Earth Verses and Water Rhymes [Hardcover]

Patrick J. Lewis (Author), Robert Sabuda (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up

A collection of poems celebrating the natural world around us.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this assortment of 17 verses, Lewis's crisply visual language is enticingly original, peppered with vivid metaphors. The red fox in the moonlight is "dipping / her paintbrush paws / into the drifts she loves." Summer "is a long yellow gown / Fitted to the fields and farms." Unlike the author's A Hippopotamusn't , which highlights his whimsy and humor, the poems here are clever and thoughtful. Although some of the rhymes are technically complicated, they are perfectly suited for children with a proclivity for wordplay and fun. The spring rain, having awakened worms and spanked frogs, shakes the petal hands of tulips and says "How do you dew?" Sabuda's ( Walden ; I Hear America Singing ) striking linoleum prints are more successful when not depicting people, but his panoramas of nature--moonlight on the ocean, an owl in the fog--convey the "honeycomb" days of July and the "dark December" of winter that Lewis so aptly describes. Ages 7-10.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5--Those who loved Lewis's A Hippopotamustn't (Dial, 1990) won't be disappointed in his second book of poetry. More meditative in tone, the collection of 17 poems begins in the fall, moves through winter and spring, and ends up in Indian summer, a nicely sat isfying progression. The selections are short, and they deal with everyday sub jects such as snowflakes, foxes, light houses, the wind, grasshoppers, and cats. One can imagine parent and child cuddling up to read this book together at bedtime or just as easily picture a teacher using it in the classroom. Lewis knows when to let strong, supple words reveal their unadorned beauty: "Jun iper, hickory, walnut, fig/ Make a wish on a twisted twig . . . Sycamore, cin namon, buckeye, beech/ Earth's um brellas bloom out of reach." Other times he invokes unusual images with excellent effect. Sabuda's handcut lino leum prints, executed in soft, muted tones of gold, olive, blue, green, and tan, convey a contemplative mood. One can almost feel the delicious cool ness of a frog pond or sense the mys tery of a winter woods at midnight. The lack of margins seems just right: it's as though words and pictures take over and can't be contained. There's magic in these 32 pages; don't miss it.
-Ellen D. Warwick, Robbins Library, Arling ton, MA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum; 1St Edition edition (September 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689316933
• ISBN-13: 978-0689316937
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,746,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After nearly three decades as a professor of economics, J. Patrick Lewis turned to poetry. He is the author of more than 75 children's books including A Hippopotamusn't (1990), BoshBlobberBosh (1998), Please Bury Me in the Library (2004), First Dog (2009), Spot the Plot (2009), and The House (2009).

He has recently been named the third U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (2011-2013) by the Poetry Foundation.

His books have been published by Creative Editions, Knopf, Atheneum, Dial, Harcourt, Little, Brown, National Geographic, Chronicle Books, Scholastic, Candlewick, Schwartz & Wade, Holiday House, Sleeping Bear Press, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, Dawn Publications, and others. Gulls Hold Up the Sky, his first book of adult poems, was published by Laughing Fire Press (2010).

Pat's children's poems have also appeared in CRICKET (26 times), SPIDER, LADYBUG, CICADA, ODYSSEY, RANGER RICK, HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN, Ms. Magazine, YOUR BIG BACKYARD, CREATIVE CLASSROOM, STORYTIME, STORYWORKS, CHICKADEE, AHOY, LANGUAGE ARTS, JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, BOOKBIRD, READING TODAY and over 100 anthologies. He wrote the 1992 National Children's Book Week poem, printed on one million bookmarks and distributed nationally.

Lewis has received numerous awards from the American Library Association, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and others. He was the recipient of the 2010-11 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Excellence in Children's Poetry Award, presented every two years.

WHERE I'LL BE NEXT--Schools, Bookstores, Conferences

October 14-16, 2011 Poetry Foundation--TED Lecture Chicago, Illiniois
October 23-25, 2011 NY State Reading Assn. Rye Brook, New York
October 28-31, 2011 Keystone State Reading Assn. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
November 5, 2011 Buckeye Book Fair Wooster, Ohio
November 8, 2011 Ashland University Ashland, Ohio
November 15-16, 2011 St. Joseph's College Rensselaer, Indiana
November 17-20, 2011 NCTE Convention Chicago, Illinois
December 1, 2010 Hillview Elementary Newark, Ohio
December 8, 2011 West Chester University (Dan Darigan) West Chester, PA
January 18, 2012 Richard Avenue Elementary Grove City, Ohio
January 24, 2012 Fouse Elementary Westerville, Ohio
March 1-3, 2012 Charlotte Huck Ch. Lit. Conference Redlands, California
April 3-5, 2012 Holland Hall Primary Tulsa, Oklahoma
April 12, 2012 Washington-Centerville Public Library Centerville, Ohio
April 13, 2012 Stingley Elementary Centerville, Ohio
April 17-25, 2012 Anglo-American School Moscow, Russia
April 29-May 2, 2012 IRA Convention Chicago, Illinois
May 10, 2012 Wynford Elementary Bucyrus, Ohio
March 22, 2013 OCTELA Conference Columbus, Ohio