Scan barcode
novabird's review
4.0
Take this lovely and nostalgic alphabet book outside or beside a window to read. And for a further enriched experience, read it aloud to a child and ponder each page, savoring and immersing yourself in a more resonant world. It is a lovely book which does invoke a wonderful sense of enchantment if one slows down and takes the time to ponder its felt-sense and relate it to one's experiences of being in nature.
ketutar's review
3.0
Well... the illustrations are wonderful, one couldn't get anything less from Jackie Morris. The poetry is less impressive, though.
I don't really know who the target audience is supposed to be, it's a bit infantile for those who appreciate the subtleness, yet a bit too subtle for infants. I appreciate the alliteration, I appreciate the "eked-wreaked-beaked". But what is "huge-hinged"? What's that about a weapon? And I don't think "eke" means that or that wreaked can be used like this... I really don't want to explain something to kids by saying "just take it as it is. It's poetic license."
Some of the poems do feel like spells, but the quality is very uneven.
And the concept also... they are talking as if Robert was writing about words that actually are disappearing, and I feel words like acorn and otter are very much not disappearing. People might not know what a conker is, but a bluebell?
Here hunts heron. Here haunts heron.
Huge-hinged heron. Grey-winged weapon.
Eked from iron and wreaked from blue and
beaked with steel: heron, statue, seeks eel.
I don't really know who the target audience is supposed to be, it's a bit infantile for those who appreciate the subtleness, yet a bit too subtle for infants. I appreciate the alliteration, I appreciate the "eked-wreaked-beaked". But what is "huge-hinged"? What's that about a weapon? And I don't think "eke" means that or that wreaked can be used like this... I really don't want to explain something to kids by saying "just take it as it is. It's poetic license."
Some of the poems do feel like spells, but the quality is very uneven.
And the concept also... they are talking as if Robert was writing about words that actually are disappearing, and I feel words like acorn and otter are very much not disappearing. People might not know what a conker is, but a bluebell?
mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
Een absoluut prachtig boek met gedichten over dieren en planten. Ik vond de gedichten erg mooi om te lezen en ik genoot volop van de leuke woordspelingen en tovertruukjes die de schrijver uithaalde. Hij trekt je echt het gedicht in en in het leven van het dier. Ik vond het ook leuk gedaan dat elk eerste woord van een zin een letter was van het dier en dus uiteindelijk de naam van het dier spelde.
Er zijn ook prachtige platen (en die moest ik dus ook even delen op Twitter want man man man wat mooi) die me helemaal in het boek lieten verdrinken.
En de vertaling door Bibi Dumon Tak? Perfect. Ik had al een vermoeden dat zij het heel goed zou kunnen vertalen want zij heeft al wat andere dierenboeken geschreven dus zij is perfect voor dit dierenboek.
AANRADER!
Er zijn ook prachtige platen (en die moest ik dus ook even delen op Twitter want man man man wat mooi) die me helemaal in het boek lieten verdrinken.
En de vertaling door Bibi Dumon Tak? Perfect. Ik had al een vermoeden dat zij het heel goed zou kunnen vertalen want zij heeft al wat andere dierenboeken geschreven dus zij is perfect voor dit dierenboek.
AANRADER!
mychemicalseal's review against another edition
5.0
I adore the sound design, the whole thing is so much more than just poetry and words on a page but a whole soundscape that is so beautiful.
lsparrow's review
5.0
loved the illustrations in this book I the poetry complimented them so beautifully