"Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems"

Selected by Paul B. Janeczko                Illustrated by Melissa Sweet

       

Image Source: Amazon

        The purpose of the collection is found in the title. It is a collection of very short poems throughout the year. According to the front flap the selector, Paul B. Janeczko, is a poet which makes him qualified selector for this collection. He did succeed in selecting very short poems with the longest poem being only 10 lines long. The audience is children and I think that the combination of selecting short poems and the illustrations does make it appropriate for children. Some children really struggle with the literary language and or symbolism. These bite-sized poems paired with the childlike illustrations helps children explore their meanings.

        All 36 poems are written by 36 different authors. According to the acknowledgments, 32 of the poems are cited, with 28 of those included that they were used with permission. The last 4 poems were unable to be traced to their author. The language does vary, as each poem is written by different authors. Some use repetition with a word or phrase, while others use symbolism. Carl Sandburg compares fog to little cat feet in his poem "Fog". While J. Patrick Lewis' "Firefly July" uses a more traditional ABAB rhyme that children will be more familiar with. While the language and sound patterns vary across the poems, they do feel appropriate for the intended audience. While some of the vocabulary may be rich for younger children, they are not too complex.

        The 36 poems are organized in four different sections: spring, summer, fall and winter. There is a table of contents for each season and the citations for most are in the acknowledgments are the end. Typically there is one to two poems per page. The watercolor, gouache and mixed media illustrations help enhance the poems meaning. The bright vivid almost collage like pages help enrich the poems that are less literal to help support understanding for the young readers.

Janeczko, Paul B. Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Candlewick Press, 2014. 47 pages. TR $16.99, ISBN 978-0-7636-4842-8.