Synopsis
Each season's song describes the changes that occur in nature as the year moves from summer through fall and winter to spring.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1995-04-01 | | Illustrator: | Sandra Speidel |
| Size | | Height: | 10.8 in | | Width: | 9.5 in | | Thickness: | 0.2 in | | Weight: | 15.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
Songs for the Seasons is a hymn to all that is beautiful and wild, and a gentle reminder that mankind is not the center of the natural world.
Industry Reviews
Speidel (Coconut Kind of Day) focuses on a pair of red-tailed hawks in her atmospheric chalk pastels for this sonorous poem about seasonal change. In summer, the hawks fly above the meadow, which ``clicks and clatters/ in the fierce heat''; in the winter, they ``glide in the cloudless sky.'' Like the work of Ed Young, Speidel's muted illustrations are scumbled and impressionistic; each turn of the page reveals another sweeping panorama, aptly matching Highwater's (Moonsong Lullaby) reverent tones. Much of the language is rich and poignant (e.g., the Moon ``sings silver in the blue-black sky''). But the syntax and content can be complex (``Tall trees that seemed forever lost / fragile victims of winter's kill/ amaze the morning with their mysteries/ as a new spring is born of an old winter/ .../ and death itself lies dead''), and well beyond the sensibilities of young readers. Ages 5-up. (Apr.)
Bernstein
Gr 3-5 This picture-book poem asks readers to listen to the natural world. Beginning with the sun singing ``...gold in the pale sky of morning,/echoing across the summer hills,'' Highwater provides glimpses of each season. In summer, ``The wide river retreats into the dry earth,/becoming a sleepy flow.'' In winter, ``White rabbits leap./Tall pines defy the cold/with their undying green.'' Unfortunately, the author fails to say anything new, or to give children a fresh view into familiar territory. Summer's song is ``sunshine'' and ``golden''; autumn's is ``melancholy'' and ``tuneless''; winter's is ``frosty'' and ``windswept''; spring's is ``fragrant.'' Impressionistic chalk-pastel illustrations complement the mood of the text, which is calm and without dramatic focus. The one potential focal point is the red-tailed hawk that appears in each picture. But the poem is clearly not from the hawk's viewpoint and the drawings, while pleasant and soothing, lack the details or tension that might have made the book come alive. Carolyn Polese, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
Lopate
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