Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 3^-5, younger for reading aloud. First published in 1965, Updike's calendar presents a child-centered poem for each month of the year. Hyman's colorful illustrations portray a multiracial family living in rural New Hampshire through the changes of seasons. But the landscape and weather are only backdrops for the activities that define the seasons for young people: sledding, kite flying, planting, watching baseball on TV, wading in the creek, picnicking, swimming, choosing apples, trick-or-treating, giving thanks around the table, and waiting for Christmas. A full-page painting and a smaller panel illustrate each month. Each evocative illustration has its own story to tell, celebrating the small moments in children's lives with clarity and sensitivity, with empathy and joy. A beautifully illustrated edition of Updike's poems for children. --Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
letter day for poetry lovers. Each month receives its due in shiveringly lovely verse while Hyman's brightly populated watercolors trace the corresponding activities of a lively Vermont family. The interplay of text and art has both depth and beauty. The language and illustrations are not merely pretty or ornamentally descriptive, but vibrantly aliveÄenough to keep young readers occupied through more than one reading. Crisp images from the poems are amplified or buried like treasures in the artwork. In March, "Pale crocuses/ Poke through the ground/ Like noses come/ To sniff around," while the family is pictured tending the sheep that likewise burrow their noses into waiting hands. Familiar things are made new with the grace and freshness of Updike's simple and accessible imagery. In June, for example, "The live-long light/ Is like a dream,/ And freckles come/ Like flies to cream." A breathtaking book that will unfold the world to new readers: "each flower, leaf,/ And blade of turfÄ/ Small love-notes sent/ From air to earth." Ages 4-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Gr 1-5-A year in New England as seen through a child-focused lens. Month by month, season by season, the poet's words and the expressive paintings create images that are reflective and playful, perceptive and pleasing. (Sept.) (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-5 Updike's poetry and Hyman's glowing illustrations lovingly portray a year in the life of a child in this celebration of months and seasons. Originally published in 1965 (Knopf) with illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert, the verses examine the changes in the natural world, from crocuses poking through the ground in February to blooming chrysanthemums in September and the first snowfall of December. There is a sense of relaxed timelessness here. Updike urges readers to stop and enjoy the glories in each day, such as in March when "The mud smells happy/On our shoes./We still wear mittens,/Which we lose." When read aloud, the poetry sings from one stanza to the next through gentle rhymes and rhythms that are never forced. Readers familiar with Hyman's illustrations for Barbara Rogasky's Winter Poems (Scholastic, 1994) will recognize the artist's New Hampshire farmhouse setting, her grandchildren, family, friends, and even the charming pets. The paintings have an unpretentious, homey quality as they capture boys exploring in a creek, a toddler's bare-bottomed joy in the August sunshine, and a family's contemplative stroll beneath bare November maples. Readers will recognize bits and pieces of their own lives in this reflective gem. Shawn Brommer, Southern Tier Library System, Painted Post, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Updike's one-for-each-month poems are slightly revised and newly illustrated with Trina Schart Hyman's homey depictions of a contemporary family, lending fresh appeal to the seasonal celebrations. From HORN BOOK Spring 2000, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Updike has revised a set of 12 short poems, one per month, first published in 1965, and Hyman's busy, finely detailed scenes replace the original edition's illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. The verses are written in a child's voice'``The chickadees/Grow plump on seed/That Mother pours/Where they can feed'''and commemorate seasonal weather, flowers, food, and holidays. In the paintings a multiracial, all-ages cast does the same in comfortable, semi-rural New England surroundings, sitting at a table cutting out paper hearts, wading through reeds with a net under a frog's watchful eye, picnicking, contemplating a leafless tree outside for ``November'' and a decorated one inside for ``December.'' The thoughts and language are slightly elevated but not beyond the ken of children, and the pictures enrich the poetry with specific, often amusing, incidents. (Poetry. 6-10)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
