From Daybreak to Good Night: Poems for Children - Softcover

Grade 2-4-Sandburg's North Carolina farm is the bucolic setting for this poetic picture book. Beginning with "Daybreak" and "Fog" and closing with an excerpt from "Sleep Face" and "Good Night," the small gathering includes nine other pieces on spring and assorted animals. One or two selections are set on double-page scenes, in which the elderly Sandburg with his unruly mop of white hair entertains a group of children. Smith-Ary takes license both in handling the poetry and depicting the farm. Though it's not readily apparent, some of the entries are excerpts from longer poems, some have been re-named, and a few are by other poets. One bit of song lyric by Red Lewis is titled accordingly, but short pieces by Helga Sandburg and Emily Dickinson are only acknowledged at the end of the book. The folk-art scenes with crudely sketched animals, odd perspectives, and round-faced children are warmly colored in crayon and colored pencil on acetate. Unaccountably, a zebra appears in most scenes. This, too, is acknowledged in an endnote: "-he may have imagined a zebra roaming around the farm." Some of the poetic imagery may be beyond the young audience that will be attracted to the art. "Steamboats turn a curve in the Mississippi crying in a baritone that crosses/lowland cottonfields to a razorback hill." Adults who share Smith-Ary's fondness for Sandburg may find nuggets for sharing with just the right child.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.