World Make Way

July 1, 2018

Gr 5 Up-Hopkins's latest gathers poetry from some of contemporary children's literature's established authors (most of which are not specifically known for writing poetry) inspired by artwork held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Many of the paintings, from Mary Cassatt's "Young Mother Sewing" to Oide Toko's "Cat Watching a Spider," include children or animals. The specially commissioned poems, which easily lend themselves to reading aloud, are well matched with their individual artwork and can be excellent springboards for further discussion about the picture. The art is annotated with its title, date of creation, name of artist, and type. Artists include José Guadalupe Posada, Frank Henderson, and Devidasa of Nurpur; poets include Alma Flor Ada, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, and J. Patrick Lewis. Two artists are women; by contrast, three poets are men. Back matter includes short biographies of the poets and artists, as well as credits and an index (information about the museum, other than a standard author's bio on the jacket, is not included). VERDICT Recommended for larger libraries in need of a sophisticated and thoughtful poetry collection.-Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2018
Grades 4-8 This stylish collaboration between editor Hopkins and the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a thoughtful collection of poems about works of art. The book's true spotlight is on diversity?in the background of the poets, the style of the artworks, and the method of interpretation chosen by each poet. Not every poem reinvents the wheel; some take the more traditional approach of illustrating the artwork's content. Others imagine the narrative operating behind the artwork, like Marilyn Singer's Paint Me, which brilliantly embodies a painting's defiant young subject with the book's titular phrase: World, make way. Cat Watching a Spider, by Julie Fogliano, treads farther off the beaten path by pairing a minimal Japanese print with equally sparse verse, mirroring not just the content of the artwork but the form. The poems emphasize that in art and poetry there is no right answer; rather, there are myriad different interpretations. Accordingly, there is something for every young reader in this delightful collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)