A review by backonthealex
H Is for Haiku: A Treasury of Haiku from A to Z by Sydell Rosenberg

4.0

Sydell Rosenberg was a master at writing haiku and her speciality was capturing "that fledging moment, when the wingstrokes become sure - when the bird has staying power in the air." In this book, you will find 26 haiku or senryu written before the author passed away in 1996, arranged alphabetically by first word. This is not an ABC book for toddlers, no indeed, it is a book for thoughtful students of life, observers who want to also hold on to that fledging moment. When I shared these poems with my young readers, some were just spot on for them: "Adventures over/The cat sits in the fur ring/of his tail and dreams" was a favorite from the start, as were many others. Some, like Z may feel a little dated: "Zum Zum restaurant/A French teacher grades papers/on her lunch break." Who remembers Zum Zum? I do, an old NYC German-style fast food restaurant. A simple explanation and we moved on. This book invites kids to read and consider these lovely poems over and over and they work especially well when teaching them about how they can find poetry simply by observing life's daily routines with different eyes. Chalabi's wonderfully diverse, whimsical illustrations extend the Rosenberg's words, increasing our enjoyment of the haiku.