Bloom

PreS-Gr 2--With spare punctuation and only lowercase letters, Forman writes the ultimate comparison of small Black girls to flowers during what appears to be a glorious summer day in a garden. Skyles's art, taking its cues from the sing-song words, unfurls in lovely saturated scenes, from "this girl blooms / this girl too / that girl blooms / that one too / those girls bloom / these do too / we bloom like flowers / how about you?" to an array of shades of brown skin, locs and delphiniums, large smiles and shy ones, puffed hair and braids, butterflies and sunflowers. These idyllic scenes are as welcoming and joyful as a day in the sun, and the chantable words will have preschoolers swaying along. VERDICT A welcome purchase; whether the discussion is beauty, self-esteem, or the use of empowering metaphors, this brief but lyrical tone poem teaches all children that they are flowers and should be cherished as such.--Kimberly Olson Fakih