Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic - Hardcover

Schnur, Steven

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395822696 ISBN 13: 9780395822692

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1999

Synopsis

A collection of poems describes spring, with its animals, green smells, and renewed outside activities and when read vertically, the first letters of the lines of text spell related words arranged alphabetically, from "April" to "zenith."

About this title

About the Authors

No Bio

An enthusiastic and devoted drawer since she was a child, Leslie Evans was raised in Michigan and later trained as a printmaker at the Rhode Island School of Design. She often brings her printer's aesthetic to her work as an artist and illustrator, producing many of the illustrations for her children's books in her letterpress studio. When time allows she enjoys developing her own projects including calendars, prints, books and broadsides under her imprint, the Sea Dog Press. She has illustrated many books including Leaf Jumpers, The Yummy Alphabet Book, and the Alphabet Acrostic series (Clarion). Leslie lives in Watertown, Massachusetts where she delights in her daily walks along the Charles river with her dog, Clyde.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 4-Schnur and Evans have combined their considerable talents to create a picture book that is both innovative and lovely. Done in the form of acrostics, the poems are a visual as well as a literary delight. Their style is simple, yet capable of evoking myriad images and feelings, similar in many ways to haiku. For example, in "Dawn": "Day breaks early now/And quickly/Warms after a cool/Night." The linoleum-cut illustrations are rich in detail and vibrant with spring tones. Easily as successful as this team's previous collaboration, Autumn (Clarion, 1997), this book could be used effectively with any unit on seasons or as a study of literary re-creations in combination with Bonnie Christensen's Rebus Riot (Dial, 1997). It will also spring off the shelf on its own.
Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The team behind Autumn (1997) turns russet in for a spring-green coat in this paean that moves from April to June. Once again, the first letters of each line make a word that is the subject of the poem, e.g., ``Green leaves overhead, a/Rug of green underfoot,/And the air between/Sweet with the green/Smell of spring'' for GRASS. That page is a particularly fine microcosm of the book; the delicate poem, direct and detailed, appears on a page where the strong line of linoleum-cut illustration brings into relief a field of green seen from above, where the bold shapes of a girl and her dog lay on their backs to gaze up at the new leaves. There are longer words, too, such as ``quintuplets,'' delighting in five new kittens. Many of the images are rural: frogs, cows, a baseball game ringed by a field of corn. Othershopscotch, welcoming a new baby, and watching the light fade to purple firewill be familiar and comfortable to children everywhere. A playful refabrication of spring, likely to please as a word game, certain to please for its images. (Picture book. 3-9) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Gr. 2^-5, younger for reading aloud. Similar in format to Schnur's Autumn (1998), this volume features one illustrated acrostic on each page. For instance, the word grass appears vertically in purple, but reading horizontally the lines read "Green leaves overhead, a / Rug of green underfoot, / And the air between / Sweet with the green / Smell of spring." Evans' artwork is outlined in black, making the rich colors appear jewel-like and full of light. Schnur's best acrostics are fresh and imaginative, distilling the essence of the season in a few brief lines and images. An attractive book, sure to be used in many classrooms, sometimes as an alphabet book, sometimes as an evocation of spring, sometimes as a model for student writing. Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395822696
• ISBN 13: 9780395822692
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Evans Leslie
• Number of pages: 32