Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J 811.54 KUM | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J 811.54 KUM | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
From as little as the snail to as big as the giraffe, from the thundering mastodon of long ago to the ordinary backyard squirrel of today, the animals in this book inspire our imagination.
Here is a fascinating cornucopia that exudes a whimsical affection and respect for the creatures with whom we share our kingdom.
Author Notes
Maxine Kumin was born in Philadelphia in 1925. She received a BA and a MA from Radcliffe College. In the 1950s, she enrolled in a poetry writing course at the Boston Center for Adult Education. The course led to the publication of poems in Harper's and The New Yorker. Her first collection of poems, Halfway, was published in 1961. Her other poetry collections include Where I Live: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010, Still to Mow, and And Short the Season. She received several awards including the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Robert Frost Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize for Up Country: Poems of New England. She also wrote four novels, short stories, a memoir entitled Inside the Halo and Beyond: The Anatomy of a Recovery, essay collections, and children's books. She died of natural causes on February 6, 2014 at the age of 88.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-This collection of humorous poems by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet does not stand out among similar titles. Kumin's traditional verse and conversational style suit the lighthearted tone of her pieces, and she sometimes stretches rhyme and meter-with varied results. Compare these four lines from "Giraffe," the first two successful, the second two less so: "His eyesight is so sharp that he/can spot you half a mile away./To drink, he either must fold down/his forelegs or straddle the edge of the pond." Zagarenski's bold and vibrant mixed-media illustrations are energetic in layout and match the selections perfectly. However, multiple titles by Douglas Florian, Richard Michelson, Alice Schertle, and J. Patrick Lewis offer more accomplished animal poems, and The Beauty of the Beast: Poems from the Animal Kingdom, edited by Jack Prelutsky (Knopf, 1997), is a wonderful anthology. For large collections only.-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kumin (The Microscope; Up Country, for adults) returns to children's lit with 19 poems that rove from whimsically anthropomorphic to factually accurate. Arranged by the size of the creature described, the first 10 poems-featuring tiny mites, the snail, polliwog, gray squirrel and cat, among others-appear on single pages, while the final poems, which muse on larger beasts such as the manatee, camel and kangaroo, merit longer treatments and full spreads. Kumin sometimes utilizes familiar conventions for children's poetry, as in the rhymed couplets of "Rabbit" ("Nobody needs to wait while he eats/ his Brussels sprouts or cabbage or beets"). But there's much that's fresh and subtly challenging for kids, too, as with her frequent use of near rhyme. In the 12 fact-based couplets of "Octopus," an authoritative narrator opines: "The plural, when there's more than one,/ is octopi. When fully grown/ they range from tiny-half an inch-/ to ones who could eat you for lunch." Zagarenski (the Good Beginnings series) takes an artistic leap here, with full-bleed illustrations that amalgamate a crazy quilt of techniques, from collage to computer graphics. Her animals range from the cartoonish mites to a more realistically rendered alligator (who nonetheless sports a crown). Indeed, many of the creatures wear hats or pants, independent of whether Kumin has humanized them or not. Given the poetic and artistic liberties taken, a single font would have served to unify the collection. What consistently comes through is both the author's and artist's exuberance for their subject. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
This collection written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet includes nineteen poems about animals, ranging from pets to wild animals. The quality of the poetry is uneven, from the awful ""Mites"" with its erratic rhymes (""close"" and ""glass""?) to the majestic ""Alligator."" In contrast, the mixed-media illustrations consistently capture the beauty and individuality of each creature. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Kumin, a distinguished poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, offers 19 rhyming poems that each focus on one specific creature in this somewhat uneven but beautifully illustrated collection. Her subjects range from the miniature (tiny spider mites or snails) to the immense (giraffes or mastodons), and she also includes a poem that explains the concept of extinction. Many of the poems are small, polished gems with tight, satisfying rhyme schemes; a few meander along with unclear rhythm and some word pairs that merely nod in recognition without really rhyming. Several of the longer selections incorporate significant information about the subject into the poetry. Zagarenski's exuberant mixed-media illustrations use glowing colors, unusual perspectives and inventive touches such as tiny hats or jackets to make the animals even more appealing. One delightful illustration shows an alligator with a crown lumbering through a swamp; the same creature is featured on the final page with the humorous farewell, "See you later . . . " (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
From dot-size mites to thundering mastodons, Kumin celebrates the animal kingdom's full spectrum in her latest picture-book collection of poems. Each of the mostly rhyming selections combines playful nonsense with animal facts, such as habitat and diet: "Nobody has to tell him to finish / his beans, asparagus, peas, or spinach," reads "Rabbit." Several selections show a fascination with animals' prehistoric roots: "Old bull of the waters, / old dinosaur cousin" begins "Alligator." "Million of years of evolution / led to this bizarre solution" refers to the divergent genetic paths that manatees and elephants, who share an ancestor, have followed. A final poem, about extinction, adds an uplifting call to action: "look after the mammals and birds / and reptiles and fish that are left." Zagarenski's whimsical paint, paper, and photo collages amplify the playfulness in endearing, expressive images of sweetly fanged mites and a flying squirrel clad in a star-bellied leotard. Match this with Douglas Florian's books and with Joyce Sidman's Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow,0 reviewed on p.51. --Gillian Engberg Copyright 2006 Booklist