Caroline Pignat

The talent of the writing style still shines through (someone called it "lilt" and that is a very apt word to describe her style). However, while it wandered through many historical situations and Mick, bless his heart, was all you could want, the plotline soon reached ridiculous proportions as far as Tom and his brother were concerned. Really? I mean really! Back in the day it was a round-the-world, yearlong journey across the ocean, fraught with peril and REALLY. It wouldn't have happened that way. Unhelpful complications that just strained the (already) taunt storyline.… (mer)

I rated this book as a combination with the text and art. The poetry consists of the occasional couplet, but mostly also uses acrostic poems that compliment (and vice versa) the full page, painted art. The poems and paintings are based on the cycle of the seasons.

The artwork is very beautiful, with illustrations stretching across the face of the pages, displaying the scene relevant to the written poems. The poems are written large enough that a young child might recognize the vertical message as a sight word even if they can't yet read the lines of smaller text.

There are several books of poetry for children, but this is the first one that I've seen that focuses on acrostic poems, and a budding poet might enjoy the form.… (mer)