Divided into sections such as Earth Green, First Green and Last Green, the focus enhances each poem, allowing thoughts of trees, animals or plants to bounce off each other. Somehow, you can just see that evening star kissing the boy's cheek. Each poem is set into an illustration, making for engaging reading. Gentle humor and comforting night tales abound here. The presentation is lovely, with small illustrations just right for children up to age 9 or 10, when more complex ideas begin to enter their lives.
Presentation means a lot.
The illustrations, also reissued, have a mysterious 19th-century romanticism to them, though some of the darker colors don't emerge well. More problematic is the plainness of the overall design. While it might be useful to have these classics in a small, inexpensive volume, it is not enticing to children. This is not a problem with two special volumes created for girls and young women. One of the strongest poems in this volume, however, didn't begin as a poem at all.