Wild Wings: Poems for Young People [Hardcover]

Jane Yolen (Author), Jason Stemple (Author), photo Stemple (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jane Yolen offers 14 odes to birds in Wild Wings: Poems for Young People, photographed by her son, Jason Stemple, the team behind Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People. In a pattern repeated throughout the volume, the opening spread pictures an elegant white egret against a background of slate-gray water and patchy foam. "A cloud of feathers above the feathered pond an eye that does not see beyond the fish at its feet the food in its beak the fear in its throat the man in the boat." A caption provides the bird's scientific name and an explanation of the egret's appeal to plume hunters.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5-"As if sunshine fell down on a branch, then gathered itself together for one solid moment, the warbler brightens spring." How compact a sentence, how startling its imagery-especially when paired with exemplary photography. This is an exotic aviary with strong images: the solitary anhinga at sunset, the tiny "ornaments of spring" we call swallows, the "reed acrobat" green heron, and the ibis, which Yolen heralds as " the souls of our lost dead those we knew, and those who came before we could know them." There are inherent feelings in these images, ranging from jubilant and joyous to ominous and humorous. Has anyone ever considered birds as " small, dark stains; tubed paint squeezed onto the green canvas"? Young readers will now. In addition to reading a one- or two-line caption about each animal, they will also witness up close the joy of birds and photography, and be inspired by one of the genre's best.
Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press; 1 edition (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563979047
• ISBN-13: 978-1563979040
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,115,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised in New York City, Jane Yolen now lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts. She attended Smith College and received her master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts. The distinguished author of more than 170 books, Jane Yolen is a person of many talents. When she is not writing, Yolen composes songs, is a professional storyteller on the stage, and is the busy wife of a university professor, the mother of three grown children, and a grandmother. Active in several organizations, Yolen has been on the Board of Directors of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1986 to 1988, is on the editorial board of several magazines, and was a founding member of the Western New England Storytellers Guild, the Western Massachusetts Illustrators Guild, and the Bay State Writers Guild. For twenty years, she ran a monthly writer's workshop for new children's book authors. In 1980, when Yolen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts, the citation recognized that "throughout her writing career she has remained true to her primary source of inspiration--folk culture." Folklore is the "perfect second skin," writes Yolen. "From under its hide, we can see all the shimmering, shadowy uncertainties of the world." Folklore, she believes, is the universal human language, a language that children instinctively feel in their hearts. All of Yolen's stories and poems are somehow rooted in her sense of family and self. The Emperor and the Kite, which was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1983 for its intricate papercut illustrations by Ed Young, was based on Yolen's relationship with her late father, who was an international kite-flying champion. Owl Moon, winner of the 1988 Caldecott Medal for John Schoenherr's exquisite watercolors, was inspired by her husband's interest in birding. Yolen's graceful rhythms and outrageous rhymes have been gathered in numerous collections. She has earned many awards over the years: the Regina Medal, the Kerlan Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Society of Children's Book Writers Award, the Mythopoetic Society's Aslan Award, the Christopher Medal, the Boy's Club Jr. Book Award, the Garden State Children's Book Award, the Daedalus Award, a number of Parents' Choice Magazine Awards, and many more. Her books and stories have been translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Afrikaans, !Xhosa, Portuguese, and Braille. With a versatility that has led her to be called "America's Hans Christian Andersen," Yolen, the child of two writers, is a gifted and natural storyteller. Perhaps the best explanation for her outstanding accomplishments comes from Jane Yolen herself: "I don't care whether the story is real or fantastical. I tell the story that needs to be told."