Perfect Poetry Partnership: Helen Frost and Rick Lieder

Poetry:

Precision in language,

voice,

form,

and purpose.

Photography:

Point-of-vIew,

angle,

insight,

and light

 HELLO, I'M HERE! is the latest release in a masterful photographic picture book/poetry series by Candlewick Press. In each title, one of Helen Frost's breathtakingly lyrical nature poems is paired with Rick Lieder's photographic brilliance to produce a picture book that will be loved by anyone with eyes and ears. 
I wrote about SWEEP UP THE SUN in 2015, here. At that time I might have defied my self-imposed restrictions on NOT naming favorites to claim this as one. As it turns out, this entire series has become a favorite and certainly could be among yours. Other titles in this series (which I hope will continue indefinitely) are WAKE UP!, STEP GENTLY OUT,  and AMONG A THOUSAND FIREFLIES. Each is a celebration of new life, of lyrical language, and of the magnificence of the natural world. 

While you're checking out these titles, be sure to ask for THE UNDEFEATED, another prefect pairing of talents. Kwame Alexander has written an extended metaphorical poem about the survival and triumph of African Americans throughout their long history on this continent. Alexander's powerful words are illuminated by the remarkable art of Kadir Nelson. 

The theme of sports competition is a scaffold on which centuries of history of Blacks in America are called forth in the earliest pages, contrasting a formal family's portrait as survival by any means with the blank page representing those who did NOT survive, yet merit celebration within these pages. Many names and images are familiar, some are recast in new light, and others are rarely acknowledged. The poem and portraits celebrate undefeated icons spanning sports, music, art, politics, everyday life, and more.  Don't miss this one. 

When the 2019 award season rolls around, you can expect to find these titles in the running on many counts.

And the Themes Roll On: April is POETRY MONTH

Candlewick Press, 2015

Poetry, when well done, is a form of prayer. 
It inspires, it lifts the spirit.

It celebrates and laments.
It reveals our humanity
and unites our souls.

Its words, sounds, and  rhythms
set the pace of our pulse. 

Poems make me erupt 
in silly giggles,
gasps, sighs, 
and weeping. 

Poetry's forms are 
as rigid as haiku 
and as free as stories in verse.

All this and more in poems, and only a month to celebrate?

I could use more than a month to sing the praises of just one poet, Helen Frost, and her recent release, SWEEP UP THE SUN. The photographic illustrations by Rick Lieder should, in my opinion, make this title a front runner for Caldecott consideration in 2016. 

Frost wields poetry like a paintbrush in generating "master-pieces" in the truest sense of the word. I've read each and every book she's written and marveled at her capacity to make even the most complex and challenging poetic forms read like spontaneous storytelling. In each she bends her words to forms that serve the themes, moods, and characters. 

In SWEEP UP THE SUN I transcribed the entire text in an effort to understand Frost's alchemy. The entire text is ninety-eight words. 
Really. 
I counted by hand, used digital tools, rechecked my transcription. 
Yep. Only ninety-eight words. 
Each is a gem, exquisite in its setting.
I want desperately to quote the introductory passage that provides the titles, but that requires thirty-four words of her total text. I won't cite a third of a book, even with quotations!
I'll stretch this far:

"Rise into the air

On the strength of your wings

Go out to play in the sky, "

Breathtaking, right?

Now imagine equally breathtaking photography that captures some of the most remarkable images of birds in flight that you'll ever see. 

No, you can't imagine his magnificent images -- the action, the lighting, the colors.

Just get your hands on this book as soon as possible and read it.

Again. 

And again.

As much as I am enthralled by this book, I continue my boycott of naming "favorites" in titles or authors, because so many have done so much so well for so many centuries. 
To demonstrate that, I'll close with several links to other posts that in turn link, and link, and link. Follow those varied trails to savor the richness of poetry and share your own favorites, widely and often.
From the Latin@s in Kid Lit post: Poetry from their archives.
and
KIDLitoSphere Central: A link to links