Book Description
for Pug by Valerie Worth and Steve Jenkins
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Eighteen poems about animals offer surprising, lovely, and sometimes poignant perspectives on their subjects. "Firefly" begins, "Tracked along the / Glitter of its / Slow constellation, / Scooped from the / Dark and caged / In the hollow / Of two hands." "Mouse" tenderly describes the appearance of a creature with "papery ears" and "slim paws" that has been caught by the cat and left on a doorstep. "Geese" captures how human observers may imbue what we see or hear in the animal world with meaning, describing cries "like grieving" and, later, a "noisy rejoicing." Valerie Worth's fine poems are paired with Steve Jenkins's beautifully detailed collage image of each animal, with each page spread a striking composition balancing poem and art. (Ages 9-13)
CCBC Choices 2014. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2014. Used with permission.