Sweet Corn

From Publishers Weekly Snappy graphic design contributes almost as much as Stevenson's loose, minimal watercolor and black-pen drawings in establishing the festive look of this diverse collection of 62 short poems. The text of "Clothesline Vacation," for example, ripples across the page like the "flapping, snapping" clothes it describes. "Roadside Stand" asks, in balloon lettering, "WHY AM I HAPPY/ THAT I WAS BORN?/ JUST ONE REASON (IN SEASON)"; the answer appears in huge creamy letters on the opposing page: "SWEET CORN!" A selection of different typefaces helps vary the mood throughout. By turns clever, pensive or silly, the verses read like prose and rely mainly on analogies or unusual points of view for effect. "The Bridge" ponders "young and old people" seen "leaning over the railings,/ Clutching thin strings/ That go down to the water": "Maybe they're fishing.... Maybe they're flying their kites/ Upside down." Spirited and kid-pleasing. Ages 8-up. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal Grade 3-6?This collection of 28 poems is a hymn to fleeting experiences and impressions. As all Midwesterners (and readers of Garrison Keillor) know, eating sweet corn is a magical experience: "Why am I happy/That I was born?/Just one reason/(in season):/SWEET/CORN!" Stevenson's painter's eye captures moments such as watching people fish off a pier and seeing an old dog "...trotting along the roadside" visually and verbally?he carefully matches not only illustration to words, but also words to typeface. His placid cows, who "...mostly stand there/Seldom climb mountains," are represented not only by an ink-and-watercolor drawing of a calm bovine, but also through substantial brown letters. In one selection, laundry hung out to dry dances in the poem's lines as well as in the accompanying picture. Through Stevenson's vision, the ordinary everyday world?summer storms, lemonade stands, rental bikes?is made extraordinary. A book to savor.?Kathleen Whalin, Greenwich Country Day School, CTCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.