Looking at common—and sometimes uncommon—objects and events in fresh ways is one of the hallmarks of poetry. Here, two poets offer 26 imaginative, often playful free verse poems on a range of subjects. Across the poems, the common thread is new perspectives. Comma-shaped tadpoles are “the liveliest of all punctuation.” (“Tadpole”) “It’s good to free a secret / and let the place in your chest / where it clawed you like a badger / scar over and heal.” (“Secret”) July is “boiled and salted / like a peanut … the crimson crayon / melting in a sunny car” (“July”). A thunderstorm in the night “stumbles around, bumping the walls … now and then lighting a match / and then, just as quickly, blowing it out.” (“Thunderstorm”) Divided into four sections—fire, water, air, earth—the poems are each paired with a full-page illustration. The artful compositions are rendered in an overall subdued palette, accompanying rather than competing with or overpowering the poems. Notes from both poets, along with two bonus poems, speak to the “gift of imagination” we all possess. (Ages 6-10)

Celebrated poets Ted Kooser along with Connie Wanek, and illustrator Richard Jones, explore figures of speech in a spirited and magical way—and invite our imaginations out to play.

A freewheeling romp through the world of imagery and metaphor, this quietly startling collection of thirty poems, framed by the four elements, is about art and reality, fact and fancy. Look around: what do you see? A clown balancing a pie in a tree, or an empty nest perched on a leafless branch? As poet Connie Wanek alludes to in her afterword—a lively dialogue with former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser—sometimes the simplest sights and sounds “summon our imaginations” and cry out to be clothed in the alchemical language of poetry. This compendium of the fleeting and unexpected turns the everyday—turtles, trees, and tadpoles; cow pies, lazy afternoons, and pillowy white marshmallows—into poetic gold. A brilliant and timeless collaboration that evokes both the mystery and grandeur of the natural world and the cozy, mundane moments of daily life, this exquisitely illustrated collection is the go-to gift book of the season for poetry fans of all ages.