"Mama's window box-- / purple flowers shout the news. / Finally--it's spring!" Celebrating a young girl's urban life throughout the year, a haiku and a simple free-verse poem are paired on each double-page spread. Both verses are inspired by the same word (e.g., spring, pigeon, hot, pumpkin). Steptoe's lively found-object collage illustrations, though sometimes a little cluttered, provide a rich visual experience.

K-Gr 4-A playful and thoroughly successful pairing of words and pictures. Most double-page spreads offer two poems, one in free verse, one in haiku, set on bright collages of cut paper and found objects. In an author's note, Grimes states that, with haiku, "-the poet can create a sort of painting in miniature." And she does that, many times, in this lively collection that begins on a spring morning and ends with a New Year. Graceful, rhythmic, and accessible, the poems depict sensory impressions and precisely observed moments. Take, for example, this haiku: "Hot days send me to/the water fountain where my/face goes for a swim." Humor is provided in abundance as well. Steptoe's illustrations are original and distinctive and sometimes a bit busy, but give the book an urban, upbeat, and contemporary look. Overall, this is a keeper, for both in and out of the classroom.-Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.