Okay, first I must preface this post by saying that last week I was a bad, bad blogger. I forgot, completely forgot, to link the other Poetry Friday contributors. It won't happen again!
Also, I wanted to give a big shout out and thanks to Ella of Box of Books for sending readers my way when shutting down her poetry Fridays. I hope you'll be back sometime soon, Ella!
Okay, this Poetry Friday contribution is a review of a picture book by Tony Mitton (illustrations by Selina Young) called Once Upon a Tide. The good thing about Poetry Fridays and kid books is that many, many children's books are actually rhyming, so there's lots of material.
Enough rambling on my part. Here we go:
Once Upon a Tide
by Tony Mitton, illustrations by Selina Young
Once Upon a Tide is a picture book in verse for the very young. It is narrated from the point of view of a young boy who tells of his adventures at the sea with his older sister, Bess. (Actually, Bess looks like his sister, but it isn't clear from the text.) In any case, the story begins as follows:
Down by the seashore
Bess and I
stood on the sand
and looked at the sky.
Bess got the hammer.
I got the saw.
We both built a boat
right there on the shore.
And off they go. They make a sail, meet a Sea Captain and a whale. They find an island and buried treasure. Pirates make an appearance, only to be frightened away by the whale. And then they sail home and build a hut from their boat. The story concludes:
We made our home
on that same shore.
And we both lived there
forever more,
singing songs
of far-off seas,
with children sitting
round our knees...
Once Upon a Tide is a bit fanciful, not always logical, but always charming. Selina Young's illustrations are warm and child-friendly. They bring the magic of the sea to life. Highly recommended for the very young.
******************************************
Oh, my goodness. When doing a search for Selina Young, I found she is deceased at the age of 35. What a tragedy. Her illustrations are gorgeous.
******************************************
Kidlit bloggers are up and at 'em early this morning! It must be the summer-like weather.
Speaking of summer, Liz B. shares "Casey at the Bat" at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy.
Michele is celebrating the beautiful weather with Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Spring" at Scholar's Blog.
Melissa Wiley shares the Dylan Thomas poem ("Fern Hill") that inspired the name for her new ClubMom blog, The Lilting House.
Chris Barton travels the country vicariously with a review of Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art at Bartography.
Anne at Book Buds shares an e.e. cummings poem any parent can appreciate.
Jen Robinson brings us Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride" at Jen Robinson's Book Page.
Susan at Chicken Spaghetti quotes Julia Donaldson's wonderful "A Day in My Life" (a poem I must glue to my computer, pronto!)
Little Willow cites three gorgeous lines from David Levithan's The Realm of Possiblity at Slayground.
MotherReader writes her own FIB, "Ode to Mo" (You know who she's talking about!)
Leila at Bookshelves of Doom reminds us poetry can be banned too!
Christine M. at The Simple and the Ordinary weighs in with a beautiful Arthur Guiterman poem called "The Whole Duty of a Poem."
