Poetry Comics

Starred review from December 18, 2023
Poetry verses about self-reflection and scientific curiosity adorn vivid illustrations in this gently introspective collection by Snider (One Boy Watching). The book begins in spring and flows through the seasons as the creator explores a different facet of the poetry-writing process and chronicles the friendship of a brown-skinned child with a dramatic black ponytail and a pale child with short black hair. Repetitive wordplay and clever alliterations paired with sometimes rhyming stanzas and occasional blank verse add variety to the assemblage’s entries, making each selection a delight to read aloud. Recurrent themes involve school day travails and the potential of imagination, while contemplations of nature channel Mary Oliver: “In the not-quite dark/ first night of summer/ one light blinks/ on/ then another./ Tiny lanterns/ glow and rise/ a festival of fireflies.” Snider’s pen and ink illustrations, colored and edited in Photoshop, rely on a limited palette of bright hues, and characters are depicted bounding through sprinklers, recycling a cardboard box in myriad ways, and finding kinship with other living beings such as trees and bees with boneless grace. The fluid illustrations and equally viscous verse culminates in a poetry-filled graphic novel that is powerful in its simplicity. Ages 8–12. Agent: Judy Hansen, Hansen Literary.

January 1, 2024

Gr 2-5-This book takes the feelings of being a child and intertwines them with the seasons in bright, comic panels of poetry that bring the two together beautifully. From spring poems about tadpoles and snails to winter poems about snow, the seasons are very much a part of this narrative-but this work also includes poems about writing poetry and seeing joy and color in the world. Each page or spread has a title for each selection, and then artwork in panels or full-page boxes featuring the comic illustration of the poem. The artwork is cartoony and bright, illustrating the words with heart and humor. Most of the poems take on a free verse flow, but a few have ABAB or ABCA rhyming schemes. This book also blends in principles of design, which makes it not only a great poetry and comics book, but also one that showcases art design. VERDICT An excellent collection of poetry that connects children with not only the seasons but also their sense of self, too.-Molly Dettmann

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Starred review from January 1, 2024
In a wryly introspective vein, a cartoonist offers a four-season round of illustrated observations on topics as varied as clouds, school, and the search for a perfect pumpkin. "I want to put down / on paper the feeling / of fresh possibilities," Snider writes in his "Spring" section. With reflections on the tricky art of writing poems serving as a thematic refrain, he goes on in a seasonal cycle to explorations of nature ("How do the birds / decide where / to alight?"), indoor activities ("In wool socks on thick carpet / I am MR. ELECTRIC"), and common experiences, from loading up a gigantic backpack with new books for the first day of school to waiting...and waiting...and waiting for a bus in the rain. He also invites readers to consider broad ideas, such as the rewards of practicing and the notion that failure can lead to the realization that "I'm still a work in progress." Snider writes mostly in free verse but does break into rhyme now and then for the odd sonic grace note. Though he identifies only one entry as an actual haiku, his tersely expressed thoughts evoke that form throughout. His art is commensurately spare, with depictions of slender, dot-eyed, olive-skinned figures, generally solitary and of indeterminate age, posing balletically in, mostly, squared-off sequential panels making up mini-narratives of one to three pages. Personal but personable, too, with glints of quiet humor. (Graphic poetry. 10-13)

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