A collection of poems edited by Georgia Heard (Roaring Brook, 2009) is indeed a cause for celebration. Add to that the fact that they are falling down the page and that the book, therefore, opens in vertical position and the poems pour down the page, and you have even more cause to cheer. Add in poems by Naomi Shihab Nye and Kathi Appelt (two of my favorite Texas authors) and the lovely and talented Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jane Yolen, and a host of others and what more could you want?
A young boy, his own home and village in shambles, carefully nurses a lone plant until it grows and spreads across the barbed wire that separates him from the rest of the village. Spare and eloquent, this is a picture book that deserves to be shared and discussed with children. (Candlewick Press, 2009)
Librarians everywhere should buy this book and share it with their patrons young and old. The care and feeding (no, don't feed it literally) of books is the subject of this colorful rhythmic romp. Books are precious, and this book reminds us all to take care. (Greenwillow, 2009)