Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Summersaults
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
HarperCollins, 2002 ISBN: 978-0060292676
Summer is like a summersault, a "vaulting thing," which eventually "tumbles into fall." It is a time for swimming at the seaside, sitting by campfires, watching fireflies, and playing games. It is also a time when a haze can cover the sky, when mosquitoes hum in our ears, and when the dog days make us feel hot, sticky and bad tempered.
In forty-eight short poems Douglas Florian truly captures the essence of summer. Amusing rhymes, free verse which waves, steps and swoops across the page, and delicious and neat little three line poems all create pictures of the high and low points of the summer season. Readers will be able to see how words can be used to great effect in a number of ways and that a poem does not have to rhyme to be amusing and interesting.
This is one in a series of books that Douglas Florian has written about the seasons.
