Ruthie Rose’s Big Idea: A ­Poetry Story

Gr 1-3–Ruthie Rose wakes up bursting with a “big, bright, beautiful” idea, and everyone who hears it, from her school librarian to teachers and fellow students, catches her enthusiasm. What is it? Hatam provides hints with depictions of colorful, swirling bursts of stars and transparent splashes of paint over clipped swatches of printed verse by Robert Louis Stevenson and other classic poets—and, indeed, at the end the grand notion turns out to be setting aside a corner of the library as a “Poetry Place,” where young readers and writers can gather to celebrate “POETS, POETRY, and POSSIBILITIES.” A comfy climactic scene with just bookshelves, a couple of tables, a cardboard “Poet-Tree” to display poems, and a small curtained performance area suggests the ease of setting up such a place almost anywhere, while a closing gallery of children working with arts and craft materials, a camera, costumes, and more plays on the potential by expanding Ruthie Rose’s original idea in multiple directions.