Under the Tree

ISBN: 0813115612

Author: Roberts, Elizabeth Madox

Condition: New

Product Description An illustrated collection of poems reflecting the activities and impressions of the author's childhood in a Kentucky farm community. From School Library Journal Grade 3 Up Librarians should welcome this new edition of Under the Tree , Roberts' cycle of children's poems whose 1922 and 1930 editions are now out of print. Each of the 59 poems speaks in a clear, child's voice about the people, animals and feelings that are part of children's worlds. Each poem rings true, whether about early days when wolves stalked Kentucky ("At night they ran down out of the rocks /And bristled up their trembly fur") or the hens that walked in the farmyard ("One of them moved and turned around, /Her feathers made a ruffled sound,") or musings when looking at the stars ("So many that I think they must /Be sprinkled on the sky like dust"). The language, regardless of subject, is never forced, and the poems are in harmony with what children would observe. Bedford's line drawings that accompany each poem are in balance with the intimate nature of this small masterpiece. Reading the poems and handling the well-designed book makes one feel, to quote Roberts' poem "Firefly," that "A little light is going by, /Is going up to see the sky."Kathleen D. Whalin, New Canaan Library, Conn.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.