Horn Book Review
Very short people attracted by Sweet's child-friendly illustrations (and by the large picture book format) are likely to linger to enjoy the thirty-six excellent poems (grouped by season) showcased on the book's ample spreads, especially when shared with a discerning older reader. As brief as three lines or a dozen words, most of the verses are by familiar poets (Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, Ted Kooser), including those known for their children's verse (Alice Schertle, Charlotte Zolotow). Many are simply apt descriptions (a sandpiper's beak seems to be "hemming the ocean" -- April Halprin Wayland) or contrasts (an island is "Wrinkled stone / like an elephant's skin / on which young birches are treading" -- Lillian Morrison). Occasionally, there are subtler suggestions of wry metaphor (Joyce Sidman's "A Happy Meeting" of rain and dust: "Quick, noisy courtship, / then marriage: mud") or deeper meaning. Sweet's expansive mixed-media illustrations -- loosely rendered, collage-like assemblages in seasonal palettes -- are just detailed enough to clarify meaning without intruding on young imaginations. The names of the seasons appear only as integrated into the art, with "Fall" a particularly clever construction of disguised letters in a spread that's only partly representational. A fine addition to the seasonal poetry shelf. joanna rudge long(c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Choosing from works spanning three centuries, Janeczko artfully arranges 36 elegant poems among the four seasons. With each poem's relationship to its season often subtle or tangential, Janeczko avoids the trite repetition flawing some seasonal poetry collections. The initial poem, by Cid Corman for "Spring," lauds a dawn scene: "Daybreak reminds us / the hills have arrived just in / time to celebrate." Emily Dickinson's poem shimmers in the "Summer" section: "The Moon was but a Chin of Gold / A Night or two ago / And now she turns Her perfect Face / Upon the World below." (The moon's presence shines throughout, in eight poems.) Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser, whose published 2003 collaboration is represented by two poems, offer this autumnal musing: "What is it the wind has lost / that she keeps looking for / under each leaf?" The winter poems are snowy, but they are also laced with fog; nature scenes alternate with depictions of a subway, a rusting truck, harbor boats and more. Sweet's effervescent mixed-media collages include signature elements like graph paper and saturated pinks; the large format engenders some expansive compositions, such as one showing the curve of the Earth near an enormous, smiling full moon. Inventive details abound, too: The last spread shows a child asleep under a crazy quilt that incorporates motifs from all four seasonsa perfect visual ending. Scintillating! (permissions, acknowledgments) (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
