When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons

A lyrical celebration of spring, summer, fall, and winter. In a journal-like progression, evocative poems - all beginning with a date - remind readers of many experiences and feelings associated with the seasons. For example, in "may 20," a girl impatiently waits: "‘enough already' / i whispered to the clouds / (just loud enough / for the sun to overhear / but not enough to wake the rain)." And in "september 25," a child discusses her love for the beginning of fall: "i like it here / on this side of winter / where notebooks are new / apples are best / and freezing still feels far away / but near enough to notice." The artwork has a cozy, inviting feel. Seasonal transitions are gracefully conveyed, from an image of a girl spotting a crocus in the snow in early spring, to a spread showing "the last leaf / when it landed" in late fall. The height of each time of year is encapsulated in universal images: children playing on the beach in August, for example, and playing in the snow in December. Full-spread illustrations are particularly striking, such as one of a boy and girl sitting on a hill and gazing up at a starry sky. Featuring forty-eight poems broken into four sections, the collection is ideal for dipping into throughout the year and will reward multiple reads.

This collection of nearly fifty poems begins and ends on "march 20" with a blue bird on a flowering tree branch (and with the same poem). In between are poems for days throughout the year. Morstad's gouache and pencil-crayon pictures and Fogliano's poetry are delicately precise, gracefully and economically expressed, and filled with the wonder of genuine childhood experience.

This collection of nearly fifty seasonal poems begins and ends on "march 20" with a blue bird on a flowering tree branch. The poem is the same each time, too: "from a snow-covered tree / one bird singing / each tweet poking / a tiny hole / through the edge of winter / and landing carefully / balancing gently / on the tip of spring." A little girl appears wearing the same boots, hat, and warm cozy sweater (different gloves; those always get lost!) to observe the coming spring. The girl, with straight black hair, dark eyes, and brown skin, is in most of the pictures, sometimes with other children, almost always interacting with nature. In summer she goes to the beach and appreciates the joys of a sandy picnic ("nothing in the world / could possibly be more delicious / than those plums / and those peanut butter sandwiches / a little bit salty / and warm from the sun"); makes a leaf pile in October ("because they know / they cannot stay / they fade and fall / then blow away"); and imagines herself as a snowflake. Morstad's gouache and pencil crayon pictures and Fogliano's poetry are delicately precise, gracefully and economically expressed, and filled with the wonder of genuine childhood experience untainted by sentimentality. susan dove lempke