Sesame Street Parents
A Child's Calendaris a great way to introduce your child to the rewards of reading poetry.
Mailbox Bookbag
Thus begins this revised and strikingly reillustrated book, first published in 1965. Updike's graphic text is a mental feast for young and old. Hyman's illustrations, homey and rich, follow one family and its pets through the seasons. New details catch the eye with every read. Be it words or pictures, each student will relate to at least something in this handsome offering.
Kirkus Reviews
Updike has revised a set of 12 short poems, one per month, first published in 1965, and Hyman's busy, finely detailed scenes replace the original edition's illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. The verses are written in a child's voice—"The chickadees/Grow plump on seed/That Mother pours/Where they can feed"—and commemorate seasonal weather, flowers, food, and holidays. In the paintings a multiracial, all-ages cast does the same in comfortable, semi-rural New England surroundings, sitting at a table cutting out paper hearts, wading through reeds with a net under a frog's watchful eye, picnicking, contemplating a leafless tree outside for "November" and a decorated one inside for "December." The thoughts and language are slightly elevated but not beyond the ken of children, and the pictures enrich the poetry with specific, often amusing, incidents. (Poetry. 6-10)
From the Publisher
"Updike's poetry and Hyman's glowing illustrations lovingly portray a year in the life of a child . . . in this gem."—School Library Journal, starred review
"Each evocative illustration has its own story to tell, celebrating the small moments in children's lives with clarity and sensitivity, with empathy and joy. A beautifully illustrated edition of Updike's poems for children."—Booklist
"The language and illustrations are . . . vibrantly alive enough to keep young readers occupied through more than one reading."—Publishers Weekly
"Updike's poems are sometimes pretty, sometimes playful, and always evocative, while Trina Schart Hyman's illustrations not only complement the verse, but add their own layers of meaning and wit. . . . A truly timeless book about time."—Bruce Handy, author of Wild Things
