Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Burgess offers fantastical fragments and affirming messages throughout this rich trove of impish verse. In digitally colored pencil drawings, some stylistically reminiscent of Maurice Sendak's in A Hole Is to Dig, Caldecott Medalist Salati offers slyly understated vignettes of children dancing, dreaming, encountering creatures, and more. Each of the work's seven sections (including "Welcome," "Wonders," and "Wild") is set off with gracefully realized full-color spreads. In one, a city street's rats and pigeons become circus performers; in another, a fish-interested child begins to swim alongside a menagerie of sea life. Tracing themes of autonomy, fantasy, flight, and perception, this crisply exploratory collection never loses its essential playfulness: "To reach the place of things unseen,/ words can be your trampoline." Characters are portrayed with various abilities, body types, and skin tones. Ages 5--9. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 5--An engaging collection of original poems perfectly complemented by lively illustrations. The 49 poems cover a wide variety of everyday moments, moods, and experiences that will appeal to children of all ages. The poems are arranged into seven portals: Welcome, Wonders, Wild, Wheee!, Whoops & Whallops, Windows, and Whispers & Well Wishes. Burgess celebrates wordplay in a way that transforms the ordinary into the exceptional. Salati's engaging illustrations successfully help bring the poems to life. Together, they make a perfect combination to be read and enjoyed on one's own or shared as a delightful read aloud. For example, in the first portal, Welcome, Burgess reflects on beginnings and points of view: "Some will say the sky is blue,/ but that is only partly true./ If you take a peek above,/ the clouds are dusty as a dove." Salati has cleverly illustrated this poem with children looking into a weather arch featuring a rainbow of variously colored sky rings. In Wonders, Burgess suggests, "To reach the place of things unseen,/ words can be your trampoline." Again, Salati is spot-on with an illustration of a child holding a flashlight snooping around a dark attic full of hidden treasures. Back matter includes an index of poem titles. This is an extraordinary collection filled with poems to savor and illustrations that will both captivate and delight young readers. VERDICT Sure to be read and enjoyed again and again, this is a highly recommended addition for all library collections.--Carole Phillips
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A tasty mix of visionary and nonsense verses, lavishly illustrated by a recent Caldecott Medalist. Systematically gathered into seven loosely thematic groups, the poems, likewise tidy of rhyme and scansion, range from meditations on "Zero" and the many colors of the sky to silly wordplay ("What kind of pizza / do you like to eatsa?") and a droll paean to pasta that rhymesspaghetti withyeti. The notion of flying away almost serves as a running theme; in various entries, a piñata, a child on "Jetpack Sneakers," a breaching whale, and, for a moment, a boy waking to a sparrow's song take off into the sky. Salati depicts a menagerie of creatures both real and imaginary that share space with a rich and racially diverse assortment of small figures who often resemble Maurice Sendak's Nutshell Library outtakes for their large-headed, stubby-limbed looks and balletic poses. The entries are lighthearted overall; several read like nursery rhymes. Burgess displays a keen intuition for what will get kids laughing--and what will make them think. One poem, perhaps a reference to current politics, invites them to "leave the shouters with their schemes / while we continue with our dreams," while another urges them to "live your dream / Reign supreme / King or queen / or something / delightfully / in between." Broad and subtle in turn--verse to stay with readers for years to come. (index)(Poetry. 7-11) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
