Monday, December 2, 2013

What the Heart Knows



WHAT THE HEART KNOWS: CHANTS, CHARMS, AND BLESSINGS by Joyce Sidman with illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski. Houghton Mifflin, 2013.

I do not think it would be an overstatement to tell you that YOU. NEED. THIS. BOOK. if you love language. Sidman has written poems in various forms that bless (or curse),lament, invite, and much more. "Invitation to Lost Things" could be a terrific lead in to William Joyce's THE MISCHIEVIANS as well as to THE BORROWERS or THE TALE OF DESPERAUX. And this in not the only piece that offers connections. Poems about bravery, death, sleep, friendship, and teachers demonstrate the sheer word smithery (is that even a word? it should be) of Sidman. Though I usually donate books once I have read them, this is one I will KEEP and read over and over again sighing at the majesty of Sidman who places ordinary words together in some sort of magical extraordinary fashion.

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