the answers he's received-"A poem is when you have the sky in your mouth"-they make, children will perceive, a perfectly beautiful poem. Exuding magic and unbridled creativity on every page, this is a book with the potential to heal more than just fish. Ages 4-8. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-A young boy is convinced that his pet fish will die of boredom, so his mother suggests that he give it a poem as she departs for her tuba lesson. This improbable premise leads into an equally improbable search for what exactly a poem is. The bright paintings do not relieve a dull book that is pitched above its audience. "A poem!? But what is a poem? Arthur goes to look in the kitchen cabinet.-Is there a poem in there? -Nooo po-eeeem, the noodles sigh in reply." The boy asks a neighbor, who says, "A poem is when you hear the heartbeat of a stone." The child asks his pet bird; it responds, "A poem is when words beat their wings. It is a song sung in a cage." The best way for children to understand what a poem is is to hear wonderful poetry. Skip this book and buy another copy of Caroline Kennedy's A Family of Poems (Hyperion, 2005).-Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, ME (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 Kirkus Book Review
A small boy explores what a poem is and discovers "a poem is when words beat their wings." When Arthur worries his pet fish may die of boredom, his mother suggests giving the fish a poem. But Arthur has no idea what a poem is, so he checks out the kitchen cabinet and the cleaning supplies and under his parents' bed to no avail. Then he asks his friend Lolo who repairs bicycles and Mrs. Round the baker and his neighbor Mahmoud and his canary Aristophanes and his grandma and his grandpa. No one seems to have the same definition of a poem. But, as Arthur describes to his fish what he has learned about a poem, he creates his own poem. Imaginative fauvist illustrations capture the fanciful, free mood of the text as well as the essence of a poem, which indeed can "turn words around, upside down, and--suddenly!--the world is new." An enchantingly abstract invitation to ponder poetry. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
