Product Description

This provocative collection of poems ranges from such lofty subjects as an astronaut’s view of Earth to the burrows of worms and little creatures within the earth, “where I try to tread softly: a quiet giant leaving only footprints on the roof.” Marilyn Singer’s lilting free verse offers visual images that give us fresh new insights and respect for the mighty power of volcanoes, fens, islands, deserts, dunes, and natural disasters. Singer’s easily accessible poems also include some of the lighter moments of childhood, such as sliding on ice and playing in mud. Meilo So’s distinctive india ink drawings on rice paper provide an especially handsome showcase for these buoyant nature poems.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1718067 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-12
• Released on: 2002-03-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 48 pages

From Amazon.com
She treads gently over "mazy metropolises" of rabbits and worms. She chooses the ooze of mud. She contemplates "dormant dragons," natural disasters, and tadpoles born in the "sudden pools" of desert rain. Poet Marilyn Singer all but sings to the earth in this tribute to the wet, dry, hot, cold, messy natural places of the planet. Her free verse surprises the reader with its unexpected perspectives, and yet the images have a rightness to them that settles quietly in the heart. In "Back to Nature," Singer talks about how people want to be far away from humus moss and leaf mold, "from things soft and unpredictable / that slide beneath our feet," and yet even among our lampposts and sewers, nature returns, dropping mulberries "fat and purple" on the sidewalk, "turning the pavement soft and unpredictable / making it slide beneath our feet." Illustrator Meilo So's (The 20th-Century Children's Poetry Treasury) black-and-white India ink drawings on rice paper are breathtaking, as simple and complex as the poems themselves. Both Singer and So inspire the imagination with this lovely collection. (Ages 8 and older) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly
"Sometimes I'm in the mood for mud When my toes have tasted too many sidewalks. In the park or by the river I choose ooze," writes Marilyn Singer in "Mud," one of several environmentally-themed offerings in Footprints on the Roof: Poems About the Earth. Meilo So's illustrations, rendered in India ink on rice paper, evoke the serene quality of Japanese silkscreen.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4-In this celebratory collection, Singer's images are fresh and accessible and her wordplay never seems forced. In "Burrows," she observes, "Where what you see is nothing- what counts is what you smell or hear or feel I try to tread softly: a quiet giant leaving only footprints on the roof." In "Dormant Dragons," she writes, "Volcanoes there are that sleep the sleep of dragons With cool heads and hot bellies-." So's India-ink illustrations on rice paper capture the heart of each poem. Singer and So have created a work of minimalist art, in which harmony is achieved between text and image with no extraneous words or strokes. A welcome addition to nature-poetry collections.
Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, ME
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.