Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-Me Book of Poems
In both content and design this is an unusually striking anthology. The title, from Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa ("Speak again. Speak like rain"), provides a selection basis for the more than 120 poems, handily grouped in such sections as "Wind and Weather" and "Just for Fun." Many of the verses are well-known in the canon of children's literature--Hilaire Belloc's "The Early Morning"; Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat"--but there are intriguing additions. Wallace Stevens's "John Smith and His Son, John Smith," for example, delights with its vigorous rhythm "Voila la vie, la vie, la vie, / And-a-rummy-tummy-tum / And-a-rummy-tummy-tum."Dyer's vibrantly colored, splendidly detailed illustrations, some of this gifted artist's finest work, pick up elements from well-known art associated with children's poetry, a device that imparts a soothing quality to these captivating pages. Ages 3-up.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.