The Yard Critters

K-Gr 3—This oversize, square book features poems about animals that children might find in their own backyards: a raccoon, rabbit, squirrel, bear, bat, turtle, garter snake, earthworm, robin, and groundhog. The elephant is the exception, and readers are told that one may be viewed by Googling it. At times, the selections suddenly shift between an adult and a child's register: "…these squirreling/dervishes,/more entertaining /than CheeseBob/SquarePants?/How life enhancing/is the squirrel,/a barrel/of thrills!" At their best, the selections are immediate and seem to speak to children, but some contain references such as "grandma's garter" that will need an explanation. A few of the poems rhyme, while others use sound play-alliteration, assonance, consonance. Jagged drawings, digitally collaged, often with patterned papers for bushes, grass, and animals, hold a few surprises in the expansive white space. One poem uses nonstandard English and situates the speaker in "the hood." There are plenty of other contemporary references such as the proliferation of deer and bear in urban neighborhoods due to the loss of their habitats.—Teresa Pfeifer, The Springfield Renaissance School, Springfield, MA