Cornflakes

On the heels of James Stevenson's winsome poetry collections (the award-winning Popcorn, as well as Candy Corn and Sweet Corn) comes Cornflakes--25 poems and sketches on topics from guitars to garbage bags. Stevenson has a real knack for taking a snapshot of a fleeting association, thought, or moment. He hears music in junkyards; sees opera-goer bow ties on garbage bags; sees piglets in fat, white trucks; and personifies everything from flowers to factories. A favorite is "Paint Box": I'd like to make/ One painting/ Half as nice/ As my paint box/ Left alone." And "Match-up": "Along the shore/ The perfect shell/ Awaits the perfect child." Stevenson perfectly encapsulates the quietest of observations with the fewest of words. His cartoonish, watercolor-splashed scritchings--loose, expressive, artful--manage to impart just the right tone. The type itself changes from poem to poem to capture the varying moods and whims of this friendly, down-to-earth collection. (Ages 7 and older) --Karin Snelson


Genre: Children's Fiction