04/17/2023
Sorted into three parts and featuring lines by poets and children’s book creators alike, 34 short, winning poems selected by the late Janeczko contemplate the meaning of home and belonging via a strong sense of place. In the book’s first section, “Home,” Reuben Jackson’s “Sunday Brunch” and Gary Soto’s “Ode to a Sprinkler” each revel in summers spent locally—on a porch and on neighbors’ lawns, respectively. Section two, “Street,” features Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Spruce Street, Berkeley”; Patricia Hubbell’s “Sidewalk Cracks”; and Nikki Grimes’s “Block Party,” which all consider pavement-related locales. And in the final section, “Town,” Lois Lenski’s “People” and Nikki Giovanni’s “Knoxville, Tennessee” sensorially convey neighborhood encounters. Throughout, Yum’s colored pencil and watercolor art portrays racially diverse figures in metropolitan, rural, and suburban landscapes both bustling and quiet. It’s a sights-and-sounds anthology that invites readers to observe the appreciable beauty of, as phrased by X.J. Kennedy, “wherever you sit down.” Ages 7–10. (Mar.)
This posthumous compilation selected by distinguished anthologist Janeczko beautifully captures the essence of home; Yum’s art enhances this, centering each poem firmly into diverse communities. . . . People and places are diverse in artistic expression, allowing readers to recognize themselves in different poems . . . an outstanding poetry compilation about the meaning of home.
—School Library Journal (starred review)
A posthumous gathering of short poems on themes of home and neighborhood. . . . A luminous sendoff, rich in happy memories and sweet nostalgia.
—Kirkus Reviews
This collection of variously contemplative and playful poems offers an intimate picture of daily life from a child’s point of view. . . offers a mix of poetic styles—all very accessible to the young reader and listener and all unified by Yum’s engaging illustrations in colored pencil and watercolor. Timeless scenes ranging from urban apartment life to small-town backyards and front porches are full of a pleasing diversity of children and adults.
—The Horn Book
The poems here are previously published pieces that, when read all together, confer a nostalgic, laid-back tone. . . a cohesive, teachable collection about different kinds of communities.
—Booklist
A sights-and-sounds anthology that invites readers to observe the appreciable beauty of, as phrased by X.J. Kennedy, 'wherever you sit down.'
—Publishers Weekly
This collection of variously contemplative and playful poems offers an intimate picture of daily life from a child’s point of view. . . the collection offers a mix of poetic styles—all very accessible to the young reader and listener and all unified by Yum’s engaging illustrations in colored pencil and watercolor.
—The Horn Book
Thirty-three poets lend their voices to this anthology, including Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, Naomi Shihab Nye and Charlotte Zolotow. . . Lots of opportunities here to talk with the kids about their own neighborhood.
—The Pioneer Press
★ 01/01/2023
Gr 1–3—This posthumous compilation selected by distinguished anthologist Janeczko beautifully captures the essence of home; Yum's art enhances this, centering each poem firmly into diverse communities. Thirty-four poems are divided into three sections: Home, Street, and Town. The section titles seem arbitrary at first, although the delightful variance in styles and rhythms is exciting. For example, "Crickets," a concrete poem by Myra Cohn Livingston, appears in Home, as the crickets' hypnotic chirps through the night interrupt or sing one to sleep. "Ode to My Shoes" by Francisco X. Alarcón has shoes "fall asleep/ and dream/ of walking," in Street, relaxing so they're fresh for the new day. Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Linda Sue Park, Gary Soto, and Naomi Shihab Nye are a few of the authors included, each of their poems dazzling with literary devices, figurative language, and exquisite word choices. Yum's trademark colored pencil and watercolor illustrations are full spread. Graphic placement is well done, allowing Yum's art to cradle each piece. People and places are diverse in artistic expression, allowing readers to recognize themselves in different poems and increasing understanding for different situations. Janeczko selected poems about nature, safe spaces, siblings, shopping, pets, ice cream, transportation, and being the new kid: all the mundane, yet essential, things that remind people of what home is. VERDICT A first purchase for all libraries serving young children, this is an outstanding poetry compilation about the meaning of home.—Rachel Zuffa
2022-11-16
A posthumous gathering of short poems on themes of home and neighborhood.
All but four of the 34 poems Janeczko selected before his death in 2019 have appeared elsewhere; most were published after 2000. The roster of contributors will be largely familiar to readers of his many anthologies: X.J. Kennedy leads off with an affirmation that “Home” is “Wherever you sit down / to eat your supper, pet your cat, / do homework, watch TV,” Walter de la Mare describes peeking through window blinds to watch passersby, and Gary Soto offers a suburban “Ode to a Sprinkler.” In more reflective tones, Linda Sue Park writes evocatively of a wind in “October” playing tag with a plastic bag and Naomi Shihab Nye, of people like “leaves drifting / downhill in morning fog” on “Spruce Street, Berkeley.” Nikki Grimes and Nikki Giovanni chime in with summertime celebrations of, respectively, a “Block Party” and “Knoxville, Tennessee,” and Langston Hughes rounds things off with metaphorical images of a “City” that “Spreads its wings” in the morning and “In the evening… / Goes to bed / Hanging lights / About its head.” Yum echoes the pervasive air of peaceful serenity with colored pencil and watercolor scenes in which city, country, and suburban settings share presence with racially diverse groups and individuals, mostly children. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A luminous sendoff, rich in happy memories and sweet nostalgia. (Picture-book poetry. 6-10)