poetry friday

In honor of my brand-spankin' new goddaughter. This poem is beautifully illustrated in Jane Dyer's Animal Crackers


WHERE did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into the here.

Where did you get those eyes so blue?
Out of the sky as I came through.

What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?
Some of the starry spikes left in.

Where did you get that little tear?
I found it waiting when I got here.

What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
A soft hand strok’d it as I went by.

What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
I saw something better than any one knows.

Whence that three-corner’d smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.

Where did you get this pearly ear?
God spoke, and it came out to hear.

Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itself into bonds and bands.

Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
From the same box as the cherubs’ wings.

How did they all just come to be you?
God thought about me, and so I grew.

But how did you come to us, you dear?
God thought about you, and so I am here.

--George MacDonald

review: Rex by Ursula Dubosarsky

Rex by Ursula Dubosarsky. Illustrated by David Mackintosh.
Roaring Brook, 2005 (1-59643-186-5) $16.95

Rex, the class pet, is a shy, little chameleon... or is he? Each day, a different person in the class gets to take Rex home and draws a picture about Rex's visit in his special book, and as the pictures show, the Rex who visits is not remotely shy, or little: he clings to a skyscraper, breathing fire, and stomps one enormous clawed foot into a swimming pool. The narrator of the story, who gets to keep Rex for the entire weekend, has big, big plans, too, like imaginging towering over everyone at the movies by sitting on Rex's head. Oddball, cartoony illustrations are fun, but it's the drawings in Rex's book, each done in a different, childlike style, that are the highlight of this story, particularly Rex's visit to Amy, in which her little brother dresses him in Malibu Barbie clothes: imagine Godzilla in a teeny-tiny bikini, with a purse dangling from one pink-polished claw. (3-8)

old fogey

Much though I hate to pass up a challenge, I don't think I have any top picks of 2006. Ask me for my top picks of 1965 or 1980... I spend a lot more time on previously published books than new books.

Oh wait, I do have one top pick! There is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me. (My review.)

Oh, and Gossamer. (My review.)

I guess I'll keep looking!