Someone I Like

Sisters, brothers, teachers, parents, grandparents, best friends... everyone must learn about and live in relationships from an early age. In this fine anthology of poems compiled by poet Judith Nicholls, all kinds of human relationships are explored, sometimes comically, sometimes poignantly. Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks, Charlotte Zolotow, Langston Hughes, Eloise Greenfield, and many other well-known and less familiar writers fill the beautifully illustrated pages with wit and soul. Giovanni Manna's china ink and watercolor paintings have an unusual, appealing feel, and perfectly complement each poem, whether it was written in China in the first century B.C., or last year at a computer in a New York apartment building. Common themes such as new sibling ambivalence, fights among friends, and aging grandparents are covered, as well as imaginary playmates and overly kissy aunts. Rhythm and rhyme, lilting, musical verses... readers do not need to be poetry aficionados to fall in love with this marvelous collection. As in this poem by Andrew Collett about a teacher telling stories to her class, these poems "take us far away:"

We all sit in silence
we just sit and stare,
for when teacher tells us stories
she makes us feel we're there.

(Ages 4 and older) --Emilie Coulter